The Working Cow Reviews
Mother in the Middle
The Nursing Mother's Companion. Kathleen Huggins, RN.,MS.
1990, Harvard Common Press. $11.95 ISBN 1-55832-026-1
This basic book should be on every nursing woman's bookshelf. Kathleen Huggins does a great job of describing the experience of breastfeeding in her own words as well as in quotes from other mothers. Whenever I encountered a problem, this was the book that provided a clear explanation and a plan for success.
In my first days of nursing, I felt a lot of discomfort from latch on. Everything I read and everyone I talked to told me my son was not latching on properly. Kathleen broke latch on down to specific types of latch-on problems and what their symptoms were. I was able to find the information quickly and felt relief from the pain just hours after reading her instructions.
As with all breastfeeding books, there is more than the necessary amount of selling of the breastfeeding experience as well as pep talks about how wonderful it is and how even you can succeed. However, Kathleen gets to the point much faster than say "The Womanly Art". Kathleen also gives more timely and useful information for working mothers.
This is a meaty book. Great for women who like step-by-step instructions. As a matter of fact, this book was so well-written that parts of it are reprinted in a number of resources provided to new mothers. Medela reprints a chapter or two in their marketing information as well as one of the formula companies.
Three cows!
Breastfeeding and the Working Mother. Diane Mason, Diane Ingersoll
Buy it now!
1997, St Martin's Griffin. $11.95 ISBN 0-312-15486-0
A must read for all working/nursing mothers. This book is full of helpful hints on how to prepare, what to expect and how to handle different situations. It contains everything from what to pack in your pumping kit to legal advice if you are not allowed to pump at work.
I can't rave enough about this book. Finally a book that doesn't treat nursing and working as a given. A book that doesn't act like pumping your breasts is a perfectly natural thing to do. Written by women who have been walked in on while pumping this book goes beyond theory into practice.
This book quotes US Bureau of Labor Statistics as showing that "over 50 percent of of mothers with children under the age of three are working outside the home. Among mothers who work full-time, more than half begin breastfeeding in the hospital, yet only 12.5 percent are still nursing five to six months later, in contrast to nearly 23 percent of mothers nursing who are at home."
If you work outside the home or plan to work outside the home, this book is a best bet in your attempts to continue breastfeeding.
Three cows!
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. La Leche League International
1991, La Leche League International. $11.00 ISBN 0-452-26623-8
The Womanly Art is probably the most quoted breastfeeding text printed. Owned by nearly every breastfeeding mother, it provides information on breastfeeding and getting off to a good start.
Unfortunately, this book could be much shorter if it did not spend so much time trying to convince the reader that breastfeeding is the way to go. If you are unsure as to whether breastfeeding is for you, this book may make a strong case or it may turn you off completely.
As for working women, it gives lip service. It trys to show that working and nursing is very easy and natural.
The working Cow recommends this book as a basic starter text for the mom-to-be, but don't depend on it for any hard-core information when you are having problems. Call your LLL leader for that or read "The Nursing Mother's Companion."
One cow!
I've been reading T Berry Brazelton's Working and Caring and I thought I would pass on the word. This is a pretty good book that deals withe the development of infants and the reaction working parents have toward their part in that development.
I both like and dislike Brazelton. He is very calming and assuring and I overall like his parenting advice, but sometimes he is so calming and assuring as to sound like he is talking down to young mothers. Brazelton says he wrote this book because he answered so many questions that were specific to working mothers. However, the book doesn't deal only with the mothers emotional development but also with the fathers.
Some of his points seemed oversimplified, but some were so on target that I felt like he had been living in our apartment with us for months. Especially when he spoke about competition between working mothers and working fathers. We definitely have been through that.
He also includes chapters on the special circumstances of single mothers and their special emotional development. It is definitely worth a read. Even if Brazelton's style is a bit annoying to you (as for me). By perservering, I have been able to get a lot out of this book including some ideas on where my husband and I might be going in our development as parents.
Two cows!
This book gave far less than peace in the Mommy Wars that I experience. In fact, I can think of nothing to redeem this book.
The research of MS Shaw Lewis and Ms Crouse Yoest is far from strong or even unbiased. Biased in a way I have never seen in a published work before, the research presented here was simply a way to spread the guilt that many of the movers and shakers of the LLLI organization want so much to spread.
I truely expected the "peace" that this book promised would be in the form of stories from women who found peace. Stories of mothers who negotiated with boses, spouses, and extended family and friends to relieve the stress of motherhood and "workerhood;" mothers who learned what their children really needed from them and how best to provide it. Instead, this book provided story after painful story of mothers who regretted their decisions to return to work or who gave up after short periods.
While I have nothing against a woman chosing to stay at home or deciding that work is not the place for her after all, I, and many others like me, don't have that choice. What we are looking for out there is not preaching from a bunch of self absorbed, guilt bearing former-working women who want to justify their decision to stay home by passing their guilt on to those of us who have to work, but solutions, a calm voice in the storm telling us it will be alright, and maybe a grading of our choices. We know that, all things being equal, the best thing for our children is for mom to be at home loving and nurturing our children. So if that is not possible, what is the next best thing?
Can I take away cows for this one?
Reviews of "So That's What They're For", "Eat Well Loose Weight While Breastfeeding", "The Meat and Potatos of Breastfeeding", and many more.
Member of GeoCities Wellesley community.
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