Whitney Casares - The Working Mom Blueprint: Winning at Parenting Without Losing Yourself

ALSO BY WHITNEY CASARES, MD, MPH, FAAP

The New Baby Blueprint: Caring for You and Your Little One

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For additional parenting resources, visit the HealthyChildren bookstore at https://shop.aap.org/for-parents.

*This book is also available in Spanish.

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS PUBLISHING STAFF

Mary Lou White, Chief Product and Services Officer/SVP, Membership, Marketing, and Publishing

Mark Grimes, Vice President, Publishing

Holly Kaminski, Editor, Consumer Publishing

Jason Crase, Senior Manager, Production and Editorial Services

Shannan Martin, Production Manager, Consumer Publications

Peg Mulcahy, Manager, Art Direction and Production

Sara Hoerdeman, Marketing Manager, Consumer Products

Published by the American Academy of Pediatrics

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Itasca, IL 60143

Telephone: 630/626-6000 Facsimile: 847/434-8000

www.aap.org

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists, and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety, and well-being of all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.

The information contained in this publication should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

Statements and opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Any websites, brand names, products, or manufacturers are mentioned for informational and identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The AAP is not responsible for the content of external resources. Information was current at the time of publication.

The persons whose photographs are depicted in this publication are professional models. They have no relation to the issues discussed. Any characters they are portraying are fictional.

The publishers have made every effort to trace the copyright holders for borrowed materials. If they have inadvertently overlooked any, they will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

This publication has been developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The contributors are expert authorities in the field of pediatrics. No commercial involvement of any kind has been solicited or accepted in the development of the content of this publication. Disclosure: Dr Casares reports consultant relationships with Evivo (Evolve Biosystems) and Gerber.

Every effort is made to keep The Working Mom Blueprint: Winning at Parenting Without Losing Yourself consistent with the most recent advice and information available from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this publication. Email Special Sales at for more information.

2021 Whitney Casares, MD, MPH, FAAP

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout prior permission from the publisher (locate title at ).

Printed in the United States of America

9-464/0321 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

CB0124

ISBN: 978-1-61002-486-0

eBook: 978-1-61002-489-1

EPUB: 978-1-61002-487-7

Kindle: 978-1-61002-488-4

Cover and publication design by Peg Mulcahy

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020937638

The Working Mom Blueprint

Dr Casares' vital message in this warmly reassuring, deeply empathetic book is that when you practice better self-care, you will take better care of everyoneand everythingelse. Its filled with practical, actionable tools and tips that even the most sleep-deprived, bleary-eyed working mother can follow.

Jancee Dunn, author of How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids

Children thrive when their parents love them without conditionand feel whole themselves. Parenting is the hardest and most important job we have. Sacrifice isnt the answer. Perfection is not an option. Good parenting is about caring beyond measure while wisely guiding our children in their journey towards adulthood. Being satisfied with our lives outside of parenting is precisely what gives us the strength to parent well. Dr Casares gets real in The Working Mom Blueprint and hits it out of the park! This book is exactly what modern parents need to get to that beautiful balanced space where they can love with every bit of their energy precisely because their tanks are filled in other areas of their lives.

Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD, MS Ed, FAAP, author of Building Resilience in Children and Teens and Raising Kids to Thrive and director of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

As a working pediatrician-mom of 4 teenagers, Ive experienced the seasons Dr Casares describes in The Working Mom Blueprint. She sagely advises parents to give ourselves grace and to recognize This life is all about choicestradeoffs and benefits. Dr Casares shares timely and topical advice, empowering parents to not only prioritize what is truly important but also to serve as role models for our children to continue tilting the needle towards greater gender equity in both our households and our workplaces.

Shelly Vaziri Flais, MD, FAAP, pediatrician and author of Raising Twins, editor in chief of Caring for Your School-Age Child, coeditor of The Big Book of Symptoms, and assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine