ParentData by Emily Oster

An announcement from Emily about the podcast.

For many people, when we start thinking about a family, we assume it'll just happen nine months from the moment we start trying. But that isn't the way it happens for all of us. And fertility can often be a journey that's more winding and more complicated and more confusing than we expected it to be. That's why ParentData has launched a new content vertical, Trying to Conceive (TTC), covering everything from ovulation windows to donor eggs to infertility treatments, along with a newsletter all about infertility treatment in particular, which aims to answer all of your questions with data. It's our mission to provide real evidence-based information so you can make the best decisions for your family.Today on ParentData, we're airing the audio from an event Emily did with three of the people who have contributed most to our new initiative: Dr. Breonna Slocum, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist, Marea Goodman, a licensed midwife and author, and Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, a perinatal psychiatrist. This roundtable of experts discuss about where to start with fertility, answer audience questions in real time, and consider what they all wish that they knew before starting the journey of trying to conceive.Explore to Trying to Conceive on ParentData.org, where you can also access new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.This episode is generously supported by: Hatch LMNT StrollerCoaster Podcast

When you look at the data, it is true that after people have kids, marital satisfaction declines. Having a baby drastically changes everything in your partnership that was familiar, that was predictable, that you got used to. And some of those are the reasons you got into the relationship in the first place. That's the reality of having kids. And as much as we love them, it can be an incredible shock to the system. There were date nights, there were lazy Sunday mornings in bed, and now there are feedings and diaper changes, feeling touched-out, packing school lunches the night before or at 5:45 in the morning. To paraphrase Ethan Hawke's character from Before Sunset: We used to be in love. Now we're roommates who run a day care together.Today on ParentData, we're joined by Dr. Yael Schonbrun, a clinical psychologist, an author, and a researcher who focuses on the science and data behind healthier, happier relationships. And she's here to help you baby-proof your relationship. Take heart: for many — probably most — couples, this issue is not hopeless.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.This episode is generously supported by: Hatch LMNT StrollerCoaster Podcast

Shots are never a fun experience. Even if you are enthusiastic about vaccines, holding your kids as they get them is not usually a high point of parenting. And right now, the conversation about vaccines is increasingly fraught - and not just because our kids are sometimes afraid of needles.Because we're living in a moment where vaccines, long one of the most trusted and studied preventative medical treatments in existence, are suddenly being viewed with skepticism. Debunked theories about the relationship between vaccines and autism, for example, are taking center stage on Instagram and  Facebook, but also in congressional hearings. Part of the problem is a lack of understanding. People don't know quite how vaccines work or why there are more now than in the past or how we can know that they are safe. Today on ParentData, we welcome Dr. Adam Davis. Adam is a pediatrician in the Bay Area, and he has a lot to say about vaccines from the perspective of someone who gives them. In the conversation, we talk about our theories on why the COVID vaccine sped up a slow-growing movement around vaccine skepticism, about the role that vaccines play in public health, about what it's like for doctors to deal with vaccine skeptics in their own practice and what people can and can't be talked into or out of, and, because it's a parenting podcast, some hacks for getting your kids through vaccines without too much drama.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.This episode is generously supported by: Hatch LMNT Little Sesame StrollerCoaster Podcast

In the last month, we've aired podcast conversations with Dr. Nathan Fox and Dr. Bapu Jena, and though the content is different, there's an underlying thread that connects them both: what it means to deal with risk, and uncertainty. And not lose your mind.Economists deal with this constantly, and so do parents, but not in the same way. Economists learn not to panic in ways that parents, understandably, have a really hard time with. We're trained to read the studies, and spot their holes, or their aims and impacts. Yes, we live in a world with trace amounts of lead in Cheerios, and sometimes it can feel scary to leave the house. But things that are low risk are low risk, no matter how scary they feel.Today on ParentData, Emily reads her recent article on risk and uncertainty aloud, and encourages us all to think about risk like economists, so that we can internalize it as sane parents.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.This episode is generously supported by: Hatch LMNT Little Sesame StrollerCoaster Podcast

