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.
