Magazine

Why the happy baby pose saved my structurally ruined spine

When my lower back finally gave out, I received three distinct pieces of advice from three very different people. My mother-in-law told me I needed to sleep on a plank of pine wood because that’s what her uncle did in...

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baby formulafatherhoodfeedinghealthlate nightorganic
A very tired dad staring blankly at a wall of infant milk cans in a grocery store aisle.

The Great Formula Panics: What I Learned About Feeding My Kid

It was 4:12 AM, I was holding a screaming, thrashing newborn, and my laptop screen was glowing in the dark with a massive spreadsheet titled Formula_Matrix_v4_FINAL.xlsx. My wife walked into the kitchen, looked at the screen, looked at my bloodshot...

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Babyearly developmenthealthparenting tipsSolid Food & Finger Food
A dad nervously holding a baby spoon with thinned peanut butter next to a high chair

The peanut butter baby protocol: Debugging a first allergen

Flashback to a misty Portland Tuesday about six months ago. My wife Sarah was in the other room on a muted Zoom call, and I was standing in the kitchen staring at a nine-dollar jar of organic, single-ingredient peanut butter...

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Babyhealthorganic baby clothesparenthoodpremature
Tiny premature baby sleeping in a NICU incubator with medical leads.

What Nobody Tells You About Having A Premature Baby At 33 Weeks

It was three in the morning on a Tuesday when the bradycardia alarm went off. The overhead lights in the neonatal intensive care unit were that specific shade of hospital fluorescent that makes everyone look mildly deceased. I was staring...

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healthmotherhoodnewbornparenthoodsurvival
Mom holding a newborn wrapped in a soft bamboo baby blanket near a sunny window.

Dear Jess: Surviving the Baby in Yellow Phase (And Other Shocks)

Dear Jess from six months ago, You're currently sitting on the peeling linoleum of the downstairs bathroom at 3 AM, holding your three-day-old up to the harsh vanity lights, trying to figure out if you're sleep-deprived and hallucinating or if...

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baby foodeco-friendlyfatherhoodhealthparenting humourSolid Food & Finger Food
Tom's messy London kitchen while testing the best baby food maker for his twin girls

The Great Puree Panic: Confessions From A Splattered Kitchen

There's currently a perfectly symmetrical, brilliantly orange splatter of sweet potato puree cooling on my left eyelid. It's Sunday at four in the afternoon, the sky over London has already surrendered to that bleak, bruised-plum colour of mid-winter, and I'm...

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early developmenthealthorganic baby clothesparenting humourtwin dad
A tired twin dad in London inspecting his baby's changing eye colour

Staring Contests: When Do Babies' Eyes Actually Change Color?

It's 4:13 a.m. and I'm locked in a deeply unsettling staring contest with my daughter. The flat is entirely silent save for the hum of the fridge and the distant siren of a London ambulance, but in the dim amber...

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feedinghealthinfant carenewbornSolid Food & Finger Food
A confused mother looking at a jar of honey while holding a baby in her kitchen.

Exactly Why Can't Babies Have Honey Before Their First Birthday

We were in Naperville at my in-laws' house for Sunday dinner. The baby was seven months old, teething heavily, and screaming with the kind of high-pitched intensity that makes your teeth vibrate. I stepped into the guest bathroom for exactly...

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babyhealthlate nightorganic cottonparenting tipssafety tips
Stressed mom looking at a sticky bottle of pink baby benadryl liquid

The 2 AM Baby Benadryl Panic and What I Actually Did Instead

It's 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in February. The wind off Lake Michigan is rattling the windowpanes of our Chicago apartment, and my toddler is sitting on the bathroom counter looking like a lightly boiled lobster. We had tried a...

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