Mommy Memoir: An Interview with the Author of "How My Breasts Saved the World"

By Larissa Philips

Just when you thought the memoir genre had covered every last issue, Brooklynite and former Emmy-winning television producer Lisa Wood Shapiro comes out with a nursing memoir. But what a great surprise: How My Breasts Saved the World is the book you wish you’d had in those first few weeks, deep in that bewildering process of learning to nurse your baby. Funny, entertaining and brutally honest, the book details Woods’ torturous trek from overly confident and completely unprepared new mom to bona fide nursing pro. Along the way she encounters various nursing injuries (Who knew you could get carpal tunnel syndrome from breastfeeding?), becomes best friends with her nursing pillow and ultimately makes her goal, nursing her daughter for a full year.

Halfway through the book, I was dying to meet Shapiro and tell her in person how much I liked the book. We met in the Brooklyn Heights Barnes & Noble and followed her 1 1/2-year-old son around the kids’ section, while chatting about prenatal yoga, lactation consultants and the need for Lily Pulitzer nursing dresses. No longer a breastfeeding neophyte, Shapiro has become attached to the novel idea that a mom can feed her baby in the best possible way, and still retain her sense of humor and her sense of style. She even has some suggestions for what to do with all the money new moms save by breastfeeding (hint: There’s a stylish downtown department store that starts with the letter B …).


Here are some excerpts from our highly enjoyable conversation.


You suffered from engorgement, an injured wrist, sore nipples, a close call with a case of thrush and many other issues. What was it that kept you going?


Oh, arrogance, ego; horrible things like that … Also, my mother told me I was nursed, and I had this thing: feed unto others as you yourself were fed. I also told everyone I was going to nurse … And I’m crazy. It was crackpot fortitude.


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