For many of us, our first exposure to our pelvic floors is through the Kegel exercises we learned about in Cosmo, promising us great sex. The reality of our pelvic floors comes roaring back in pregnancy, when they are are more taxed than they've ever been. The pelvic floor turns out to have a hand in many things, including peeing, pooping, sex, pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum, and menopause. And like with all muscles, the more we take care of them, they better they can take care of us.Today on ParentData, we welcome the Vagina Whisperer herself, Dr. Sara Reardon. Sara's new book, Floored: A Woman's Guide to Pelvic Floor Health at Every Age and Stage, which will be released in June, explores the seasons of life with a pelvic floor, from puberty to menopause. In this conversation, we talk about the optimal ways to pee and poop. We discuss what actually happens when you go to pelvic floor therapy. We discuss Kegels and why they are often good but also not a panacea. More than anything, Sara takes something that we all experience privately, and encourages us to shine a light on it, take the stigma away, and tighten up with confidence.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.Follow Sara Reardon on InstagramThis episode is generously supported by: Hatch LMNT Little Sesame

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: Hatch  LMNT

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 Palette Subscribe 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 Society WPATH Childfree 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.org Photos of the meals from the study Subscribe 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.

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.

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.

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: Honeycomb Skylight (Use code PARENTDATA for 15% off your Calendar purchase!) StrollerCoaster podcast Whole 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!

Champion triathaloner Chelsea Sodaro talks baby wipes and the kindest way to say goodbye to your poop.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

This is the second in a two-episode series on the issue of kids and screens and schools. The first episode featured Jessica Grose of the New York Times about her survey of parents about their kids' screen use. The tenor of that episode, overall, was pretty negative on screens. Basically, less is better than more.Today on ParentData, we welcome Dr. Michael Rich, a pediatrician, child health researcher, and children's media specialist. Dr. Rich has built his practice and research around helping families with problematic screen use, but also around providing actionable, realistic guidance to parents and families. Put simply: our kids' lives are going to involve screens. Our job is to mentor them and help them develop a healthy relationship with devices. Even if it means watching some truly stupid YouTube videos every now and then.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Pediatrician-turned-grandma influencer, Dr. Flo Rosen - better known as Ask Bubbie - tackles the super easy issues of vaccine hesitancy, sleep training, and intergenerational harmony.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

When we were growing up, screens came in fixed, predictable contexts: TV, movie theaters, computer labs, Oregon Trail. But kids today use screens all the time, especially at school, where they've become a ubiquitous part of classroom life. We've been hearing a lot lately about how detremental this is to learning. But how bad is it really?Today on ParentData is the first of two episodes on kids, screens, and schools. In this episode, we're joined by New York Times reporter Jessica Grose, who writes on parenting and recently ran a survey of parents about their kids' screen usage. Her goal with the survey was crowdsourced data to understand, basically, how much are kids actually using screens? And do their parents think it's good for them?Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Serial entrepreneur Myleik explores buttholes, pinworms, and when, as a parent, there's nowhere to go but up.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Many of us grew up dividing the world into "math kids"... and the rest of us. It can be just as scary when our kids present us with their math homework as it was when we were assigned our own. So how do we get our kids excited about math?Today on ParentData, we're joined by Shalinee Sharma, who runs an online math platform called Zearn. She is a math zealot — a person who really, truly believes that all kids can not only succeed in math but love it. We talk about putting those beliefs on the page in her new book "Math Mind: The Simple Path to Loving Math". It's a guide to how we can make all kids “math kids.” We talk about why she wrote it, what she hopes people will get from it, and how schools can do math better. Subscribe to ParentData.org for ad-free podcast episodes, hundreds of articles on pregnancy and parenting, and more.

