Magazine

A tired mother holding a babbling baby in a nursery setting

Decoding Baby Vocals 3 Months In: A Nurse's Guide to Cooing

I was standing in the dark at three in the morning, holding a screaming potato of a human, trying to follow advice from a very expensive parenting app. The app told me that early language development requires measured, calm adult...

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A mother looking at a baby monitor screen in a dark bedroom

Why The Baby V.O.X Monitor Setting Fixed My Sleep

It was 3:14 in the morning and I was staring at a glowing rectangle of static, trying to decide if the rhythmic scratching sound was my son suffocating or just the dog licking his paws in the hallway. I used...

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Mom holding baby while looking exhausted in a messy living room

The Truth About Finding a Good Baby TV Show (And When To Turn It Off)

I was wedged tight between a bulk box of Etsy shipping mailers and a half-empty bag of stale Goldfish crackers, holding my breath in the pantry so my toddler wouldn't hear me existing. Out in the living room, my oldestβ€”who...

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Tired mom pushing a muddy toddler in a budget wagon holding an organic baby bodysuit.

The $1200 Stroller Lie and What You Actually Need

I was standing in a high-end Dallas baby boutique, six months pregnant with my first, staring at a $1,400 stroller that looked like a sleek European spaceship while my husband nervously checked our checking account balance on his phone. The...

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Sleep deprived millennial mom holding a silicone finger brush and cold coffee

Dear Past Me: Everything I Wish I Knew About Cleaning A Tiny Tongue

Dear Past Sarah, It's 2 AM on a Tuesday. You're sitting on the living room rug, wearing that ancient Nirvana baby t-shirt from high schoolβ€”yes, the one with the bleach hole near the hemβ€”and you're frantically shining your iPhone flashlight...

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Upset baby with white patches on tongue refusing a bottle from mom

When You Realize That Milk on Your Baby's Tongue is Actually Thrush

It was 3:14 AM. I know the exact time because I had been staring at the glowing green numbers on our digital alarm clock while my oldest, Leoβ€”who was roughly six weeks old at the timeβ€”screamed into my collarbone. I...

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Mom lying on floor making funny faces at her baby under a wooden play gym

Why The Way We Do Baby Talk Actually Matters

Standing in the H-E-B checkout line back in 2019, I was balancing my oldest son on my hip while digging for my wallet, doing that incredibly high-pitched, brain-melting nonsense voice we all fall into. "Does my widdle smoosh-smoosh want his...

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Tired mom holding a baby in a soft ribbed cotton t-shirt while folding laundry

The Honest Truth About Baby Tees and Sensitive Skin

My mom told me to put three layers and a fleece snowsuit on my oldest when we left the hospital in mid-April because she swore "a chill will get him" the second we stepped outside. My younger sister, who doesn't...

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Toddler taking first steps barefoot on a living room rug

The Baby Steps Metacritic: Stop Treating Walking Like A Game

I was sitting on a damp park bench in Wicker Park last Tuesday, nursing a lukewarm coffee, when a mother I barely know ambushed me. She had that specific, tense energy of a woman who'd just read four different parenting...

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