Goodbye, for now
An announcement from Emily about the podcast.
Mar 06, 2025•5 min
ParentData with Emily Oster
Parenting is full of decisions — starting the moment you learn you’re pregnant (sometimes before) and continuing indefinitely. For the past decade, Emily Oster has been a guide through the challenges of pregnancy and parenthood using data. She translates the latest scientific research into answers to the questions people have in their day-to-day lives. ParentData brings Emily together with other experts in areas of pregnancy and parenting to talk about some of the most complicated of these issues, from labor induction to food allergies to parenting through a divorce. Each conversation brings us closer to Emily’s mission: to create the most informed generation of parents by providing high-quality data that they can trust, whenever they need it.
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Episodes
An Expert Roundtable on Trying to Conceive
For many people, when we start thinking about a family, we assume it'll just happen nine months from the moment we start trying. But that isn't the way it happens for all of us. And fertility can often be a journey that's more winding and more complicated and more confusing than we expected it to be. That's why ParentData has launched a new content vertical, Trying to Conceive (TTC) , covering everything from ovulation windows to donor eggs to infertility treatments, along with a newsletter all ...
Feb 27, 2025•58 min
How to Baby-Proof Your Relationship: Navigating a new marital landscape
When you look at the data, it is true that after people have kids, marital satisfaction declines. Having a baby drastically changes everything in your partnership that was familiar, that was predictable, that you got used to. And some of those are the reasons you got into the relationship in the first place. That’s the reality of having kids. And as much as we love them, it can be an incredible shock to the system. There were date nights, there were lazy Sunday mornings in bed, and now there are...
Feb 20, 2025•54 min
All About Vaccines: Why they’re important, and how to make them more tolerable for your child
Shots are never a fun experience. Even if you are enthusiastic about vaccines, holding your kids as they get them is not usually a high point of parenting. And right now, the conversation about vaccines is increasingly fraught - and not just because our kids are sometimes afraid of needles. Because we're living in a moment where vaccines, long one of the most trusted and studied preventative medical treatments in existence, are suddenly being viewed with skepticism. Debunked theories about the r...
Feb 13, 2025•46 min
Understanding Risk, Living With Uncertainty
In the last month, we've aired podcast conversations with Dr. Nathan Fox and Dr. Bapu Jena , and though the content is different, there’s an underlying thread that connects them both: what it means to deal with risk, and uncertainty. And not lose your mind. Economists deal with this constantly, and so do parents, but not in the same way. Economists learn not to panic in ways that parents, understandably, have a really hard time with. We’re trained to read the studies, and spot their holes, or th...
Feb 06, 2025•13 min
It’s Never Too Late for Pelvic Floor Therapy: Why it’s about more than Kegels
For many of us, our first exposure to our pelvic floors is through the Kegel exercises we learned about in Cosmo , promising us great sex. The reality of our pelvic floors comes roaring back in pregnancy, when they are are more taxed than they've ever been. The pelvic floor turns out to have a hand in many things, including peeing, pooping, sex, pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum, and menopause. And like with all muscles, the more we take care of them, they better they can take care of us. Toda...
Jan 30, 2025•44 min
Tamron Hall's Late-Night Panic Google
Award-winning talk show host Tamron Hall dives into dressing your kids properly for the weather and overall preparedness as a parent (and why it's so elusive), and extolls the virtues of the preschool jacket flip (IYKYK). Subscribe to (the new and improved!) ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.
Jan 23, 2025•15 min
How to Talk to Your Doctor: Navigating important conversations about your care
Today on ParentData, we're welcoming back Dr. Nathan Fox, Emily's co-author for The Unexpected - a book about when things go wrong, or at least get complicated, in a pregnancy. Nate is an OB-GYN and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, and he is one of our favorite returning podcast guests, not just because he’s a great talker but also because it’s really nice to have a doctor who can both provide medical answers to questions that come up around pregnancy, and help you have the best possible ex...
Jan 16, 2025•52 min
ParentData Presents: Raising Parents - "Should You Have Kids?"
Today on ParentData, we're airing an episode from Raising Parents , Emily's limited series podcast in partnership with The Free Press. The episode is the last in the series, but the first question we all need to grapple with before engaging with all the others: should you have kids? For most of human history, having kids wasn’t much of a choice. Social expectations, lack of birth control, and limited autonomy for women presented a couple of options: Have children, or join a convent. But the 1960...
