Reviews - Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong--And What You Really Need to Know

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Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong--And What You Really Need to Know

I really enjoyed this - it helped me become informed, gave me questions to ask, and really helped confirm a lot of the decisions around pregnancy and delivery.

Emily Oster does an amazing job of going through all the pregnancy "rules." She breaks down all the research around these rules, and provides the reader with as much information possible to make an informed decision about their own healthcare.

I wish this was the first pregnancy book I read - I wouldn't have done a lot of things differently, but it definitely would have helped with a lot of the anxiety around being pregnant and making sure you're doing everything "right."

shannonchurm's review against another edition

4.0

informative medium-paced

mellodrama's review against another edition

4.0

informative medium-paced

Informative and helpful, appreciate tracking where and how studies were performed and whether or not it’s reliable

ashiva's review against another edition

3.75

informative fast-paced

As someone with a degree in economics who is on their pregnancy journey currently, I was immediately interested in this book. Oster's frustration with the patronizing and often contradictory approaches of world health authorities and governments is something I have also shared; the real talk and concrete explanations of data were a breath of fresh air. Oster is absolutely right: women deserve to be more empowered to make their own individual risk assessments based on their own lifestyles, geographic locations, and so on!

However, I disagreed with a lot of her conclusions. For example, other than her controversial take on alcohol mentioned by others herein, I am convinced you absolutely should watch your weight gain, or you could risk getting gestational diabetes, which translates to a "large for gestational age" newborn, which translates to higher C-section risk. That isn't to say you should diet or stress about your weight too much, but you should not be "eating for two;" most pregnant people only need an extra 300-500 calories. Furthermore, some of the information (for example, about genetic screening) is no longer up-to-date.

That being said, it is a very informative book and I'd recommend it to anyone who wishes for better orientation about pregnancy and breastfeeding, and who also has critical thinking skills.