I am a research scientist and mother of three. I was born in Chicago, but for the past 10 years I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area with my software engineer husband (a cliché, I know).
I love digging into the scientific literature and summarizing research findings. In this blog, I try to present an unbiased and sane take on research topics of interest to soon-to-be and new parents.
I always love getting feedback and suggestions from my readers. You can contact me here.
I also write for a small medical device startup called Bloomlife, which produces a in-home contraction tracker, similar to the ones hospitals use during delivery. Contractions show up on your phone. I used it during my third pregnancy and noticed I was having a lot of contractions by 32 weeks. Sure enough, it was the one pregnancy where I went into labor early, at 37 weeks.
Some More Background About This Blog
Here I cover the science behind conception, fertility treatments, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and early childhood. Many of these posts are born of my friends’ and my own personal quandaries, which have sent me burrowing into the research literature to find out more and to help us make educated, informed decisions.
Oddly enough, this blog was inspired in part by my desire to experience savasana during my second and third trimesters of my first pregnancy. Being my first–as opposed to second or third–pregnancy, I was still attending my regular yoga classes about three times a week. (With two kids under four, yoga 3 times a week sounds like an unbelievable luxury right now.) After I was about 3 months along, I told some of my instructors that I was pregnant. They explained that once in my second trimester, I would need to stop performing any poses that required lying on my back. Savasana, my favorite pose, was going to require bolsters.
At that time, I had recently finished my postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF and was living in San Francisco. It seemed natural to go to UCSF for my prenatal care. Unlike many centers, UCSF had a rotating practice. Instead of being assigned a single OB, each patient would see multiple OBs and nurse practitioners, depending on who was available. This setup–whatever its drawbacks–gave me the opportunity to ask the exact same question of multiple OBs. I was basically guaranteed a second opinion.
I was intrigued and a bit confused by the prohibition regarding lying on my back. At my next prenatal appointment, I asked the OB, “Can I safely lie on my back during pregnancy? What about sleeping on my back?” She replied that it was fine to lie on my back for now, but starting once I was 4 or 5 months along, I would definitely need to avoid it.
A few weeks later, I came back for a routine check up with a different OB. Taking advantage of the free second opinion, and still a little foggy on exactly why I needed to avoid lying on my back, I asked her the same question. She told me that I didn’t need to worry about this until I was about 7 or 8 months pregnant.
Perplexed, I asked yet a third OB at my follow up appointment, who told me that I was probably fine until the last few weeks before delivery. Neither she, nor the other two OBs, seemed to know where this advice came from. She did not know at what angle it was okay to lie on my back (couldn’t I just prop myself up with a couple of pillows?). Nor could she answer seemingly straightforward questions: What was the data behind this recommendation? Just how risky was sleeping on one’s back for mom, or for the baby? As the third OB, clearly flustered by this unexpected interrogation, was ushering me out the door, I realized I was going to have to look into this myself.
A quick search through the major parenting sites–I won’t name names–came up lacking. Most of the pregnancy- and parent-oriented were filled with advice and opinions, but provided scant real data or even information about their sources.
And this is when I realized I was very, very lucky. I had the background and training to search through and understand the relevant medical research. Apart from a mountain of student debt, my many years of postgraduate education had granted me a thorough understanding of medical research. Experimental design, randomization of subjects, observational studies, sample size, meta-analysis, and hypothesis testing–these were my bread and butter. I knew how to sift out good studies from bad, and how to fit a single study into a larger research context. I knew when researchers had used some statistical sleight of hand, and when more research was needed to draw a firm conclusion.
In the case of lying on one’s back, after a thorough search through the research, I became convinced there was no data behind this recommendation. None at all.*
From then on, I did much of my own research on the pregnancy and parenting topics.
So, the purpose of this blog is to share what I have learned. Here I promise to share real data, to make clear what comes from research and what is my own opinion, and to provide all my sources, because we all need to be able to make our own informed decisions.
*Since then, a study was published suggests that sleeping on one’s back may increase the risk of late stillbirth. More on this here.
Disclaimer: The information and opinions on this site do not constitute medical advice. Please consult your obstetrician, pediatrician, or other medical professional if you have medical questions.
Wow I feel so lucky to have had a midwife the first time around who told me I could lie/sleep on my back unless I felt faint (i.e. that was how I would know the baby might be cutting some bloodflow off, the reason she gave for why people say to avoid it) I blissfully lay on my back whenever comfortable. Which was hardly at all. The irony.
I can’t see any where how recently (or not) you started this blog?
I started this blog in the summer of 2014.
Thanks for having a blog like this! I am a mechanical engineer studying engineering education now. I just found out I am pregnant and all the “what to expect” and “baby bump” websites are so annoying because they don’t have the research to back up anything they say. I really appreciate that you put together some research that I can look into about pregnancy. I definitely love to know the science literature!
