Unlatched: The Evolution of Breastfeeding and the Making of a Controversy

Since the rise of artificial formula, we have turned a biological process into a never-ending controversy: A mother breastfeeding her three-year-old son on the cover of Time magazine sets off a firestorm. Facebook takes down photos of women nursing, citing the content as “offensive.” The pope weighs in, urging mothers to nurse their children in church or elsewhere “without thinking twice.”

So how did we get here? What are the consequences of surrendering eons of human evolution for a mode of feeding so alien? Growing up, journalist Jennifer Grayson thought nothing of the fact that she was bottle-fed. But when she became a mother, Grayson considered the impact of missing out on this profound connection. Her book is a worldwide search for answers about the first, most fundamental experience of newborn life.

From biblical times to eighteenth-century France, from modern-day Mongolia to inner-city Los Angeles—Unlatched uncovers astonishing cultural, corporate, political, and technological factors at the heart of our contemporary breastfeeding disconnection.

Why did we trade a biological imperative for a corporate product, and what is the true science of human milk?

• The Science of Human Milk: A deep dive into the thousands of unique components in breast milk—from immune factors to newly discovered oligosaccharides—that infant formula can’t replicate.
• A Surprising Cultural History: Journey from the wet-nurses of eighteenth-century France to the formula-marketing boom of the 1950s to understand how corporations and doctors reshaped motherhood.
• The Politics of Infant Formula: An investigation into the cozy relationship between formula companies and government programs like WIC that shape how millions of babies are fed.
• Motherhood Reclaimed: Follows the author’s personal transformation from a bottle-fed skeptic to a mother practicing tandem and extended breastfeeding, offering an intimate look at today’s parenting choices.