It seems parenting has become an ever-greater challenge in our age of anxiety. We have more information than ever, but this seems to render decision-making harder than ever. In this episode, EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes back Emily Oster to talk about her book, Cribsheet. Oster hopes her deep dive into the data about parenting in early years can help parents relax. Does more data make for better parenting? As Russ says, “it’s very hard to be cold and calculating about our children. It’s very hard to be data-driven.” Can you do it?
1- Roberts notes his appreciation of Oster’s consideration of trade-offs in making parenting decisions; he reminds listeners that the first ever EconTalk episode was on parenting, and he recalls this question: Why should you put your kid’s coat on outside rather than inside? Can you think of any similar examples? What does this suggest about the applicability of economics to parenting generally?
2- How do Oster’s views on breastfeeding compare to those of pediatrician Amy Tuteur? Their views on co-sleeping? Have either of these episodes caused you to make any changes in your own parenting (or the way you think about parenting)? Explain.
3- What is the “Bamba effect,” and what has OSter’s research led her to conclude about peanut allergies? To what extent do you find her convincing on this topic?
4- What are the benefits of reading to your child before bed? In relating his own experiences with his children, what does Roberts mean by “an investment book?”
5- Roberts closes the episode with a question we’ll repeat here: What’s the best parenting advice you ever received?
READER COMMENTS
Arde
May 14 2019 at 1:33pm
Q2. I did not notice any significant difference between the views of Oster and Tuteur. Both seemed to suggest that the benefits from breastfeeding are non-existent or negligible and that women should not be bullied into breastfeeding. I agree that it should be women’s own choice and that there is not sufficient evidence confirming the huge benefits of breastfeeding. However, if I were at the point in my life when I have to decide whether to breastfeed or not, these two episodes would not have a big influence on my decision. I would be more influence by the episode of Nassim Taleb on precautionary principle, which he formulated the following way: for things for which you don’t have evidence, you try to stay cautious until you accumulate the evidence.
I think we do not have sufficient evidence about impact of breastfeeding and formula. I had a cursory look at the Colen study that Amy Tuteur mentioned as a strong evidence that there are no benefits of breastfeeding. The study measures the impact of breastfeeding on the following measures – body mass index, obesity, asthma, hyperactivity, parental attachment, behavioral compliance and measures of academic achievement.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4077166/
The authors do not find any impact on these outcomes. However, this does not convince me that there is no positive impact on breastfeeding because they tested the impact only on these 12 long term measures. They did not test impact on many other diseases. The advocates of breastfeeding claim that breastfeeding reduces the risk of infections and improves the baby’s immune system. They have also a theory of causal mechanism of how this happens – how the baby receives from mother antibodies IgA and how it protects the baby. Neither Oster nor Tuteur mentioned a study which is testing this hypothesis.
I also do not think that there is sufficient evidence that formula has no negative side effects. Amy Tuteur mentioned that the entire American generation was raised on formula and nothing bad happened. This does not convince me because it is not clear what exactly is her standard of nothing bad happening. Ok, the whole generation was not wiped out and if this is the standard of nothing bad happening then I can agree that this did not happen. But how do we know that it did not have a negative impact on something else? The health status and prevalence of different diseases is very different across generations (for example, prevalence of obesity, allergies, mental health issues, autoimmune disorders). There are a million of factors affecting our health, and we cannot be sure that formula is not one of them. It has so often happened that people discover new products and treatments and only many years later the negative side effects are discovered. This brings me to another episode, which would affect my decision. Jacob Stegenga laid out the case why the harms of medicines are underestimated and underresearched. The same reasoning can be applied to potential harms of formulas.
Since we do not have sufficient evidence about harms and benefits of breastfeeding and formula, I think it is safer to stick to breastfeeding if possible. After all breastfeeding was invented by nature and practiced for thousands of years, so by using the precautionary principle this would be the best choice.
Simon
Jun 25 2019 at 4:21am
I listened to this episode with great interest. Nothing to say other than thanks Arde for the intelligent and thought provoking response.
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