The Big Letdown
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.


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“This beautiful, impassioned, and wise book is required reading for anyone who had a mother. Kimberly Seals Allers brings her signature compassion and grace to get to the truth around breastfeeding.”
– RAJ PATEL
author of The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society, Redefine Democracy and Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
The Mini Mocha Manual to Pregnancy & Childbirth
The Essential Guide for Black Women
If you’re pregnant and a black woman then this is the must-have ebook. Recent media coverage has highlighted that black women face unique barriers and circumstances in their pregnancy and childbirth. An updated revision on the top-selling book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy, this new e-book was created just for today’s black woman. From must-ask questions for each trimester, to skin and hair fixes for black hair to knowing how to advocate for your best care–this e-book features expert tips, advice and encouragement from author and maternal health advocate, Kimberly Seals Allers and others. Every expecting black mama needs this!

The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy
The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy meets What to Expect When You’re Expecting for today’s professional black woman
The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy is a straight-talking handbook to pregnancy with contributions by doctors and personal stories from black women and celebrity moms.
Kimberly Seals-Allers offers candid advice on specific health concerns affecting black women such as high blood pressure, sickle cell disease, diabetes, and low birth weight, as well as information about how to get your finances in order, how to cope with embarrassing pigmentation and hair texture changes, single-parenting, maternity fashion, how to deal with demanding jobs and hormone-induced meltdowns.
Hip, funny, and refreshingly frank, this book is a must-have for all mothers-to-be.


The Mini Mocha Manual to Pregnancy & Childbirth
The Essential Guide for Black Women
If you’re pregnant and a black woman then this is the must-have ebook. Recent media coverage has highlighted that black women face unique barriers and circumstances in their pregnancy and childbirth. An updated revision on the top-selling book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy, this new e-book was created just for today’s black woman. From must-ask questions for each trimester, to skin and hair fixes for black hair to knowing how to advocate for your best care–this e-book features expert tips, advice and encouragement from author and maternal health advocate, Kimberly Seals Allers and others. Every expecting black mama needs this!

The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy
The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy meets What to Expect When You’re Expecting for today’s professional black woman
The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy is a straight-talking handbook to pregnancy with contributions by doctors and personal stories from black women and celebrity moms.
Kimberly Seals-Allers offers candid advice on specific health concerns affecting black women such as high blood pressure, sickle cell disease, diabetes, and low birth weight, as well as information about how to get your finances in order, how to cope with embarrassing pigmentation and hair texture changes, single-parenting, maternity fashion, how to deal with demanding jobs and hormone-induced meltdowns.
Hip, funny, and refreshingly frank, this book is a must-have for all mothers-to-be.


The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit
How to Find and Grow Your Side Hustle in Any Economy
Who among us haven’t dreamed of turning our passion into an income-producing enterprise? Whether it’s arranging flowers, creating our own beauty products, or taking care of children, we all have our special talents. But how do you turn your hobbies into something more lucrative? And when would you ever find the time?
In an uncertain economy, there is no better time than now to get started and The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit offers the step-by-step answers you need to turn your ideas into a business plan and your business plan into a bona fide business. Whether Kimberly Seals-Allers, an entrepreneur herself, is directing you toward resources that will tell you which licenses you need to get started or advising you on how to pick an accountant once your business starts to grow, you can count on her counsel to be clear, concise, and inspiring. Her wisdom on everything from marketing ideas to managing employees is combined with advice and anecdotes from everyday women who have founded companies ranging from small IT consulting businesses to massive operations such as Carol’s Daughter. Whether you want to quit your job and start your own company or supplement your existing income with a “side hustle,” this inspiring book is for you.

The Mocha Manual to Military Life
A Savvy Guide for Wives, Girlfriends, and Female Service Members
From Kimberly Seals-Allers, the creator of the Mocha Manual™ series, and coauthor Pamela McBride, a seasoned military wife, comes the ultimate guide to life, love, and logistics for military spouses, girlfriends, and female service members. Whether you’re just beginning to date a military man and pondering the ins and outs of a long-distance relationship as he moves from base to base or you’re a newly wed military wife, The Mocha Manual to Military Life has a host of tips for optimizing your romance. Beyond matters of the heart, the book also offers advice on everything from how to thrive during deployment to how to master military protocol to how to best build friendships among military wives. Accessible and witty, The Mocha Manual to Military Life is a fresh and timely must-read for all women—but particularly African American and Latina women—affected by military service. Written in the same informative tone as the other books in the Mocha Manual™ series, with sidebars and testimony from women who have experience navigating military life, this book is sure to be essential reading for all women engaged in some form or fashion with the military.


