ParentData with Emily Oster

Award-winning talk show host Tamron Hall dives into dressing your kids properly for the weather and overall preparedness as a parent (and why it's so elusive), and extolls the virtues of the preschool jacket flip (IYKYK). Subscribe to (the new and improved!) ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Today on ParentData, we're welcoming back Dr. Nathan Fox, Emily's co-author for The Unexpected- a book about when things go wrong, or at least get complicated, in a pregnancy. Nate is an OB-GYN and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, and he is one of our favorite returning podcast guests, not just because he’s a great talker but also because it’s really nice to have a doctor who can both provide medical answers to questions that come up around pregnancy, and help you have the best possible experiences with your own doctor. We’re discuss some big issues that arise during pregnancy and the many prenatal doctor’s visits; about the distinction between self-management and calling your doctor (when do you know if something is normal-bad or bad-bad?), and we’ll talk about just how subjective that line actually is. We also talk about risks and tradeoffs and about the kinds of postpartum issues that are worth addressing while still pregnant (we're looking at you, depression and anxiety). The Unexpected, and this conversation, are meant to help people be much better prepared for what they may face in their pregnancies and to help better navigate conversations with doctors — both the expected conversations and the unexpected ones. Subscribe to (the new and improved!) ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. Subscribe to (the new and improved!) PregnantData newsletter. This episode is generously supported by: • Hatch • LMNT

Today on ParentData, we're airing an episode from Raising Parents, Emily's limited series podcast in partnership with The Free Press. The episode is the last in the series, but the first question we all need to grapple with before engaging with all the others: should you have kids? For most of human history, having kids wasn’t much of a choice. Social expectations, lack of birth control, and limited autonomy for women presented a couple of options: Have children, or join a convent. But the 1960s ushered in a big change. With better options for birth control and expanded career opportunities for women, many people for the first time could choose how many children to have, and whether they should have any at all. Fast-forward to today: More people are choosing not to have children for a wide range of reasons. Having children, of course, is a personal choice. But it’s a choice that has broader implications. Everywhere across the globe—the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa—fewer children are being born. And strangely enough, having kids has become part of the culture wars. There are pro-natalist public figures like Elon Musk on one side saying everyone needs to have more kids now in order to save humanity. And on the other side, people like climate activist Greta Thunberg say rising sea levels are so catastrophic that having kids in this era is akin to genocide. But there’s no debate that the fertility rate is plummeting in America and around the world. Presently, American women, on average, have 1.8 kids. In the 1950s, it was 3. The replacement rate in the United States, which is the fertility rate needed for a generation to replace itself without considering immigration, is approximately 2.1 births per woman. Around the world, the fertility rate fell by more than half between 1950 and 2021, as many countries became wealthier and women chose to have fewer children. For economists like Emily, the speed with which the fertility rate is falling is cause for alarm. Economic growth depends, at least in part, on population growth. Retired people rely on generations of younger workers for support, through contributions to Social Security and taxes. With fertility rates in free fall, the math doesn’t add up. That’s the big picture. Now back to our own families, and a fundamental question: Should we even have kids in the first place, and what happens if we don’t? Resources from this episode: • Bryan Caplan: Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids (Bookshop) • Gina Rushton The Parenthood Dilemma: Procreation in the Age of Uncertainty (Bookshop) • Leah Libresco Sargeant • Helena de Groot • Ross Douthat

