Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know

· Hachette UK
3.9
22 reviews
Ebook
320
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

FREAKONOMICS meets WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING in this groundbreaking guidebook. Award-winning Emily Oster debunks myths about pregnancy to empower women while they're expecting.

Pregnancy is full of rules. Pregnant women are often treated as if they were children, given long lists of items to avoid-alcohol, caffeine, sushi- without any real explanation from their doctors about why. They hear frightening and contradictory myths about everything from weight gain to sleeping on your back to bed rest from friends and pregnancy books. In EXPECTING BETTER, Oster shows that the information given to pregnant women is sometimes wrong and almost always oversimplified.

When Oster was expecting her first child, she felt powerless to make the right decisions for her pregnancy so Oster drew on her own experience and went in search of the real facts about pregnancy using an economist's tools. Economics is the science of determining value and making informed decisions. To make a good decision, you need to understand the information available to you and to know what it means to you as an individual.

EXPECTING BETTER overturns standard recommendations for alcohol, caffeine, sushi, bed rest, and induction while putting in context the blanket guidelines for fetal testing, weight gain, risks of pregnancy over the age of thirty-five, and nausea, among others.

Oster offers the real-world advice one would never get at the doctor's office. Knowing that the health of your baby is paramount, readers can know more and worry less. Having the numbers is a tremendous relief-and so is the occasional glass of wine.

This groundbreaking guidebook is as fascinating as it is practical.

Ratings and reviews

3.9
22 reviews
Victoria
June 14, 2023
wouldn't know if this is a good book because despite purchasing it, google only provides a sample. last time I'll be relying on Google books for anything.
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Daria Kulaga
September 26, 2022
It's not data oriented, she only agrees with data that backs up what she wants (like have a glass of wine every night)... Huge disappointment.
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David Baker
March 19, 2014
I was 'Expecting better' . Wanted more facts and figures from pooled data. Ended up with a lot of generalisations, "should be ok", "avoid" etc
1 person found this review helpful
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About the author

Emily Oster is an associate professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was a speaker at the 2007 TED conference and her work has been featured in The NEW YORK TIMES The WALL STREET JOURNAL, FORBES, and ESQUIRE. Oster is married to economist Jesse Shapiro and is also the daughter of two economists. She has one child, Penelope.

https://twitter.com/emily__oster
Ted Talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/emily_oster_flips_our_thinking_on_aids_in_africa

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