The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding

by Kimberly Seals Allers

Overview

Pediatricians say you should but it's okay if you don't. The hospital says, "Breast is best," but sends you home with formula "just in case." Your sister-in-law says, "Of course you should!" Your mother says, "I didn't, and you turned out just fine." Celebrities are photographed nursing in public, yet breastfeeding mothers are asked to cover up in malls and on airplanes. Breastfeeding is a private act, yet everyone has an opinion about it. How did feeding our babies get so complicated?

Journalist and infant health advocate Kimberly Seals Allers breaks breastfeeding out of the realm of "personal choice" and shows our broader connection to an industrialized food system that begins at birth, the fallout of feminist ideals, and the federal policies that are far from family friendly. The Big Letdown uncovers the multibillion-dollar forces battling to replace mothers' milk and the failure of the medical establishment to protect infant health. Weaving together research and personal stories with original reporting on medicine, big pharma, and hospitals, Kimberly Seals Allers shows how mothers and babies have been abandoned by all the forces that should be supporting families from the start—and what we can do to help.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250026965
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/24/2017
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

KIMBERLY SEALS ALLERS is an award-winning journalist, and leading breastfeeding commentator. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, CNN.com, Ladies Home Journal, The New York Daily News, Real Simple, Fortune, Pregnancy and many others. She has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, Anderson Cooper, Fox News and the Huckabee Show and NPR. Kimberly worked at Fortune, Essence, New York Post and The Times (of London), before turning to freelance work. She is the author of The Mocha Manual® series of books and the co-author of Giving Notice: Why the Best and Brightest are Leaving the Workplace.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Doctor Who? The Medical Field's Influence on Mothers 13

2 Milk Money: The Big Business of Bodies, Breasts, and Babies 38

3 Scientific Breakthroughs or Breakdowns? 80

4 The Things Unseen: Battling Structural Barriers 120

5 Nipple-omics and the Value of Motherhood 153

6 The Feminist Fallacy 168

7 The Problem of No Problem: The Breastfeeding Movement 191

8 Boob Control: The Sexualization of Breastfeeding 226

9 Ending the Letdown: The Way Forward 251

Acknowledgments 265

Notes 269

Index 281

Editorial Reviews

12/05/2016
Journalist Allers (coauthor of The Mocha Manual to Military Life) thinks the slogan “Breast Is Best” should really be “Breast Is Complicated” as she comes out swinging against simplistic probreastfeeding arguments. Though some background is necessary, too much of Allers’s focus is on examples over a decade old, including a controversial advertising campaign from 2002, a controlled trial from 2001, and infant growth charts that were based on formula-fed babies until 2006. The resulting impression is that she doesn’t have much new to say about 21st-century trends. Allers does have one unusual target—feminism—and though much of her ire targets older second-wave ideas, such as the masculinization of women in pursuit of workplace equality, she also blames the well-meaning approach of lactation activists for making breastfeeding seem aggressive or radical rather than normal. She also criticizes third-wave ideas, such as placing breastfeeding in the context of “choice feminism” rather than public health and social justice, and calls out the middle-class focus on workplace accommodations in corporate environments. Only at the end does Allers step back from the anger to propose approaches for moving forward, and then her ideas are too vague to be useful or actionable. Agent: Stacey Glick, Dystel & Goderich. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"With abundant research to back her narrative, journalist Allers, who has two children, shows how and why American women have been made to feel ashamed of breast-feeding...Allers makes the message loud and clear: since breast-feeding provides the most benefits for mother and child, for those who are capable of doing so, it should be the feeding method of choice. Easily digested research and personal stories in support of breast-feeding and its importance to mothers and their children." -Kirkus Reviews

"Formula companies make millions by convincing women they aren’t capable of one of their most basic bodily functions, and have spent millions of marketing dollars aimed at women, doctors, hospitals, scientists and policymakers to hammer this point home for the past century. Allers is...transform[ing] the narrative surrounding breast-feeding into an empowering message." - The Washington Post

From the Publisher

01/01/2017
Breastfeeding is one of many polarizing issues facing women today. Allers, a recognized breastfeeding advocate, director of the First Food Friendly Community Initiative, and author of the "Mocha Manual" series, presents an in-depth examination of the structural, economic, and cultural barriers to breastfeeding. In the first chapters, Allers reviews the scientific support for breastfeeding and how the corporate world, motivated by profit, has undermined "good science" and created confusion and doubt. She then tackles structural and cultural barriers such as workplace biases, the lack of sufficient maternity leave and physician training, and even the quality of breast pumps. Allers supports her conclusions by citing scientific research, statistics, and specific examples provided by mothers and others involved in the breastfeeding community. This book concludes with a look ahead and specific recommendations that reimagine a world that truly supports breastfeeding. The portion of the narrative that will undoubtedly lead to discussion is Allers's assertion that feminists, through the choice movement, have actually undermined breastfeeding. Index not seen. VERDICT By detailing the many societal roadblocks to providing honest and effective support for mothers, this is an important addition to the breastfeeding literature that will invite discussion and a reexamination of social and cultural practices.—Theresa Muraski, Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Lib.

Library Journal

2016-11-07
Why breast-feeding is often frowned upon in the United States despite the well-documented health benefits for both mother and child.Even though breast-feeding is recommended by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations, and many other international organizations, the topic of breast-feeding is controversial, especially in the U.S. With abundant research to back her narrative, journalist Allers (The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit: How to Find and Grow Your Side Hustle in Any Economy, 2009, etc.), who has two children, shows how and why American women have been made to feel ashamed of breast-feeding. "The breastfeeding narrative, both historical and present-day, is a cautionary tale about maternal bodies, good or bad mothers, and how our bodies are measured and assessed," she writes. "Breastfeeding shows us all the ways, as women, that we have been imagined, constructed, created, and controlled by economics, science, the media, and other so-called authoritative sources." Allers chronicles the evolution of infant care from breast-feeding and the use of wet nurses to the introduction of mass-produced infant formulas to the return of breast-feeding activism, with all its inherent problems as women continue to work while still providing the nourishment their children need. The author also examines the role big corporations play in controlling this highly personal act, the problems breast-feeding creates when breasts are so widely representative of a woman's sexuality, and how feminists have actually hindered the recently revived breast-feeding movement. Allers makes the message loud and clear: since breast-feeding provides the most benefits for mother and child, for those who are capable of doing so, it should be the feeding method of choice. Easily digested research and personal stories in support of breast-feeding and its importance to mothers and their children.

Kirkus Reviews