Here at ParentData, we talk a lot about panic headlines. You know, the headlines that cycle through your feed about coffee and wine and sleep and lead and the causes of autism, many of which contradict the last panic headline, and almost all of them turning out to be not nearly as bad as they seem. But in the moment, they feel so scary and urgent. And if you're a parent just trying to follow the science, do what's best for your kid, sometimes it feels like you're being absolutely and really nonsensically bombarded with the wrong things to do. Today on ParentData, we've invited Dr. Bapu Jena to help us stay sane. Bapu is an economist and a medical doctor who specializes in natural experiments, which means observing human behavior in naturally existing behavior (as opposed to a randomized trial). This makes him an ideal person to talk about the uses and abuses of data, and how curious nerds conduct research that makes its long and winding way into a headline that almost feels like it's designed to scare the crap out of parents. We talk about the complicated relationship between causality and correlation, the academic and popular incentives to publish these kinds of headlines, and also who decides what research is worth sharing with the world. This is on the face a conversation about research, but really it's about reassurance - there are a lot of reasons behind publishing a story about lead in Cheerios that have nothing to do with you or how dangerous Cheerios actually are or whether you're a good parent who cares about the health and wellbeing of your kids. You are and you do. Don't throw out your Cheerios, but do explore the journey with us. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. This episode is generously supported by: HatchLMNT

If you spend any time in parenting circles, it’s hard to avoid being inundated with “types” of parenting. Parenting labels are not neutral. Some are positive, some negative, but they’re never just descriptive. And lately, the most ink has been spilled over "gentle" parenting (also called permissive or respectful parenting). Gentle parenting, at its core, is an approach to behavior characterized by acknowledging a child’s feelings and not using punishments or rewards. But does it work? Let's see what the evidence says! Today on ParentData, Emily reads her recent article on gentle parenting aloud, digging into both the data, and also how hard the data is to evaluate. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

The United States is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid parental leave. We point out this fact a lot, but what does it really mean when a family doesn't have the ability to take time off when a baby is born? It means a lot of things. It means moms going back to work while still recovering from childbirth, it means parents struggling to figure out child care for their baby, and it often means babies going to group child care settings, which may be wonderful but do expose them to germs — germs that are more dangerous when babies are small than when they’re bigger. We can talk about these different challenges and why they might matter for kids’ and families’ outcomes, but to figure out how much they matter and in what ways...that’s what research is for. Today on ParentData, we're joined by Dr. Katherine Ahrens and Dr. Jennifer Hutcheon, who are both medical doctors and professors. They recently published a paper titled “Paid Family Leave and Prevention of Acute Respiratory Infections in Young Infants," an analysis of paid leave in New York State, and the impacts of that paid leave on hospitalizations for infants, mostly for RSV. The paper's bottom line is that paid family leave keeps babies healthier and keeps them out of the hospital, and now we have the data to prove it and to show that the effects are large in terms of numbers. But putting together a research paper like this is surprisingly tricky. You need to know what questions you’re asking, and you need to think about how you’re going to determine causality rather than just correlation. So we’re going to take their research from idea to final peer-reviewed paper, and we’re going to talk about everything you always wanted to know about how research is conducted. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Writer and excellent social media follow Bess Kalb ruminates on the best place to move your family to prepare for climate change, giving yourself intentional permission to worry, and the forbidden pleasures of a s'mores Pop Tart. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Nutrition, along with sleep and screens, is one of the most contentious parenting topics there is. And questions about nutrition are particularly hard to answer with data, because disentangling correlation from causation is nearly impossible. What we eat is so wrapped up in everything else we do that it’s very challenging to point to a particular food or even a particular eating pattern and say that it’s healthy or unhealthy. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we know nothing. Today on ParentData, Dr. Robert Davis is here to talk us through what we do know. Robert is a medical doctor and an award-winning health journalist, and, most importantly, he’s a voice of sanity who realistically explores the nuances of nutrition, the food industry, childhood obesity, and how challenging it is for individual parents to try to parse it all. We talk about diet versus eating habits and the importance of language around that issue, food fads in the recent past and what we keep not learning from them, what Robert calls “nutritionism” (like obsessing about omega-3s instead of thinking holistically about our diets), whether ultra-processed foods are really as bad as we’re led to believe, kids and Ozempic, and how heavy a hand parents are supposed to take when it comes to their kids’ nutrition. This is a tough topic. We need to eat, we need to feed our kids, and we don’t fully process how stressful it is to feel responsible for our kids’ health and, as they get older, their body image. Hopefully this conversation can help alleviate some of that stress. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. Listen to Emily's article on ultra-processed foods.

Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S., and after a fall – and a year – of divisiveness, could all use a holiday in which Americans are united in the task of consuming too much pie. More broadly, this holiday, more than really any other, is something Americans tend to do together. And so is parenting. Especially the beginning. The experience of having a newborn – the sleeplessness, the disconnection from reality, the wonder….it feels magical and unique, and yet also like a line connecting us to billions of people through the past. Today on ParentData, we're featuring an episode from another podcast, The Lonely Palette, that addresses this contradiction and the many others that just go hand-in-hand with parenting. It’s made by our producer Tamar Avishai; before she came to ParentData, she created this independent art history podcast, and this episode, about a 1970s feminist artist named Mary Kelly, felt perfect for the ParentData audience. Kelly meticulously tracked every data point from her son’s birth until age five (diaper stains, scribbles, first babbles, etc.) as a way of both coping with the lack of control mothers feel, and, just maybe, to try to hold on to something so fleeting. This episode combines Tamar's love of art history, Emily's love of data, and their shared love of parenting. Enjoy, preferably over another slice of pie. See the images discussed in the episode.Subscribe to The Lonely PaletteSubscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

We don’t all get to learn about vaginas in school or from our families or from creating a reputation as the "Vagina Economist." And quite frankly, this is to our detriment. But today on ParentData, we’re trying to make some progress on that. We're joined by Dr. Karen Tang, a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon (think: disorders like endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome), who is tearing up social media with her women’s health education. Her book, It’s Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health (but Were Never Told), and it’s exactly what it sounds like — a user manual for anyone with a female reproductive system. In this conversation, we discuss how to talk to your doctor and how to make the most of your time with them, the lack of data on women’s health, why Karen feels strongly about reclaiming the word “hysteria” when it comes to health for women, and what it means to study women’s pain as opposed to...pain (?). External links: The Menopause SocietyWPATHChildfree Subreddit Doctor Recommendations Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Pop quiz: what’s the only organ that you grow from nothing and then casually discard, that magically bosses around your hormones, and actually your entire body, and that is actually made up of two different people’s cells? Obviously it’s the placenta. Less obvious is how completely awesome it is. We're all wrapped up in this new baby on our chest, and since the placenta is so easy to deliver, relatively, and so gross to look at, we forget how incredible it is, and how absolutely crucial for the health of your baby. So today on ParentData, we’re going to finally give it its due. We've invited Dr. Gillian Goddard back for a mini episode to talk about all things placenta. We’re going to follow its journey through conception to pregnancy to delivery and - if you’re so inclined - beyond, and answer any of the questions you might have about this truly magical and sadly ephemeral organ. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

When we talk about C-sections, it’s often prefaced with “unplanned” or “emergency.” About a third of all the deliveries in the U.S. are cesarean sections, and only about 16% of those are planned. And that leaves a lot of mothers in a position where they’re delivering differently than they planned or intended to. And in the U.S., a disproportionate number of those are being performed on black women. So how are we going to get to the root of what's going on? Today on ParentData, we're joined by Molly Schnell, whose paper “Drivers of Racial Differences in C-Sections” explores this phenomenon. Molly is an assistant professor of economics at Northwestern University and her paper found that black mothers with unscheduled deliveries are 25% more likely to deliver by C-section than white mothers. And she argues that implicit racial bias among providers or possibly even a financial incentive in hospitals to fill their operating rooms may play a role in this racial gap. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. ParentData is generously supported by Honeycomb.

