Magazine

Exhausted mom holding a crying baby in the kitchen at night

The Truth About Infant Gas Drops (And What Actually Worked For Us)

It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday in 2017, and I was standing in my kitchen wearing a pair of maternity leggings that smelled distinctly of sour milk and sheer desperation. I was running on roughly forty-five minutes of fragmented...

Read more

Infant sleeping soundly under a squirrel print blanket while twitching

I asked a doctor what do babies dream about and the truth hurts

It was three in the morning in our drafty Chicago apartment when my son let out a sound that was half-giggle, half-choke. I stood over his bassinet, gripping the edge like I was bracing for an earthquake. His eyes were...

Read more

Mother holding newborn very close to her face to test infant vision focus

The Unfiltered Truth About When Your Newborn Can Actually See You

I spent three months of my pregnancy painting a perfectly muted sage green mural on my son's nursery wall. I curated taupe crib sheets. I bought dusty rose swaddles. I spent an embarrassing amount of money making sure his room...

Read more

A smiling baby laying on an organic playmat chewing a wooden bunny teething ring

When Do Babies Start Babbling? A Tired Mom’s Guide to the Noise

There I was, sitting cross-legged on my living room rug surrounded by a mountain of unsorted laundry, aggressively waving black-and-white flashcards in my firstborn’s face. Leo was about four months old at the time, staring at me with the blankest...

Read more

Tired mom looking down at her baby on a playmat waiting for a coo

When Do Babies Start Cooing? A Real Mom's Guide to Early Sounds

I was sweating through my third nursing tank of the day in the cab of my F-150 outside the local feed store in mid-July. My oldest, Wyatt, was exactly eight weeks old and sitting in his car seat looking at...

Read more

Frustrated dad staring at a burp cloth covered in baby spit up

The Spit-Up Timeline: When The Milk Volcano Finally Stops

At exactly 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, surrounded by seven different brands of anti-colic bottles and covered in what smelled like old yogurt, I realized the biggest lie of early parenthood. I had spent three weeks thinking I could troubleshoot...

Read more

Tired mom holding a baby wearing a custom cranial helmet and an organic cotton onesie

Why Do Babies Wear Helmets? A Letter To My Freaking Out Past Self

Dear Sarah from exactly six months ago, You're currently sitting cross-legged on the dusty attic floor. You're wearing Dave's old college hoodie that smells intensely of damp cardboard, and you're literally crying into a plastic storage bin of Leo's outgrown...

Read more

Frustrated mom adjusting a rear-facing baby car seat in the Texas summer heat.

The Sweaty, Stressful Reality of Baby Car Travel and Seat Safety

I was heavily pregnant with my second, sweating completely through my maternity tank top in a Target parking lot in the middle of July, trying to rip an infant seat base out of my husband's truck so I could move...

Read more

A tired mom holding a fussy infant in a dimly lit kitchen at 3 AM

Skip the 90s Movie: How to Actually Soothe a Screaming Baby

It's 3:14 AM. I'm standing barefoot on the cold linoleum of my kitchen, frantically typing into my phone with my left thumb while my right arm is going completely numb from holding a rigid, screaming infant. In my sleep-deprived delusion,...

Read more