Jan 09, 2025•51 min
Understanding Panic Headlines: How studies that influence your parenting choices get published
Here at ParentData, we talk a lot about panic headlines. You know, the headlines that cycle through your feed about coffee and wine and sleep and lead and the causes of autism, many of which contradict the last panic headline, and almost all of them turning out to be not nearly as bad as they seem. But in the moment, they feel so scary and urgent. And if you're a parent just trying to follow the science, do what's best for your kid, sometimes it feels like you're being absolutely and really nons...
Jan 02, 2025•47 min
Is Gentle Parenting Best? What the evidence says
If you spend any time in parenting circles, it’s hard to avoid being inundated with “types” of parenting. Parenting labels are not neutral. Some are positive, some negative, but they’re never just descriptive. And lately, the most ink has been spilled over "gentle" parenting (also called permissive or respectful parenting). Gentle parenting, at its core, is an approach to behavior characterized by acknowledging a child’s feelings and not using punishments or rewards. But does it work? Let's see ...
Dec 26, 2024•16 min
Researching the Importance of Paid Leave: A look into how studies are conducted
The United States is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid parental leave. We point out this fact a lot, but what does it really mean when a family doesn't have the ability to take time off when a baby is born? It means a lot of things. It means moms going back to work while still recovering from childbirth, it means parents struggling to figure out child care for their baby, and it often means babies going to group child care settings, which may be wonderful but do ...
Dec 19, 2024•44 min
Bess Kalb's Late-Night Panic Google
Writer and excellent social media follow Bess Kalb ruminates on the best place to move your family to prepare for climate change, giving yourself intentional permission to worry, and the forbidden pleasures of a s'mores Pop Tart. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.
Dec 12, 2024•13 min
Why Is Nutrition So Stressful? The challenge of navigating “good” food choices
Nutrition, along with sleep and screens, is one of the most contentious parenting topics there is. And questions about nutrition are particularly hard to answer with data, because disentangling correlation from causation is nearly impossible. What we eat is so wrapped up in everything else we do that it’s very challenging to point to a particular food or even a particular eating pattern and say that it’s healthy or unhealthy. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we know nothing. Today on ParentData...
Dec 05, 2024•45 min
ParentData Presents: The Lonely Palette's "Mary Kelly's Postpartum Document (1973-78)"
Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S., and after a fall – and a year – of divisiveness, could all use a holiday in which Americans are united in the task of consuming too much pie. More broadly, this holiday, more than really any other, is something Americans tend to do together . And so is parenting. Especially the beginning. The experience of having a newborn – the sleeplessness, the disconnection from reality, the wonder ….it feels magical and unique, and yet also like a line connecting us to bil...
Nov 28, 2024•47 min
It’s Not Hysteria: How women’s health gets overlooked
We don’t all get to learn about vaginas in school or from our families or from creating a reputation as the "Vagina Economist." And quite frankly, this is to our detriment. But today on ParentData, we’re trying to make some progress on that. We're joined by Dr. Karen Tang, a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon (think: disorders like endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome), who is tearing up social media with her women’s health education. Her book, It’s Not Hysteria: Everything You Need t...
Nov 21, 2024•46 min
It's The Placenta Episode!
Pop quiz: what’s the only organ that you grow from nothing and then casually discard, that magically bosses around your hormones, and actually your entire body, and that is actually made up of two different people’s cells ? Obviously it’s the placenta. Less obvious is how completely awesome it is. We're all wrapped up in this new baby on our chest, and since the placenta is so easy to deliver, relatively, and so gross to look at, we forget how incredible it is, and how absolutely crucial for the...
Nov 14, 2024•29 min
Racial Disparity in C-Section Rates: Unpacking bias in the medical system
When we talk about C-sections , it’s often prefaced with “unplanned” or “emergency.” About a third of all the deliveries in the U.S. are cesarean sections, and only about 16% of those are planned. And that leaves a lot of mothers in a position where they’re delivering differently than they planned or intended to. And in the U.S., a disproportionate number of those are being performed on black women . So how are we going to get to the root of what's going on? Today on ParentData, we're joined by ...
Nov 07, 2024•40 min
Ultra-Processed Foods: What they are and whether we should worry
There is nothing in the world of nutrition more confusing than ultra-processed foods. Seemingly every week, there is a new headline about the dangers of ultra-processed foods and their links to things like heart disease, dementia, and death. Today on ParentData, Emily reads her recent article on ultra-processed foods and provides some tips for smart food - and headline - consumption. The article at ParentData.org Photos of the meals from the study Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to n...
