“Brody surveyed hundreds of women to create this guide for women in the “fifth trimester,” which is what she calls the phase after maternity leave when new mothers are transitioning back into the workplace.”
how 734 new moms changed the world
The first three trimesters (and the fourth—those blurry newborn days) are for the baby, but the Fifth Trimester is when the working mom is born. No matter what the job or how you define work, you’re going to have a lot of questions. When will I go back? How should I manage that initial “I want to quit” attack? Flex-time or full-time? How can I achieve 50/50 at home with my partner? What’s the best option for childcare? Is it possible to look like I slept for eight hours instead of three? And . . . why is there never a convenient space to pump?
Whether you’re in the final stages of pregnancy or hitting the panic button on your last day of leave, The Fifth Trimester is your one-stop shop for the honest, funny, and comforting tips, to-do lists, and take-charge strategies you’ll need to embrace your new identity as a working parent and set yourself up for success.
Based on interviews and input from 700+ candidly speaking moms in wildly varied fields, along with expert advice and real science, The Fifth Trimester tackles every personal and professional detail with wit, warmth, and inspiration.
How to look like you slept when you didn't (page 145)
The only reasonable way to ask for a raise right now (page 260)
How to know if it's more than "just the baby blues" (page 111)
The boss-approved way to request flextime or a change of duties (page 264)
Your daycare tour, totally decoded (page 20) and the number one question to ask in a nanny interview (page 15)
The secret way to work from home and actually get shit done (page 228)
Five things that stop any "I want to quit" attack (page 55)
The good-enough date night (page 208)
“Like having a well-trusted friend impart bits of wisdom before the meltdown occurs”
Photograph by Michelle Rose Photo
about the author
Lauren Smith Brody is the founder of The Fifth Trimester movement and consulting, which supports all working parents and caregivers to advance women’s leadership and build gender equity in the workforce.
The Fifth Trimester has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and on Good Morning America, and Brody has been a featured speaker at companies and organizations across the Fortune 500, with a focus on tech, finance, and big law. Brody’s book, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby (Doubleday/Anchor), was a simultaneous triple best-seller in the Amazon categories of motherhood, women and business, and cultural anthropology.
As an entrepreneur who can’t quit journalism, Brody writes regularly about the intersection of business and parenthood for, among others, The New York Times, Slate, and Elle, and pens (okay, types) monthly advice columns for Parade Media and the children’s brand Maisonette.
And as a journalist who can’t quit activism, she is also a co-founder of the Chamber of Mothers, a national nonprofit movement focusing America’s attention on mothers’ rights. Grateful to call on her reporting skills, contacts, and messaging expertise, she is currently advising Health and Human Services and the White House Office of Management and Business as they build immediate and long term solutions to the 2022 formula shortage.
A longtime leader in the women’s magazine industry, Brody was previously the executive editor of Glamour magazine where she ran the brand’s Women of the Year Awards honoring such luminaries as Dr. Maya Angelou, Hillary Clinton, and Serena Williams. Raised in Ohio, Texas, and Georgia, she now lives in New York City with her husband, two sons, and a joyfully neurotic rescue dog.
to see how the story continues, follow @thefifthtrimester
