Magazine

A textured natural rubber teething ring resting on a knitted baby blanket

Natural Rubber Teethers: The Mistakes I Made Early On

Three in the morning is a bad time to evaluate your parenting choices. The radiator in our Chicago apartment was hissing, my toddler was trying to gnaw his own fist off, and I was frantically digging through the freezer. I...

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My youngest chewing on a maple wooden teether while sitting in her high chair.

Beißring Holz: Why I Tossed the Plastic for Wooden Teethers

I'm literally sitting on the floor of my laundry room right now, picking golden retriever hair off a neon green, gel-filled plastic teething ring that my three-year-old just excavated from the dark abyss under the living room couch. It’s sticky....

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A tired mom holding a silicone baby teether in her kitchen

Why the Teething Freezer Trick is a Disaster (And the Silicone Fix)

I was standing in front of the open refrigerator at 3:14 AM wearing a t-shirt I’d spilled coffee on twelve hours earlier, holding my oldest son Tucker while he screamed bloody murder. He was about five months old, drooling like...

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A half-chewed natural rubber teething ring sitting on a burp cloth

Why Freezing Your Natural Rubber Teether Is a Terrible Idea

I was standing in my kitchen at 2:14 AM wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt and nursing pads, violently chipping ice off a rubber ring with a butter knife. My oldest son, Leo, was in the background doing that high-pitched,...

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A mother holding a safe one-piece silicone teether instead of a necklace

The ugly truth about silicone jewelry teething trends and safety

I was standing in the checkout line at the Target on Roosevelt Road with a lukewarm cold brew I was too exhausted to actually drink when the geometric mint-green necklace snapped. Maya had a death grip on the nylon string....

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Exhausted mom holding a cold cup of coffee and a green silicone baby teether

Haakaa Teething Hacks: A Survival Guide to the Drool Apocalypse

Dear Sarah from exactly six months ago. You're currently standing in your sister's kitchen at 2 PM on a Tuesday, wearing those gray sweatpants with the mysterious yogurt stain on the knee, holding your screaming six-month-old nephew. You confidently volunteered...

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Exhausted mom holding a coffee while her baby chews on a silicone toy

That Terrifying Sound: When Babies Start Grinding Their Teeth

2:14 AM. A Tuesday. I was wearing a pair of my husband's college sweatpants that hadn't seen the inside of a washing machine since the Obama administration, clutching a lukewarm mug of yesterday's French press coffeeβ€”don't judge me, caffeine is...

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Exhausted mom drinking coffee while baby chews on a silicone gum teether.

The 3 AM Meltdown That Made Me Finally Buy a Real Gum Teether

It was 3:17 AM in a freezing January, and I was sitting on the floor of my mother-in-law’s guest room in Connecticut wearing a stained pair of maternity sweatpants that I absolutely should have retired two years prior. Maya was...

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Panicked mom looking at a broken amber baby necklace next to a wooden crib

The Day I Cut My Baby's Teething Necklace and Never Looked Back

I was standing over Beau’s crib holding a pair of tiny nail clippers, trying to decide if I had the nerve to trim his razor-sharp little claws while he slept, when my stomach completely dropped to the floor. He was...

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