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Expecting Better
“Emily Oster is the non-judgmental girlfriend holding our hand and guiding us through pregnancy and motherhood. She has done the work to get us the hard facts in a soft, understandable way.” —Amy Schumer
*Fully Revised and Updated for 2021*
What to Expect When You're Expecting meets Freakonomics: an award-winning economist disproves standard recommendations about pregnancy to empower women while they're expecting. From the author of Cribsheet and The Family Firm, a data-driven decision making guide to the early years of parenting
Pregnancy—unquestionably one of the most profound, meaningful experiences of adulthood—can reduce otherwise intelligent women to, well, babies. Pregnant women are told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee without ever being told why these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are similarly unexplained. Moms-to-be desperately want a resource that empowers them to make their own right choices.
When award-winning economist Emily Oster was a mom-to-be herself, she evaluated the data behind the accepted rules of pregnancy, and discovered that most are often misguided and some are just flat-out wrong. Debunking myths and explaining everything from the real effects of caffeine to the surprising dangers of gardening, Expecting Better is the book for every pregnant woman who wants to enjoy a healthy and relaxed pregnancy—and the occasional glass of wine.
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Reviews
Such useful information that have helped me navigate all the choices I am making in my first time pregnancy.
By Jackie of Pancake
Great source for people like who like studies and data, clear and informative so you can take the best decision bad on your preferences
By heidydoc
Data driven perspectives and personal anecdotes made this book insightful, interesting, and incredibly helpful.
By taramichelle07
I’m so glad that I was able to read this book. Information and risk trade-offs have always made more sense to me than medical or behavioral rules. I really appreciate that Emily Oster has the skills and talent to apply the scrutiny of economics to medical research on pregnancy.
By sara.k.barz
Coming from an OB perspective, this book is extremely disappointing. I felt every anecdote started with how much her own OB failed her. I’m addition, the Author made it sound like she wanted a statistical discussion on each and every talking point from her physician. Realistically, there’s just not time for that. Insurance allows each Ob visit to have about 5 mins. We are required to cover certain topics. It’s also important to remember the liability OBs have. For example, We can’t tell you there’s any safe amount of alcohol because if your baby ends up with FAS, we might get sued. Same with lunch meat and listeria. So I can’t say, “use your judgement”. In addition, it’s important to acknowledge that you are hiring your doctor to interpret the data themselves and make a recommendation based on their expertise. That’s what we go to medical school for. You should establish a trusting relationship with your OB, and that will allow you to trust that their recommendations reflect current best practices. If you are finding conflicting data online, it’s possible, you need a new OB. I wanted to like this book and recommend it to my patients, but unfortunately I feel it just puts us in conflict instead of collaboration.
By LittleMissMaggie