Adam Ruins Having a Baby

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Jul 09 2017
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In this episode, Adam enlists the help of top experts to shatter misconceptions about getting pregnant after age 35, uncover the truth about breastfeeding vs formula-feeding and explore what you didn’t know about postpartum depression. Here are his sources.

Sources

“When it comes to your biological clock, you’ve got way more time than you probably think.”

Jean Twenge. “How Long Can You Wait To Have A Baby?” The Atlantic, July/Aug 2013.

“It came from rural, French census records from the 1600s!”

Henri Leridon. “Can Assisted Reproduction Technology Compensate for the Natural Decline in Fertility with Age? A Model Assessment.” Human Reproduction, Jul 2004.

“And that same woman at age 37? Her chances are 82%.”

David B. Dunson, Donna D. Baird, and Bernardo Colombo. “Increased Infertility With Age in Men and Women.” Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jan 2004.

“But the media has spent so long telling us that older women can’t get pregnant, that now, some stop taking birth control, then get pregnant by accident.”

“Unplanned Pregnancy Warning to Older Women Over 35.” BBC News, 9 Feb 2010.

“By 40, miscarriages are more common. And your chances of having a baby with some birth defects only double… from .5% to 1%!”

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Down Syndrome: Risk Factors.” The Mayo Clinic, April 2014.

“What she failed to mention is that each egg only has a two to twelve percent chance of becoming a baby…”

“Can I freeze my eggs to use later if I’m not sick?” American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 2014.

“…and that this will all cost you upwards of $20,000.”

Sarah McHaney and Rebecca Jacobson. “7 Things every woman should know before freezing her eggs.” PBS Newshour, 10 Dec 2014.

“The vast majority of women who freeze their eggs never use them.”

Eliza Barclay. “More Women Are Freezing Their Eggs, But Will They Ever Use Them?“ NPR, 24 Nov 2015.

“Get a life. Breastfeeding is normal, natural and great.”

“Ob-Gyns Support Breastfeeding Decisions for All Mothers.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2016.

“…breastfeeding takes 35 hours a week.”

Courtney Jung. Lactivism. Basic Books, 2015.

“Guess it’s bread soaked in water for you, little spud.”

Emily E. Stevens, Thelma E. Patrick, and Rita Pickler. “A History of Infant Feeding.” The Journal of Perinatal Education, 2009.

“And the answer is: no.”

Camilia R. Martin, Pei-Ra Ling, and George L. Blackburn. “Review of Infant Feeding: Key Features of Breast Milk and Infant Formula.” Nutrients, May 2016.

“The evidence that breastfeeding makes a difference is just inconclusive.”

Hanna Rosin. “The Case Against Breast-Feeding.” The Atlantic, Apr 2009.

“That’s why the media likes to call it the ‘love hormone.’”

Ed Yong. “Dark Side of the Love Hormone.” New Scientist, Feb 2012.

“But hormones are complicated chemicals that get released all the dang time and the truth is, we don’t understand them all that well.”

Ed Yong. “One Molecule for Love, Morality and Prosperity?” Slate, 17 Jul 2012.

“There is no convincing support for a connection between breast-feeding and the quality of the mother-infant relationship.”

Jarno Jansen, Carolina de Weerth, and J. Marianne Riksen-Walraven. “Breastfeeding and the mother-infant relationship — A Review.” Developmental Review, Dec 2008.

“Fifteen percent of moms can’t breastfeed.”

Courtney Jung. Lactivism. Basic Books, 2015.

“In the past, infant mortality rates were so high that many people preferred to not get attached to their babies.”

David I. Kertzer and Richard P. Saller, ed. The Family In Italy From Antiquity to the Present. Yale University Press, 1993.

“After modern medicine, infant mortality dropped, it got safer to start emotionally investing sooner, and we developed the idea of an instant mother-child romance.”

Peter Stearns. Childhood in World History. Routledge, 2006.

“If you DO love your baby immediately, that’s great. But if you don’t, there’s nothing wrong or unnatural about that.”

“Common Emotional Problems in Parents with New Babies.” Government of Western Australia Department of Health, accessed 3 July 2017.

“Every year, up to 600,000 women get it in the U.S. alone.”

“The Statistics.” PostpartumProgress.org, accessed 3 July 2017.

“Men can get it too!”

Pilyoung Kim and James E. Swain. “Sad Dads: Paternal Postpartum Depression.” Psychiatry, 2007.

“Research shows that just a few short therapy sessions can dramatically reduce feelings of guilt and sadness.”

Katherine Harmon. “Mothers’ Depression Can Go Well Beyond Children’s Infancy.” Scientific American, 5 May 2010.

“We’re so scared to talk about this problem that more than half of women never tell their friends they have it and only 15% ever go to a therapist.”

“The Statistics.” PostpartumProgress.org, accessed 3 July 2017.

 

For More on This Topic

 

In The Conversation, a clinical associate professor in reproductive medicine and surgery at Nottingham University details the gradual, rather than “off a cliff,” decline in female fertility in a woman’s 30s.

The New Republic covered the troubling campaigns of egg freezing brokers who partner with drug companies and fertility clinics to woo professional women with posh social events.

Our American attitude toward baby formula has a long and complicated history, but at the height of the anti-formula craze some people really did believe formula was poison, according to a 1981 story in The New York Times Magazine.

Ed Yong has written extensively on the myth of the love molecule for National Geographic, The Atlantic and for the Discover Magazine blog Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Emily and Murph met at UFC 157 on February 23, 2013 in Anaheim, California, the first ever women’s UFC fight. Carmouche submitted (armbar) in round 1.