Pediatricians say you should, but it's ok 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 in airplanes.? Breastfeeding is a private act yet everyone has an opinion about it. How did feeding our babies get so complicated?

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