Magazine

Exhausted dad staring blankly at a tiny jar of baby chest ointment in the dark

Vicks Baby Rub: Surviving 3 AM Coughs Without Poisoning Them

It's precisely 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and my London flat currently sounds like a seal sanctuary that has been taken over by aggressive chain-smokers. Twin A has just unleashed a barking cough that rattled the windowpanes, which immediately triggered...

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Toddler in an organic bodysuit playing independently on a wooden play mat

Why Raising A Little Tiger Shouldn't Mean Losing Your Mind

The biggest lie they tell us about raising successful kids is that you've to start treating them like miniature Harvard applicants the second they crown. I remember sitting on my hand-me-down couch with my oldest baby, heavily caffeinated and crying...

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Mom doing a thorough tick check on her baby's hairline after playing outdoors in the grass.

How to Handle a Tick Bite on Your Baby Without Losing Your Mind

I was elbows deep in lukewarm bathwater trying to scrub what I thought was a stubborn piece of dried Texas dirt out from behind my four-month-old’s left ear. My oldest was running around the bathroom completely naked, loudly singing a...

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Sarah holding a coffee and wearing a sleeping baby while listening to a podcast

Baby This is Keke Palmer: How a Pop Culture Podcast Saved My Sanity

It was 2:14 PM on a Tuesday in late October, four years ago when Leo was just a tiny, furious newborn. I was sitting in the driver’s seat of my Honda CR-V in the Target parking lot. I was wearing...

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Confused dad holding a TV remote while a wooden play gym sits on the floor.

The Search Box Betrayal: Telugu Cinema and My Infant's Brain

It was 3:14 AM, the exact hour my optimism usually crashes and my brain reverts to safe mode. The baby was executing a flawless, high-decibel infinite loop of crying because of a newly erupting lateral incisor. I was bouncing him...

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Pediatric nurse looking at an infant mouth while holding a silicone teether.

The messy truth about the infant teething timeline

I spent five years in pediatric triage, and if I had a dollar for every time a parent told me their infant's 103-degree fever and explosive diarrhea was just teething, I could pay cash for my kid's future orthodontics. You're...

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Exhausted dad holding two crying babies while glowing smartphone screen sits on coffee table

When baby tears sims 4 complaints broke me during a 3am twin meltdown

It was 3:14 in the morning, and I was illuminated entirely by the sickly blue glow of my phone screen while Twin A writhed against my shoulder like a damp, furious sack of potatoes. Twin B was mercifully unconscious in...

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Exhausted mom holding a crying newborn baby in a dimly lit nursery room.

The Truth About Newborn Crying and Why You Don't See Tears Yet

It was 2:14 AM, and my oldest son Jacksonβ€”who is my personal cautionary tale for literally every parenting mistake a human can makeβ€”was doing this high-pitched pterodactyl shriek that vibrated directly in my molars. I was shining my iPhone flashlight...

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Toddler pointing at a tiny spiderling in a plastic container on a kitchen counter

Spiders, toddlers, and the absolute chaos of eight-legged pets

My brother-in-law told me a spiderling is the perfect first pet because it teaches quiet observation. My son's preschool teacher said bringing an arachnid into a house with a toddler is basically child endangerment. The guy at the local reptile...

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