Cribsheet
by Emily Oster · first published 2019
69% recommend31% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Applies economist-style data analysis to early childhood questions like sleep, SIDS, and preschool choice, helping parents weigh evidence instead of folklore. Practical for parents of babies through preschoolers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"With Expecting Better, award-winning economist Emily Oster spotted a need in the pregnancy market for advice that gave women the information they needed to make the best decision for their own pregnancies. By digging into the data, Oster found that much of the conventional pregnancy wisdom was wrong. In Cribsheet, she now tackles an even great challenge: decision making in the early years of parenting. As any new parent knows, there is an abundance of often-conflicting advice hurled at you from doctors, family, friends, and the internet. From the earliest days, parents get the message that th
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I highly recommend the book Cribsheet on this topic (https://www.amazon.com/Cribsheet-Data-Driven-Relaxed-Parenti...). The author is an economist at Brown and applies research techniques to determine where there are causal relationships between…
on “The unusual ways Western parents raise children” ↗…is one month old tomorrow. Three books that really helped me: The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin - a handbook for all things labor and delivery, wonderful reference, and very cheap to get secondhand Cribsheet by Emily Oster - data driven early childhood decisions. Super helpful from one month to 18 months. Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman - skip the book and read the 100 point appendix for max bang for…
on “Ask HN: Concise, pragmatic baby manual for first-time dad?” ↗…because they can't reliably distinguish between fantasy and reality. It's something I personally disagree with and the studies that she tries to use to support that point are not really that convincing. - Cribsheet by Emily Oster has a chapter on picking pre-schools that can be useful (and I think applies well to Kindergarten). (I don't always agree with that writer but I do feel that she sometimes has useful points…
on “Public Montessori programs strengthen learning outcomes at lower costs: study” ↗I was in this same spot couple years ago. I read this book that was recommended in this very same forum. It's called Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool. It's by Emily Oster. It was helpful.
on “Ask HN: Concise, pragmatic baby manual for first-time dad?” ↗…can get some sleep. 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep is a godsend, especially for a breastfeeding mom. A couple of books that should appeal to a lot of the HN crowd are Emily Oster's Expecting More and Cribsheet which looks at various aspects of pregnancy and childcare from a research-focused perspective. Sleep training is really tough, and there are a lot of books out there that repeat the same ideas. I found…
on “Launch HN: Trustle (YC W20) – On-demand child development experts for parents” ↗…and you have to learn as you go and adapt. Take it a few days at a time, tackle the current issues, and repeat. On the data driven side, Emily Oster and her prenatal (Expecting Better) and postpartum (Cribsheet) books are great resources, but they hardly prepare you for parenting. Those books can help you make some macro decisions for sure, but overall parenting is an experience which will likely be the most…
on “Ask HN: Concise, pragmatic baby manual for first-time dad?” ↗…ParentData by Emily Oster: https://emilyoster.substack.com/ - She's an economist who writes about parenting by just reading the relevant studies. If you've got kids or are planning to, start with her book Cribsheet. Jatan's Space by Jatan Mehta: https://blog.jatan.space/ - Pretty high-quality space-related stuff. Astral Codex Ten by Scott Alexander: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/ - I'm guessing the HN crowd…
on “Ask HN: Which substacks do you read as soon as it hits your inbox?” ↗I would recommend reading Cribsheet by Emily Oster. She is an economics professor who got obsessed with figuring out what advice people give actually has solid evidence supporting it, and what is bullshit. I've also used this site https://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/month-by-month/…
on “Ask HN: Best Resources for a New Dad?” ↗It says that there is like a 10x risk of SIDS in the first four months of life with tummy sleeping. I don't agree with her on everything, but Emily Oster's chapter on SIDS (in the second book I think, Cribsheet) I think does a good job outlining the data on it. And my brother just had a kid who also would absolutely not sleep on his back. Once he could roll he just sleeps on his tummy (but once they can roll…
on “Endometriosis is an interesting disease” ↗I’m currently reading Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster. It tackles the common questions involving infants and toddlers through analysis of research in those areas.
on “Ask HN: Parents of HN, what are your best sources for evidence-based parenting?” ↗…Professor of Economics. Her research interests span from development economics and health economics to research design and experimental methodology.... She is the author of two books, Expecting Better and Cribsheet, which discuss a data-driven approach to decision-making in pregnancy and parenting." In short they are meta-research papers on pregnancy and parenting in the form of fun readable books.
on “Ask HN: How did you prepare for being a first-time parent?” ↗Maybe also some reading on economics part of parenting. I have the "Cribsheet" bookmarked. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121328-cribsheet
on “Ask HN: How did you prepare for being a first-time parent?” ↗…extremely strong opinions about what parents should do while in reality the data is too weak to justify any strong views. Her first book, Expecting Better, is mostly about pregnancy. Her second book, Cribsheet, is about early childhood (through pre-K). She also started doing a newsletter recently that I've been enjoying. https://emilyoster.substack.com/
on “Ask HN: Is There a Manual for Babies?” ↗