Nursing Mother, Working Mother
Nursing Mother, Working Mother
In revising this edition of her classic text, Gale Pryor (daughter of Karen) has been joined by
another equally well-known US author in the area of breastfeeding, Kathleen Huggins.
The result is a thorough and reassuring compendium of most things that a new mother who is
intending to return to work after the birth of her first baby, or subsequent babies, needs to know.
The differences between the US and NZ conditions of employment can be disregarded as the
parents’ feelings, and the adjustments and preparations they have to make, are the same.
The sections on sleep and working parents are warm and reassuring. Most new research is taken
into account, and the usual background information is given about how we went from many
millions of years of everyone sleeping together, to the recent developments that in the Western
World are called ‘civilisation’, and their attendant baby-and-mother-separating apparatus of
individual bedrooms, cots, etc. The positive aspects of night-time interaction between mothers
and babies are stressed, and methods of ensuring everyone gets some sleep are outlined.
I was particularly impressed with the suggestions of how to cooperate and build solidarity with
other mothers in the workplace. These could be of real benefit to many women in this situation,
especially those in larger workplaces.
Original review, printed in Aroha Volume 10 Number 3
Nursing Mother, Working Mother
Revised Edition
By Gale Pryor and Kathleen Huggins
Harvard Common Press, 2009
Reviewed by Jill Allan, LLLNZ
