One downfall of living in the Internet age with access to all the world's knowledge is that we also live with access to all the world's advice. Whether an opinion is based on science, tradition, or personal experience, there are countless blogs and experts ready to tell us how to live. This chaos is only compounded when you have children. Those of us who are dads can certainly relate to this, but I think we can agree that moms bare the brunt of it even before their baby is born. Natural birth or epidural? Breastfeeding or formula? Cry-it-out or attachment parenting? Co-sleeping or crib? On today's show, my guest and I talk about the history behind mothering expertise and how this flood of advice has always been the case to some degree.

Bethany Johnson is a doctoral student focusing on the history of science, technology, and the environment and is part of the research faculty at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. She studies how ideas in science, medical technology, and public health have been communicated historically. Bethany is co-author of the book You're Doing It Wrong! Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise along with Dr. Margaret Quinlan who studies communication within the healthcare system. In You're Doing It Wrong!, Bethany and Margaret describe the changing care mothers and their children have received since the 1800s as well as the medical and parental advice women throughout history have received from the medical profession and the media. 

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