ParentData with Emily Oster

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 (?). 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.

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: 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. 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.