About Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool
The instant New York Times bestseller!
An NPR Book of the Year
From the author of Expecting Better, an economist’s guide to the early years of parenting.
“The book is jampacked with information, but it’s also a delightful read because Oster is such a good writer.” —NPR
With Expecting Better, award-winning economist Emily Oster spotted a need in the pregnancy market for advice that gave women the information they needed to make the best decision for their own pregnancies. By digging into the data, Oster found that much of the conventional pregnancy wisdom was wrong. In Cribsheet, she now tackles an even greater challenge: decision-making in the early years of parenting.
As any new parent knows, there is an abundance of often-conflicting advice hurled at you from doctors, family, friends, and strangers on the internet. From the earliest days, parents get the message that they must make certain choices around feeding, sleep, and schedule or all will be lost. There’s a rule–or three–for everything. But the benefits of these choices can be overstated, and the trade-offs can be profound. How do you make your own best decision?
Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn’t always hold up. She debunks myths around breastfeeding (not a panacea), sleep training (not so bad!), potty training (wait until they’re ready or possibly bribe with M&Ms), language acquisition (early talkers aren’t necessarily geniuses), and many other topics. She also shows parents how to think through freighted questions like if and how to go back to work, how to think about toddler discipline, and how to have a relationship and parent at the same time.
Economics is the science of decision-making, and Cribsheet is a thinking parent’s guide to the chaos and frequent misinformation of the early years. Emily Oster is a trained expert–and mom of two–who can empower us to make better, less fraught decisions–and stay sane in the years before preschool.
- Complete Title: Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool
- Format: Paperback
- Language: English
- Number of Pages: 322
- Publication Time: April 21, 2020
- Publisher: Penguin Books
- ISBN: 0525559272
- ISBN13: 9780525559276
About Emily Oster
Emily Oster
Emily Oster is an American economist and bestselling author. After receiving a B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard in 2002 and 2006 respectively, Oster taught at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She later moved to Brown University, where she holds the rank of Professor of Economics. Her research interests span from development economics and health economics to research design and experimental methodology.
She is the author of two books, Expecting Better and Cribsheet, which discuss a data-driven approach to decision-making in pregnancy and parenting.
Reviews Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool
Kate Lobo
90% of the book can be distilled into: the research and data on xyz is inconclusive, so do what’s best for your family and it’ll probably all be fine. Didn’t really learn anything super signific…
April
I am reviewing an ARC of this book I received through Edelweiss.I LOVED Oster’s first book Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know. It relie…
Mazie Lynn
As a parent, it is quite difficult for me to suspend all bias in favor of the evidence and I do not believe this author has been able to either. Although she admits her particular bias in one section…
Matt Quann
Just before our son arrived, I assured my wife that as an almost-paediatrician I knew all about babies. While she could help herself to parenting books, I’d be fine. Then, of course, I discovered that…
Nicole Coleman
I struggled with this book due to my background in child psychology. I felt that Emily had her own biases that she was trying to defend her own personal choices within this book. Yes, ultimately it is…
Danielle McQueen
I loved Expecting Better, so I was super disappointed to not find this book very useful. I’m surprised she wrote it at all, given how few conclusions can be drawn from the studies she cites. The who…
Molly
I’m not a huge fan of parenting books- there is seldom anything “new” or revolutionary. This book is less about advice and looking at global numbers. Vaccines – great. Infant crying – it’s awf…
Cory
With a few exceptions, the overall gist is that there isn’t a ton of high quality research to prove one parenting choice is better than another so you should use your judgement and do what’s best for…
Kinga
I think my main takeaway from this book is that most data is inconclusive so just do whatever feels right for you and your family and don’t sweat it. The kids will be fine. (As long as you vaccinate t…