In
‘Cribsheet,’ a Brown economist debunks long-held parenting myths
Oster, a Brown
University professor of economics, wasn’t satisfied with her doctors’ edicts.
Limit your coffee intake, they said. But where is the evidence to show that
coffee will harm my baby, she asked? Don’t gain more than 35 pounds, they
declared. What’s the real cost of gaining 40 instead, she wondered?
Unsatisfied with the
vague answers she received, Oster set out to track down her own. The result,
published in 2013, was “Expecting Better,” a book that used data to take on
some of the most commonly held beliefs about pregnancy.
"Cribsheet" uses data to address
breastfeeding, sleep training and other crucial decisions new parents face.
Six years later, the mother of two has released a sequel of sorts: “Cribsheet,” a data-driven guide for new parents. In the book, Oster compiles years of scientific research to debunk age-old myths about some of the most divisive and controversial subjects in parenting, from breastfeeding to sleep training.
“So many people today
want to approach parenting with the same work ethic that got them through
school, that got them their first job and their first promotion,” Oster says.
“They want to know how to do it right and do it well. I hope my evidence-based
guide will help relieve some of the stress they’re feeling.”
“Cribsheet,” published
by Penguin Random House, is out now. Ahead of its release, Oster answered a few
questions about the book, her research and her own approach to parenting.
A lot of new parents
want to make evidence-based decisions about how they’ll raise a child. But it’s
very hard to figure out what information and advice is supported by evidence.
When I was a new parent, I did a lot of research to inform my own decisions. I
wanted to share what I learned to take some of the anxiety and stress out of
some of those early parenting choices.
Q: Why do you think so
many new parents feel anxiety and stress when making these choices?
Having a child is an
experience people really want to get right. And for many people, once you have
made a choice, it’s often very tempting to decide it was the right choice and
to convey to other people that it was the right choice. That ends up creating
an environment where people end up feeling judged or like they have to pick a
side in a debate. That makes for a much more stressful parenting experience.
Q: Do you think you’ll
lay any debates to rest with this book?
What I try to do in
the book is to ask, “What does the best evidence say are the actual benefits?”
For example, there are data to support that breastfeeding improves a baby’s
digestion in the first year, lowers the risk of eczema and lowers the risk of
breast cancer for moms. But I found that there is no evidence to support claims
that breastfeeding increases a baby’s IQ or lowers the risk of obesity.
So the data really
tell people, yes, there are some benefits to breastfeeding. But if you can’t
breastfeed, or you choose not to, or you have to stop because it’s not working
out, that’s okay. There is so much shame that’s heaped onto mothers who don’t
or can’t breastfeed, when really, the claim that whether someone was breastfed
will influence their whole life is not supported in the data.
Q: Are there any
pieces of advice you’ve heard that are just plain false?
I saw some bizarre
claims about the benefits of breastfeeding, aside from the claims about IQ and
obesity I mentioned. One article claimed that breastfeeding helps mothers
develop better friendships. What does that even mean?
Another topic where
people got it wrong was food allergens, like peanuts. For a long time, people
were told to introduce food allergens to their kids later — at around 2 years
old — because otherwise kids could have an allergic reaction. It turns out
that’s the opposite of the correct advice: Introducing allergens earlier makes
kids less likely to have allergies, not more likely.
Other than that, I’m
not sure there’s much that almost everyone is told that is definitely wrong. In
many cases, half of people believe one thing and the other half believe another
— and it’s hard for parents to figure out which is right.
Q: What made you feel
most anxious when you were a new parent? Did it help to do a little research?
Issues of sleep —
organizing your kid’s sleep, that is. The books all said that after about six
weeks, my kid would start sleeping longer. That wasn’t happening. I thought,
“What’s wrong with my baby?” I have a chapter in the book dedicated to sleep
training, where I explain why the baby books tell us these things. I share
actual data that demonstrates, yes, six weeks is the average age at which kids
start sleeping longer, but the range is very wide. Babies are not predictable.
For me, seeing that data was very helpful; it was a reminder not to expect
predictability.
Q: What is the single
most important takeaway in “Cribsheet”?
That other people’s
choices are not necessarily right for you. And conversely, that the choices you
make should be right for you, but they aren’t going to be right for everyone
else. I think that’s really the message of the book: Even if everyone used data
to inform their decisions, they would all make different choices. You need to
look not only at data but also at your own preferences and circumstances to
find what’s right.
A question I often get
is, “What is the one most important thing parents can do for their kid?” And
there isn’t anything like that. There is no one choice that is either going to
ruin your kid or make them the most successful.
Q: What can we expect
from you next?
Right now I’m
researching the limits of causality in data, particularly in health settings.
What happens a lot is, new research will come out that says, “This is a good
thing to do,” and a bunch of people will start doing it. But those are often
the same people who are doing all sorts of other healthy, good things. So how
can we know whether something is good and healthy in and of itself? How can we
know it doesn’t just seem that way because the people doing it are already
healthy? I’m examining how that causal bias can potentially influence health
recommendations.