Really love this blog! I’m professor of physics in the UK and a recent father. Have found getting good summaries of the best research remarkably hard to come by. There is a lot of low quality analysis out there that typically then induces fear into what is already a pretty complex and unpredictable process. This is a breath of fresh air. Thanks, am truly grateful!
p.s. You need to write a book.
Thank you so much!
Great blog! Your do a fantastic job of filtering through the sea of noise. Keep up the good work.
Hi Amy,
Thanks so much – as a Radiographer I have a background of knowing that information should be research-based and peer-reviewed (ideally). Having scientific-based evidence is much more helpful for so many statistics! I am really early, and anxious to get a scan to see the heartbeat, but having a friend miscarry between 8 weeks and 12 weeks has really shaken me and I’m finding it hard to shake my own concerns now. Thank goodness for your site! I have a question regarding the risk of miscarriage once heartbeat detected vs prior to detection – it seems the risk of miscarriage in the same weeks gestation is different between the two groups – do you know why? – please forgive me if I have overlooked something (I am exceptionally tired). I was basically trying to ease my anxiety by finding a risk of miscarriage data set and found your blog!
A heartbeat signals normal development, so the risk of miscarriage in the subsample of pregnancies in which a heartbeat has been detected is lower than in all pregnancies, which consist of pregnancies with hbs and without hbs.
I’m so glad to have found this blog! I’m a grad student and my husband is a resident physician, and I’m currently 22 weeks with our first child. The overwhelming majority of websites and books available are based on extremely poor data, if any at all. We have spent countless hours comparing studies over the last few months. This is really a fantastic and helpful resource.
Thanks Rachel!
Thanks! And congratulations on your pregnancy.
Hi Amy
I’m an Anaesthetist (Anesthesiologist) in Australia and I came across your blog when looking up miscarriage statistics related to maternal age (I’m 38 and now 23+2 weeks pregnant with our first baby and also an asymptomatic back-sleeper 😉). Your blog is fantastic; easy to read for lay-people but the information provided is well-supported by evidence (or otherwise as the case may be when the evidence is lacking, or not of good quality!).
I saw a pelvic floor specialist physiotherapist in early pregnancy (from a prophylaxis point of view given my advanced maternal age) regarding pelvic floor dysfunction. She told me that, from a “pelvic floor safety” point of view, a pregnant woman should not load her pelvic floor with any more than 10kg e.g at the gym, lifting items (where at all possible), regardless of pre-pregnancy level of fitness or previous level of resistance training. This was a blanket statement for all women of any size and fitness level! I’m not an elite athlete or Olympic weight-lifter by any means, but I am dubious about the evidence base for this statement. Are you aware of any evidence to support or refute this claim? I’d be very interested to read a blog of yours on this topic!
I’m due to see her again in third trimester and also post-partum, so I will be asking her for the evidence next time I see her. I suspect it might be dogma…
Hi Amy,
Thank you for making this page, I love it! I’m a postdoc in Australia and I find myself trying to consult the literature whenever I am curious about an aspect or pregnancy or confused by the vague information available in books and online. Sometimes it is hard knowing the best search terms or where to start so having your summaries and a bunch of references removes a lot of the hard work. It’s also nice to know other scientists are doing the same thing since it gives me a sense of nerdy-solidarity!
Hurray for nerd solidarity! If you find an interesting topic, let me know if you’d like to do a guest post.
For a lack of better description there is so much shit on the internet that has no evidence to it at all! What a relief to find your site with its references. I am only just pregnant, and my twin has just had a babe and had such ridiculous mixed advice from midwives (is there no set standards with advice/practice for these guys?!). I am an ED nurse currently doing research so can’t handle advice that is given without any evidence.
Keep up the awesome work.
Hi Amy-
I’ve been looking around for evidence for first trimester ultrasounds (vs waiting until later anatomy scan). Seems some providers order them and others don’t. Have you read much about that? I’m not finding much info.
Your blog is awesome! I’m 8 months pregnant and just came across it. As a med school student, my current vocation is to become someone capable of making informed decisions and judgment calls! I’m all about that EBM, evidence based medicine 😉 … This blog definitely caters to that, contrary to a looooot of sites that pretty much rehash the same old advice.
I’m super excited I found this blog. I always go down a rabbit-hole gathering scientific data whenever I’m trying to learn about something important. There’s so much junk information out there that presents opinions as facts or mis-represents scientific evidence.
I would love it if you did a blog post about the ideal amount of time for maternity leave (for mother and baby’s physical and emotional health). Most of the advice I’ve found just says vague or useless stuff like “take as much time off as you can.” I live in the US, so I don’t get any paid time off. I can afford to take a fairly long period of time off unpaid, but I don’t know exactly how long I should take and I would love to have some research to back up my decision (and help convince my husband!).
Thanks again for all the awesome information!
