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Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong - and What You Really Need to Know
Penguin Press
August 2013
On Sale: August 20, 2013
336 pages ISBN: 1594204756 EAN: 9781594204753 Kindle: B00AEBEQUK Hardcover / e-Book
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Self-Help
An award-winning economist disproves standard
recommendations for pregnant women in favor of a more
informed and relaxed approach
Pregnancy—unquestionably one of the most profound,
meaningful experiences of adulthood—can reduce otherwise
intelligent women to, well, babies. We’re told to avoid cold
cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee, but aren’t told why
these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are hard
and fast—and unexplained. Are these recommendations even
correct? Are all of them right for every mom-to-be? In
Expecting Better, award-winning economist Emily Oster
proves that pregnancy rules are often misguided and
sometimes flat-out wrong. A mom-to-be herself,
Oster debunks the myths of pregnancy using her particular
mode of critical thinking: economics, the study of how we
get what we want. Oster knows that the value of anything—a
home, an amniocentesis—is in the eyes of the informed
beholder, and like any complicated endeavor, pregnancy is
not a one-size-fits-all affair. And yet medicine often
treats it as such. Are doctors working from bad data? Are
well-meaning friends and family perpetuating false myths and
raising unfounded concerns? Oster’s answer is yes, and
often. Pregnant women face an endless stream of
decisions, from the casual (Can I eat this?) to the
frightening (Is it worth risking a miscarriage to test for
genetic defects?). Expecting Better presents the hard
facts and real-world advice you’ll never get at the doctor’s
office or in the existing literature. Oster’s revelatory
work identifies everything from the real effects of caffeine
and tobacco to the surprising dangers of gardening.
Any expectant mother knows that the health of her baby
is paramount, but she will be less anxious and better able
to enjoy a healthy pregnancy if she is informed . . . and
can have the occasional glass of wine.
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