Actress and singer Mandy Moore contemplates croup, toddler beds, and Bayesian statistics.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

News about weight-loss drugs is hard to miss. A new generation of drugs — Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound — are on television, on billboards, and in many of our homes. There is little debate about the efficacy of the drugs for weight loss (they work, at least for most people) but lots of discussion about everything else surrounding them. But what's been largely missing from this conversation is the answer to the practical questions that many people would like to ask their doctors. Are these drugs right for me? How do the side effects work? How fast would I lose weight? Do I really have to take them forever? What if I'm breastfeeding?Today on ParentData, we invite back Dr. Gillian Goddard, the endocrinologist and brain behind our Hot Flash newsletter, to dive into the data behind these drugs. Dr. Goddard has been prescribing them for many years, and is both extremely knowledgeable about the science behind them, and extremely thoughtful about who is a good candidate, how to weigh the risks and benefits, and the kinds of questions you should be asking your doctor if you're interested in exploring them.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

The New York Times' Ezra Klein asks how we can trust anything we read about parenting.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Color War. Underwear on the outside of your clothes. Sailing badges. Friendship bracelets. It is difficult to overstate how attached some people get to their sleepaway camp experiences - they don't explain, they proselytize. And right now, camp is having a moment in our popular culture as we debate what Jon Haidt has deemed the “phone-based childhood.” Camp is one of the last screen-free zones for kids, and that's both exciting and, as a parent, a little scary.Today on ParentData, we're joined by Steve Baskin, a career camp director and incoming head of the American Camping Association, to talk about all things summer camp.  We discuss resilience, the value of free play, the need for phone-free time, whether or not your kids will actually brush their teeth (they will!) and why homesickness might actually be a good thing. Special thanks to Falcon Camp in Carrollton, Ohio for lending their voices to this episode.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

The Toast's Jackie Oshry asks about babies and honey, the efficacy of Baby Mozart, and what you can't put down the garbage disposal.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

There are many, many wonderful things about parenting boys. There are also challenges that seem disproportionate. Boys often develop language later than girls. More boys than girls are held back in school entry. Girls do better in school at nearly all levels, and are significantly more likely to attend college. Yet this doesn't get the kind of attention that it might if the genders were reversed. Today on ParentData, we're joined by Richard Reeves. Richard is the president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, which aims to both identify and combat the challenges facing boys and men today. We talk about the challenges boys face in school, male executive function, how standardized testing affects boys and girls differently, why those adolescent backpacks are so gross, and how true gender equality requires everyone to thrive.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

CNN anchor Abby Philip asks how to keep her kid in bed all night.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Reading Rainbow. Reading is FUNdamental! Hooked on Phonics. We grew up steeped in a culture that encouraged reading. And in the past couple of years many U.S. states have embraced legislation about how kids are taught to read in school. The phrase that you may have heard is “science of reading,” as in “let's make sure schools are using reading curricula based on science.” But what does that actually mean? And how would you, as a parent, know if your school was doing it?Today on ParentData, we're joined by journalist Emily Hanford, the host of the excellent podcast, Sold a Story. The topic of its first season was how reading is taught in American schools, and, for a lot of parents, it opened their eyes to the fact that there isn't just one way to teach reading and that many schools weren't doing it right. We talk about what the science says about the right approaches to reading, and then, more practically, about how parents can evaluate their own kids' learning and whether the legislation we're seeing is doing any good.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Comedian and NPR mainstay Ophira Eisenberg wrestles with changing her kid's school, and how to clean slime.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

We've been hearing a lot about the teen mental health crisis — and there is no question that on a number of metrics, teens do seem to be struggling more than they have in the past. But is it really that bad? Is there a chance we're overreacting to normal teenage feelings?Today on ParentData, we're joined by Dr. Mathilde Ross, a psychiatrist at Boston University. Her view is, yes, sometimes we are overreacting. And more to the point, she thinks sometimes parents are the problem. We talk today about what she's seeing in college kids, how parents can choose to step back, and how to embrace independence, in both your 17-year-old and 7-year-old.Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Have you ever panic-Googled a parenting question late at night? If so, you're not alone. Most of us turn to that little search bar whenever fear or confusion strikes. On these ParentData mini-episodes, starting today, you'll hear from some familiar names about the questions keeping them up at night, and how data can help.First up: actress Claire Holt and the difference between night terrors and nightmares (hopefully not about vampires).

