Against Emily Oster

She's full of shit.

There are only a few names in the parenting world who curry as much influence as Emily Oster, an Ivy-league educated economist who has become a media darling and thought leader for ‘data-driven’ parenting.

She’s not a child development specialist, doctor, lactation expert or psychologist. But millions of moms look to her for answers in the sea of mommy Facebook groups, Tik Tok misinformation soup and well meaning advice from boomers (the baby needs socks!).

Her trilogy of books that covers pregnancy to raising toddlers all consist of the same ethos: if the data doesn’t back up the claim then it can be dismissed and parents can relax. Oster is on a mission to “free guilt-ridden parents” with data.

 But as you’ll see, not all data is created equal.

In her book Crib Sheet, she pleads with parents to ask, “What do you want?” instead of “what does the baby need?” and for Oster, parental preference reigns supreme.

Of course, Oster’s massive popularity is right in line with the uniquely American deference to ‘experts’ when it comes to parenting. The fact that she’s an economist is an extra salve on stressed out parents. Here is a woman schooled in the cold, rational science of cost-benefit-analysis, market failures, and international commerce. Surely, this oracle of production and distribution knows more than the unshowered mom frantically trying to put Ms. Rachel to stave off her toddler’s tantrum, right?