Expecting Better: Why The Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong created a huge amount of buzz when it was released, and rightly so. Women’s bodies are always political minefields. Everything from our breasts to our rights to abortion are subject to scrutiny and sexism. No more so is this true than when a woman is pregnant. Everyone has an opinion on what you should eat, on what you should do. The amount of unsolicited advice is irritating and the amount of judgement from the conception all the way to how you give birth can be overwhelming. God forbid that people live and let live.
Which is why I love this book. Emily Oster is an associate producer of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She has done her research and has the facts. That is the thing with facts: you can’t argue with them. I mean, people will try but the truth is the truth. Let’s start with caffeine and alcohol. Women are told to limit caffeine and not drink during pregnancy. Coffee allegedly causes a rise in miscarriage. But as Oster says:
“Women who drink coffee tend to be older so is it the coffee or is it the maternal age?”
On alcohol she says: “In continental Europe women drink wine when pregnant and there is no evidence at all that there children are not as smart as American children or have any other health problems. In fact there is no evidence of more foetal alcohol syndrome in continental Europe; if anything, rates are higher in the United States. This is interesting as any drinking is frowned upon in the US whilst in continental Europe before are less judgemental.
Ultimately I concluded that these recommendations were not just very cautious, they were too cautious. In moderation, pregnant women should feel comfortable with both alcohol and caffeine.
For alcohol, this means up to one drink a day in the second and third trimester, and a couple of drinks a week in the first. In fact, for the most part studies fail to show negative effects on babies even at levels higher than this. By a drink here I mean a standard drink – 120 millilitres of wine, 30 millilitres of hard spirits, 350 millilitres of beer.”
Considering that a recent legal test case brought by a council tried to pass a law in the UK to make it illegal for women to drink in pregnancy at all, that speaks volume. Women are not trusted with their own bodies and decisions. As Oster puts it “This feels like pregnant women are not given any more credit than children would be in making important decisions.” Quite.
My review of Osters book could go on for thousands more words. Instead I will say: buy it. If you are pregnant, buy it. If you have a pregnant friend, buy if for them. It is the essential pregnancy book. Emily Oster should be applauded for her excellent work and research. This book is groundbreaking, fascinating and practical. I loved it and I could not recommend it more. Steven D. Levitt, the co-author of the brilliant Freakonomics, said this book ‘may be the most important book about pregnancy you read.’ There is no ‘may’ about it. Read it.