Oct 31, 2024•16 min
The Power of Local Politics: How Vermont is revolutionizing child care
In the run-up to November 5th, it's easy to feel hopeless about the state of our national discourse, and what any single one of us can do to make a difference. That's when we need to look local, where it feels like things can actually change, and where the people who are trying to make the changes feel approachable but, often, no less inspiring. Today on ParentData, we're joined by Aly Richards, the CEO of Let's Grow Kids . They're on a mission to ensure affordable access to high quality child c...
Oct 24, 2024•44 min
Steve Levitt's Late-Night Panic Google
Freakonomics economist Professor Steve Levitt joins to weave a thrilling tale about worms in poop, and advocating for your child. Warning: this late-night panic Google is not for the faint of heart. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.
Oct 17, 2024•13 min
All About Midwives: What they do, and how they differ from OBs
Midwives are having a bit of a moment. Of course, that moment is not at all new. For a very, very long time, — hundreds, possibly thousands, of years — midwives, or people who were effectively midwives, were delivering all babies. Even when “doctor” became a more formal job, births were still nearly always attended by midwives. At some point, though, especially in the U.S., that changed. Midwifery attendance went way, way down, although it's starting to see an uptick. And it's because the data s...
Oct 10, 2024•44 min
Shawn Johnson's Late-Night Panic Google
Gymnast and Olympic gold-medalist Shawn Johnson describes the panic of international emergencies, advocating for your children in French, and why she hopes her kids never become gymnasts themselves. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.
Oct 03, 2024•15 min
It's A Podcast Anniversary Q&A! You asked, Emily answered
It's our one-year podaversary! We relaunched the new and improved ParentData podcast a year ago this week. We've heard from some incredible, thought-provoking guests, and many voices from our community and beyond. But today on ParentData, we're handing Emily the mic. In the spirit of her weekly Wednesday Instagram Q&As, she'll be answering your burning questions about pregnancy, babies, and older kids, in real time...and with a little help. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new ...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Caitlin Murray's Late-Night Panic Google
Instagram's Caitlin Murray (@BigTimeAdulting) contemplates fear of the unknown, the probability of rare childhood diseases, getting hit by meteors, and the gentle parental art of "...what if you just didn't think about it?". Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.
Sep 19, 2024•13 min
Phones and the Importance of Play: Are phones really to blame for the decline in kids’ mental health?
If you're a parent who reads the news - and who listens to this podcast - you probably heard a lot about screens this summer. And even now, as kids go back to school, we're hearing a lot about phones. No phones in schools. Put your phone in a Yondr pouch. Hide your phone in your backpack. People are doing TikToks in the bathroom. Take their phones away. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is at the forefront of a lot of these conversations. His book, The Anxious Generation , has really galvanized...
Sep 12, 2024•50 min
Chelsea Sodaro's Late-Night Panic Google
Champion triathaloner Chelsea Sodaro talks baby wipes and the kindest way to say goodbye to your poop. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.
Sep 05, 2024•13 min
(Part Two) Kids, Screens, and Schools: How worried should we be?
This is the second in a two-episode series on the issue of kids and screens and schools. The first episode featured Jessica Grose of the New York Times about her survey of parents about their kids’ screen use. The tenor of that episode, overall, was pretty negative on screens. Basically, less is better than more. Today on ParentData, we welcome Dr. Michael Rich, a pediatrician, child health researcher, and children’s media specialist. Dr. Rich has built his practice and research around helping f...
Aug 29, 2024•44 min
Ask Bubbie's Late-Night Panic Google
Pediatrician-turned-grandma influencer, Dr. Flo Rosen - better known as Ask Bubbie - tackles the super easy issues of vaccine hesitancy, sleep training, and intergenerational harmony. Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.
Aug 22, 2024•13 min
(Part One) Kids, Screens, and Schools: How worried should we be?
When we were growing up, screens came in fixed, predictable contexts: TV, movie theaters, computer labs, Oregon Trail. But kids today use screens all the time, especially at school, where they've become a ubiquitous part of classroom life. We've been hearing a lot lately about how detremental this is to learning. But how bad is it really? Today on ParentData is the first of two episodes on kids, screens, and schools. In this episode, we're joined by New York Times reporter Jessica Grose, who wri...
Aug 15, 2024•39 min
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