Gale Pryor - Nursing Mother, Working Mother

"I wish I had written this easy-to-read and empowering book. Pryor makes clear how, not just why, a mother will combine breastfeeding and paid employment. A 'must read' for any woman considering such a combination of experiences."

Kathleen Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC, Private Lactation Consultant

"A practical guide to resolving some of the difficulties that can occur when a breastfeeding mother returns to her job after maternity leave."

Los Angeles Times

"Sensitive, insightful guide."

Booklist

"Resourceful, confidence-building text."

Publishers Weekly

"A highly practical yet philosophical book that will empower mothers."

Library Journal

"A fine addition to the reading list of any new mother hoping to balance mothering and a professional or business career."

Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering

"A terrific and detailed guide on how to nurse your baby and go back to work at the same time. This book is a refreshing, candid look the demands a working mother faces today."

Childbirth Instructor

"Gale Pryor has drawn from her breastfeeding experiences while working full-time to produce a book that will prove extremely useful to women experiencing frequent separationsfrom their breastfed babies...provides a wealth of knowledge on the practical aspects of breastfeeding."

La Leche League International's New Beginnings magazine

"With the sensitivity of a mother who has 'been there,' Pryor gives the reader confidence and reassurance that combining breastfeeding and working is possible and provides ample suggestions to back it up ... I strongly recommend every mother read it."

Gail Martel, Journal of Human Lactation

"Full of practical hints on overcoming social and workplace obstacles to breastfeeding."

Fit Pregnancy

"Empowers women who desire to blend their roles of motherhood with a job outside the home in a confident and successful way."

The Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing

"Gale Pryor writes an in-depth and passionate book for and about the nursing, working mother. Not only is it very supportive of working women, but it also provides the basic information needed for any woman to successfully breastfeed her baby."

Journal of the Section on Women's Health

"Nursing Mother, Working Mother provides a road map for successful mothering. In a graceful tone of respect and understanding, Gale Pryor offers detailed and practical advice so that every mother who wants to can return to work with confidence that she and her baby will maintain their special intimacy."

Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles, author of
Naked to the Bone: Medical
Imaging in the Twentieth Century

The Harvard Common Press
535 Albany Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02118
www.harvardcommonpress.com

Copyright 2007 by Gale Pryor
Cover illustrations copyright 2007 by Coco Masuda
Illustrations copyright 2007 by Alexis Seabrook

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pryor, Gale.

Nursing mother, working mother : the essential guide to breastfeeding
your baby before and after you return to work / Gale Pryor and Kathleen
Huggins.2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-55832-331-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. BreastfeedingPopular works. 2. Working mothers. I. Huggins,
Kathleen. II. Title.
RJ216.P768 2006
649'.33dc22
2006026173

ISBN-13: 978-1-55832-331-5
ISBN-10: 1-55832-331-7

Special bulk-order discounts are available on this and other
Harvard Common Press books. Companies and organizations may
purchase books for premiums or resale, or may arrange a custom
edition, by contacting the Marketing Director at the address above.

BOOK DESIGN BY JILL WEBER
COVER ILLUSTRATIONS BY COCO MASUDA
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALEXIS SEABROOK

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

For my boys:
Kolya, Max, Wylie, and Nathaniel
G.P.

To John, my baby boy whom
I nursed while I worked.
K.H.

T HIS BOOK BEGAN TAKING SHAPE when I returned to work following the birth of my first son, Max. In a new city far from family, the first among my friends to become a mother, unique among my coworkers in attempting to combine mothering and working, I was overwhelmed by anxiety and strain. The support of experienced mothers and friends in the same stage of life would have made everything so much easier.

At the very least, a book that addressed my situation, including both the practical problems to which I was devising answers and the emotional events I was weathering, would have helped a great deal. Now, having authored that wished-for book, I know that having a baby and writing a book share much in common: friends and family make the job so much easier.

Neither my sons nor this book would have been possible without the help of my best friend and husband, Karl Leabo. His encouragement as I spent hours upon hours at the computer, his gift of a beautiful desk, his endless patience at living with piles of papers, boxes of books, and ink stains on the bed sheets whenever I fell asleep while underlining a reference were all major contributions to the completion of the writing. The imaginative weekend expeditions on which he took our sons, while I stayed home to write, vastly improved what could have been a dreary year for them. These sons, Max, Wylie, and Nathaniel (who came along in time for the second edition), deserve thanks as well. They have been my inspiration, my teachers, and my rewards throughout the hard work of becoming a mother and a writer.

This book also came to be because of my mother, Karen Pryor. Writer, biologist, behaviorist, breastfeeding expert, dolphin researcher, dog guru, keynote speaker, grandmother, birdwatcher, botanist, carpenter, needlepointer, mountain climber, and museumgoer, she has shown me that the world is an endlessly fascinating place-all of it worth learning and writing about. Her encouragement and editorial comments fueled me through the research and writing. She shall continue to inspire me all my life.

Three years ago, vaguely pondering the idea of this book, I attended a regional La Leche League (LLL) conference. After a morning of seminars, during which I realized that this conference was in every way like the professional seminars I had attended in the course of my career except that a multitude of babies and children were present, I arrived for the luncheon in the hotel ballroom. Looking around for an empty seat, and finding one at a table of strangers, I sat down next to Gerry Anne Dubis. An LLL leader from New Hampshire, Gerry Anne, as luck would have it, had helped countless working mothers to nurse their babies. By the time dessert was served, Gerry Anne and I were planning our own seminar to be given at the following LLL conference. Later she donated hours reviewing the text of the book and fixing inaccuracies; her experience and expertise are laced throughout these chapters. I am also grateful to Kittie Frantz, pediatric nurse-practitioner and professor of lactation at the University of Southern California Medical School, who provided a thoughtful review of the manuscript, invaluable expertise, and resources.

Kathleen Huggins, registered nurse and certified lactation consultant, and also the author of