Don't Kill Your Baby

<div>How did breastfeeding-once accepted as the essence of motherhood and essential to the well-being of infants-come to be viewed with distaste and mistrust? Why did mothers come to choose artificial food over human milk despite the health risks? In this history of infant feeding Jacqueline H. Wolf focuses on turn-of-the-century Chicago as a microcosm of the urbanizing United States. She explores how economic pressures class conflict and changing views of medicine marriage efficiency self-control and nature prompted increasing numbers of women and eventually doctors to doubt the efficacy and propriety of breastfeeding. Examining the interactions among women dairies and health care providers Wolf uncovers the origins of contemporary attitudes toward and myths about breastfeeding.</div>