Debugging the Meltdown: A Dad's Guide to Unsoothable Tears
My mother-in-law told me over FaceTime to just let him cry it out or I was going to spoil his lungs, whatever that means. The guy making my pour-over at the coffee shop confidently stated that my son was simply...
When the Alex Vesia News Hits Your 3 AM Dad-Brain Anxiety Spiral
It was exactly 3:14 AM. The Portland rain was aggressively pelting our bedroom window, sounding like someone dropping gravel on a tin roof, and I was lying frozen under the duvet. My 11-month-old son was in the nursery next door...
Surviving the "Don't You Want Me Baby" Guilt Trip From Relatives
We were sitting in our Portland living room on exactly Day 12 of parenthood when the first breach of our perimeter occurred. My wife Sarah was exhausted, practically vibrating with postpartum adrenaline, and our daughter was finally asleep on her...
Finding the Best Baby Carriers Without Losing Your Damn Mind
Three days after Leo was born, I was standing in my kitchen wearing the same maternity leggings Iβd labored in, holding a lukewarm mug of coffee Iβd microwaved four times, and crying because my arms literally felt like they were...
Pediatric Nurse Guide: Surviving Your First Baby Wrap Carrier
My mother-in-law told me that tying a baby to my chest would ruin his spine forever and give him flat feet. Then my lactation consultant said if I didn't wear him twenty-four hours a day, he would inevitably develop an...
The Great Hydration Panic: Why Infant Water Rules Feel Backwards
It was the great London heatwave of 2022, the kind of oppressive humidity that makes you reconsider all your life choices, when I caught my mother-in-law creeping toward the pram with a miniature plastic cup of tap water. The twins...
My 3 AM Colic Panic and the Truth About Gripe Water for Babies
It's 3:14 AM. Tuesday. Or maybe a Thursday, time is a flat circle anyway when you haven't slept more than forty consecutive minutes in a month. I'm wearing my husband Dave's gray sweatpants with a mysterious crusty stain on the...
What The Hailey Bieber Baby News Actually Taught Me About Postpartum
Three different people gave me completely different advice the week before my oldest was born, and not a single bit of it was helpful. My mom sat at my kitchen island, swirling the ice in her sweet tea, and promised...
The Truth About Maternity Dresses for Baby Showers
Let me tell y'all the biggest lie the internet ever sold us: that you're going to float into your celebration at thirty-two weeks pregnant looking like a perfectly contoured, dew-kissed fertility goddess in a restrictive satin gown. I'm starting right...