Thank you! Interesting idea–I will add it to my queue. Not sure what the ideal amount of leave is, other than surely more than 6 weeks!
I’d also be interested in reading a bit more on this topic. I came across this from a quick google: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/12/maternity_leave_how_much_time_off_is_healthiest_for_babies_and_mothers_.html
Thanks for all the interesting articles Amy.
Great blog! For parenting leave question it would be grear to include fathers on this too – there’s a great study out on when fathers are around for the first weeks postnatally on leave then read missions for mother and baby go down too.
Thank you for your blog. I came across your post on miscarriage, and you are the only place where I have read helpful scientific base information. Much thanks.
Thank god I found your blog! I am 16 weeks pregnant and have been searching since the day I found out for evidence-based information relating to pregnancy. There is so much b.s. out there, including (maybe even especially) on all of the major pregnancy sites and hardly any of it is evidence-based! I’ve also gotten conflicting information from doctors and trying to search through the research myself is time consuming. This is so helpful and appreciated. Any chance you can do a post on exercise during pregnancy? I am a public health professional by day and a part-time pole fitness instructor and I am reading so much conflicting info on safe exercises while pregnant. Most of the research I can find is about the positives of exercising, but my doctor told me that after about 14 weeks I should not constrict/engage my lower core and thus should avoid exercises like pole and pilates. That seems counterintuitive and her reasoning was a bit murky (I think she may have been worried about compressing the vena cava?) I know there isn’t any research on pregnancy and pole fitness, but any tips on the safety of engaging the core and just exercise in general would be great! Especially for those of us who were already very athletic before pregnancy. Thank you again!
Just found your blog – hooray for EBM! Another Aussie scientist (DVM) currently 7weeks with first pregnancy . Thanks a bunch!
Amy, you are awesome. Thanks for the many hours of research and sharing your findings.
Thank you!
Thank you for this blog! I’m only sorry I’m just discovering it now during my 2nd pregnancy. I’m very much a scientific-minded person, and find most of the ‘expecting’ sites out there not much help (or comfort) at all. I need facts. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you! I felt the same way during my pregnancies. Congrats on baby #2.
Awesome. Glad to find you. Evidencebasedbirth.com was my go to when I was pregnant the second time around. I couldn’t stomach the misinformation on the mainstream baby sites. Love seeing more sites with brainy perspectives! Thanks.
Thanks for this awesome blog. I’ve recommended articles on it for my friends who are pregnant or trying for a child and each one of them ended up reading a lot more articles than the one I recommended. We appreciate your efforts!
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Thank you! And thanks for sharing!
I am so pleased to find this blog. Currently waiting to find out if I am on miscarriage #4; missed miscarriage #2 and really wanted some actual numbers to shut my mother up (who was a statistician). Whilst it won’t impact the outcome having something scientifically based does put an end to frivolous chatter. You are a star to pull this together.
Thanks so much for all your work on this blog. I am 9 weeks pregnant with my first and finding myself so aggravated by the poor quality of information and advice not just online but also often from official guidelines and the medical establishment. I’m not interested in blindly following rules that have little or no evidence base and/or that assume I should selectively have zero risk tolerance in one area or another regardless of all other considerations. I have both some crunchy inclinations *and* a healthy respect for scientific method, and this is so far the only place I’ve found detailed, sensible, evidence-based information to inform my decisions about things like whether or not to co-sleep. You should write a book!
Thank you! Thinking about it!
I’m so thrilled to have found your blog – so many websites offer information that borders on superstition!! Evidence based practice is the way to go!! I also loved reading all the comments from mums to be with scientific backgrounds! Thank you so much for your writing!!
Thank you! I love sharing my passion for science with other parents.
I just found this blog and I’m already obsessed. I live in the SF bay area too with an engineer husband. I have a 4 year old but for some reason i’m more nervous this pregnancy, probably because in the last 5 years I’ve read more mommy blogs/podcasts and have heard many horror stories. Thank you! Love this!
Thank you! So glad you’re enjoying the posts.
During this pregnancy, my science brain has been getting progressively more angry at the variety of fruit the embryo/fetus is compared to. What is wrong with cm? Or if we are going to compare, lets find interesting things at least. The size of a badger dropping anyone? Size of an albatross egg?
I just want to know what is happening and why, not that “i shouldn’t worry, everything is probably fine with baby” and that “soon the joys of motherhood will make everything worth it”. The condescending, childish, overly sappy writing style of most pregnancy books and websites make me want to barf more than morning sickness. I think this “baby” style writing is also incredibly insensitive to women with recurrent miscarriage or actual risk factors that do worry and have real concerns but still need good, science based information.
Finally, your miscarriage ‘lies’ article also helped me understand and process four sequential miscarriages better than anything else I’ve read. And yes, I did track down the studies you reference and a few more… knowledge and understanding are powerful.
I will buy any book you write. If I don’t need it, I will make sure the library has a copy.