There is nothing in the world of nutrition more confusing than ultra-processed foods. Seemingly every week, there is a new headline about the dangers of ultra-processed foods and their links to things like heart disease, dementia, and death. Today on ParentData, Emily reads her recent article on ultra-processed foods and provides some tips for smart food - and headline - consumption. The article at ParentData.orgPhotos of the meals from the studySubscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

In the run-up to November 5th, it's easy to feel hopeless about the state of our national discourse, and what any single one of us can do to make a difference. That's when we need to look local, where it feels like things can actually change, and where the people who are trying to make the changes feel approachable but, often, no less inspiring. Today on ParentData, we're joined by Aly Richards, the CEO of Let's Grow Kids. They're on a mission to ensure affordable access to high quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025 - and they've actually done a lot of it. In June of 2023, the Vermont legislature made history by passing a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive child care bill into law, with overwhelming support from across the political spectrum. This bill supports child care through subsidies in both directions, to families and also to child care providers, and it provides a model for other states to hopefully follow. In this conversation, we talk about grassroots mobilization, about clipboards at county fairs, about knocking on doors and how important that is. We talk about the economics of change. We give the cold, hard capitalist case for child care and for child care subsidies, and explain how child care actually pays for itself, if you take a long enough perspective. Get ready to be inspired. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. ParentData is generously supported by: HoneycombSkylightStrollerCoaster podcastWhole Foods Market

Freakonomics economist Professor Steve Levitt joins to weave a thrilling tale about worms in poop, and advocating for your child. Warning: this late-night panic Google is not for the faint of heart. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Midwives are having a bit of a moment. Of course, that moment is not at all new. For a very, very long time, — hundreds, possibly thousands, of years — midwives, or people who were effectively midwives, were delivering all babies. Even when “doctor” became a more formal job, births were still nearly always attended by midwives. At some point, though, especially in the U.S., that changed. Midwifery attendance went way, way down, although it's starting to see an uptick. And it's because the data supports that there are benefits to having a midwife rather than having a doctor at birth, that spontaneous vaginal birth — birth without a vacuum or forceps — increases in the care of a midwife. Cesarean sections decrease, and so do episiotomies. Today on ParentData, we're joined by Ann Ledbetter, a certified nurse-midwife, to help us understand why. We talk about differences and similarities between midwives and OBs and doulas, epidurals, home births, and the difference between health care in the U.S. and elsewhere. And we also take time to talk about the holistic process of birth and how cool it is. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. ParentData is generously supported by: HoneycombSkylightStrollerCoaster podcastWhole Foods Market

Gymnast and Olympic gold-medalist Shawn Johnson describes the panic of international emergencies, advocating for your children in French, and why she hopes her kids never become gymnasts themselves. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

It's our one-year podaversary! We relaunched the new and improved ParentData podcast a year ago this week. We've heard from some incredible, thought-provoking guests, and many voices from our community and beyond. But today on ParentData, we're handing Emily the mic. In the spirit of her weekly Wednesday Instagram Q&As, she'll be answering your burning questions about pregnancy, babies, and older kids, in real time...and with a little help. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. ParentData is generously supported by: HoneycombSkylightStrollerCoaster podcastWhole Foods Market

Instagram's Caitlin Murray (@BigTimeAdulting) contemplates fear of the unknown, the probability of rare childhood diseases, getting hit by meteors, and the gentle parental art of "...what if you just didn't think about it?". Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

If you're a parent who reads the news - and who listens to this podcast - you probably heard a lot about screens this summer. And even now, as kids go back to school, we're hearing a lot about phones. No phones in schools. Put your phone in a Yondr pouch. Hide your phone in your backpack. People are doing TikToks in the bathroom. Take their phones away. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is at the forefront of a lot of these conversations. His book, The Anxious Generation, has really galvanized a lot of these conversations, around kids and phones and schools and their mental health. Today on ParentData, Jon joins us to talk about it all: both what his research has revealed and what's gotten a fair amount of pushback, particularly around the question of whether phones are really the boogeyman for teen mental health that everyone seems to think they are. Study on social media and mental health (Braghieri, Levy, and Makarin: American Economic Review, Nov. 2022) Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting. We're looking for your questions for a podcast Q&A! Record a voice memo (under a minute) and send it to podcast@parentdata.org. Thank you! ParentData is generously supported by: HoneycombSkylightStrollerCoaster podcastWhole Foods Market