A review by margymatson
Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong--And What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster

informative medium-paced

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. I started off turned off in the starting chapters - it seemed her recommendations of it being ok to drink alcohol, coffee, etc. were justifications for her not wanting to give it up. Her reasoning (throughout the whole book) felt based on hand selected random studies (ex: a study of 90 women in Thailand in 2011 - just too random for me) and too data-based. I wanted to bring in more medical reasoning as to why those recommendations were/were not made. I did enjoy the book more when it came to the birthing section to learn about the data of epidural, c-section, etc. It helped to provide background to me about frequency, what situations, & common risks. In the end, I take everything with a grain of salt because she is an economist with no medical history- I would rather take advice from a medical professional.