Swedes are some of the world’s happiest people, and their children are no exception. Parenthood the Swedish Way will help you and your family embrace the Scandi style of child-rearing.
Overwhelmed with conflicting advice about pregnancy and parenting? You are not alone. But don’t worry, two of Sweden’s leading doctors are here to help, debunking myths and offering practical advice in this fact-based, no-nonsense approach to birth, child health, and shared child-rearing from the progressive land in the North.
Expectant and new parents will be relieved to hear the following: breastfeeding doesn’t protect against allergies; sterilising bottles and dummies is unnecessary in most countries; and if you think you shouldn’t drink alcohol when breastfeeding, you’ve been taken in by plain moralism and not scientific evidence.
Dr Agnes Wold has been named Sweden’s Woman of the Year for her tireless work in women’s health. Paediatrician Dr Cecilia Chrapkowska runs one of the country’s most popular parenting blogs, and is a specialist on vaccinations. Together they present cutting-edge research from around the world that can guide you to make better parenting choices. Drawing on Sweden’s famously generous parental leave and enlightened social policies, they also demonstrate the importance of equal parenting, and provide practical tools for parents everywhere to share responsibility equally.
Parenthood the Swedish Way is an egalitarian, myth-busting guide through the maze of challenges that parents face raising healthy, happy families in the twenty-first century.
‘Doctors Chrapkowska and Wold do much to dispel the common misconceptions around child-rearing by providing a commonsense, scientific approach. Even if you’re not involved in the parenting business, there’s much to be gleaned from a Swedish take on this crucial undertaking.’
Dan Shaw, Happy Mag
‘Here, the two physicians have examined and summarised everything new parents need to know … From pregnancy and birth, to feeding and sleeping, to vaccines and illnesses, Parenthood the Swedish Way addresses all aspects of parenting and infant health in an empathetic and realistic way. New parents will appreciate this straightforward and thoroughly researched resource that picks apart outdated advice and debunks myths about parenthood.’
Melissa Norstedt, Booklist
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‘Agnes Wold has been a guiding hand when I’ve been pregnant and had small children. A more comforting hand than various parenting bibles, a more allowing hand than the leaflets from the maternity care and the child health centres. She gives the parent more room to be a human being, and less bad conscience … What parents need is advice based on science and level-headed tips. And some encouragement.’
Sydsvenskan
‘Are you of the opinion that the Trump administration rely on alternative facts much? That is nothing compared to what women are confronted by as soon as they get pregnant. In the parallel pregnancy reality the alt-facts are commonplace. ’Truths’ are constantly foisted on you, and shockingly enough they often turn out to be intrusive opinions, moralism, or pure inventions … If The Handmaid’s Tale is an exaggerated and dramatised reminder of the anxiety of becoming breeding stock, Wold & Chrapkowska’s book can be a crucial antidote. One by one, they deal with some well-known ’truths’ related to bearing and birthing that are in part being spread by social functions, e.g. the variety of advice on what you can eat and drink during pregnancy and breastfeeding — some are correct while other recommendations seem to have been inspired by Christian faith and morality rather than science.’
Dagens Nyheter
