Drowning In Parenting Advice? Here's Some Advice For That
In her new book, Cribsheet, economist Emily Oster offers a lifeline to parents overwhelmed by contradictory parenting guidance. She offers a data-driven, and common-sense, approach to raising a baby.
At my baby's six-month appointment a few months back, I got a one-pager from the pediatrician titled "Starting Solid Foods."
"It is critical that the baby develop a taste for rice cereal at the beginning, to offset the loss of iron from formula or breast milk," it reads.
Sounds serious. Then come the all caps: "THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF FEEDING GIVE RICE CEREAL ONLY." That is followed by advice to introduce pureed vegetables before fruits so the baby doesn't develop a sweet tooth.
I obediently went out and bought some sand-textured baby cereal. (Organic, of course.)
"Oh no, we're not doing that." My spouse pointed me to a parenting book
