Just show me numbers

(from one of my favorite episodes of The West Wing, "Two Cathedrals")

I've yelled this a few times in the past few weeks. I've been spending my free time navigating through peer-reviewed journals (as well a few other less-reliable websites) trying to gather evidence about some of the more controversial topics for parents. 

One-sheets about Circumcision, Vaccines, maybe Bed-Sharing/Co-Sleeping will find their way to this blog (and to my classes) eventually (oh, and by One-Sheet, and I mean 2 or 3 pages, because I cannot seem to condense it all onto one page). It's surprisingly difficult to find reliable information about these topics online -- I now have much more sympathy for parents who are debating these decisions and end up relying on Facebook groups, BabyCenter threads, and their friends for information. Unfortunately, there is no regulation on what a Facebook group can post, a BabyCenter mom can share, or where your friends' opinions come from. Even medical research sites like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization make statements without any citations, so it is incredibly difficult to understand where all the "data" comes from. For example, one site may say "Adverse reactions to this vaccine are extremely rare", while another says "Your child can have a serious adverse reaction to this vaccine"; both statements might be correct, but neither tells you what the adverse reaction is or the likelihood that it may happen. That is what we're going to try to fix.

Over the next few months Crafted Birth will delve into these topics for you, pulling out the best information and giving you NUMBERS to help you make the best decisions for yourselves and your baby. Stay tuned ...

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