Our kids need a glass of water. Or an extra hug. How do we get them to sleep? So much has been written about this with advice for exhausted parents. But it's usually in the context of babies. Toddlers and older kids are a whole other ballgame. Today on ParentData, we're joined by perhaps our most practical guest ever. Jessica Berk is a toddler and preschooler sleep consultant. Together, we answer your questions, talk about sleep strategies, and explore why sleep is so important not just for kids, but also for parents. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Book launch alert! We're so proud to announce that “The Unexpected: Navigating Pregnancy During and After Complications” is hitting the shelves April 30! Today on ParentData, Emily's co-author, OB/GYN Dr. Nate Fox, returns to discuss the process of co-writing between two self-professed people-who-hate-group-projects, as well as how to have conversations with your doctor about pregnancy risks - and even just the whole idea of risk itself. Pick up a copy of “The Unexpected” wherever books are sold. And subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Hiring a doula for your birth is, quite simply, a great idea. They're non-clinical, cost-effective, and, as many mothers will attest, one of the most valuable parts of the experience - a value that is supported by data. The decision to have one should be pretty easy. But actually crafting policy that captures that value is hard. Today on ParentData, we're welcoming New York State Senator Samra Brouk, who is doing just that. Senator Brouk spearheaded an effort in New York to get doula services covered by Medicaid (which they now are, as of January 2024!). She explains her love of data, why doulas are important for maternal health - especially for Black women - and how to convince your older, perhaps non-doula-using colleagues that these issues matter. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

American kids are struggling. And there's a lot of discussion around the reasons why. Is it smartphones? Is it social media? Is it a hyper fixation on feelings and therapy? Today on ParentData, we're releasing an episode of Good Inside with Dr. Becky, which Emily joined to discuss the latest book making the rounds in parenting circles, Abigail Shrier's Bad Therapy. They delve into what parental authority is and what it isn't, how minimization of risk is not a life strategy for kids or adults, and how we can hold two things are true - we can be authorities who also come from a same-team approach with our kids. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

As a parent, it's extremely easy to get very focused on “doing it right.” Which means, usually, doing what is considered “right” in your particular time and cultural context. And sometimes, amid this pressure, we need a little perspective. Human history is long, and what is considered right has changed a lot. Today on ParentData, we're joined by author Jennifer Traig, who offers this perspective in spades. Her book “Act Natural: A Cultural History of Misadventures in Parenting” is a history of parenting (or at least child-rearing) from ancient Rome to Puritan New England to Dr. Spock. We've done it a lot of ways and we're all still here…so we must be doing something right. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

We have all heard it takes a village to raise a child, but the reality is that many of us in the modern world, especially after the pandemic, are asking …well, where's my village?! Where's my community of people who will show up for me in joy, and in grief, and help me introduce my kids to a world that's bigger than themselves? Today on ParentData, we welcome Rabbi Sharon Brous, whose book “The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts” is about just this: finding community, finding your people, sometimes in faith, sometimes not, but who always show up for you, in both the good times and the bad. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

In January, ParentData launched a new newsletter — Hot Flash — authored by Dr. Gillian Goddard. Hot Flash covers women's health in the post-reproductive years. Think perimenopause and menopause, but also the late reproductive years, when you're done having children but still, technically, might be able to do so. This week in Hot Flash, Gillian wrote about birth control at this stage — how do you think about birth control when you know it's forever? Today on ParentData, Gillian joins us to walk through it all: from hormones to IUDs to surgeries. We talk about risks, benefits, trade-offs, and more. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Invisible labor. It's the work — in our households especially — that has to happen but that no one sees. It's making the doctor's appointment, ensuring the Valentine's cards are purchased, remembering the milk. When we think about equity in household labor, we often find that there are already inequities in the visible work, and they can become insurmountable when the invisible work is added in. Today on ParentData, Eve Rodsky joins with some solutions to this seemingly endless task list of problems. Her book, “Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live),” and the movement it's inspired, aims to rebalance workloads and encourage hard conversations, saving time, sanity, and even marriages along the way. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.