Magazine

A frustrated mother reading a botanical baby lotion ingredient label while holding her toddler

Why Rosemary's Baby Is A Terrible Idea For Your Real Toddler

My mother-in-law told me to rub concentrated rosemary oil on my toddler's chest to cure his midnight cough. The next morning, my granola-mom neighbor swore a homemade rosemary extract paste was the only reliable way to dissolve cradle cap. Then...

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Exhausted young mother looking at a massive pile of bright plastic toys from grandparents

Surviving the Baby Boomer Years of Grandparenting

Don't, under any circumstances, politely accept the garbage bag full of your own crusty childhood stuffed animals just because your mom has misty eyes. I did this when my oldest was born, and let me tell you, it was a...

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Tired mother holding a silicone teether and looking stressed

Why That Freezer Teether Ring Is Actually Making Your Baby Cry

It was three in the morning in the middle of a Chicago February. The kind of bitter cold that seeps right through the windowpanes and makes the old apartment radiator hiss like an angry cat. My toddler was cutting his...

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A delicate floral baby loss tattoo on a mother's inner forearm

My Baby Loss Tattoo: Why I Needed Ink After the Worst Day

I was staring at the popcorn ceiling in my bedroom at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday, listening to the hum of the ceiling fan and absolutely nothing else. The house was dead silent. My oldest was at preschool,...

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A mother holding a warm cup of coffee looking out a rainy window

Comforting Baby Loss Quotes: Finding Words When You're Grieving

"At least you know your plumbing still works!" That was my well-meaning but completely clueless aunt, standing way too close to my face in the hospital room while I was still wearing those god-awful mesh underwear and bleeding through a...

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A half-finished knitted baby cardigan next to a massive cup of spilled coffee.

The Truth About Baby Knitting Patterns (And What Actually Works)

Maya was exactly eighteen days old and I was sitting on our beige living room rug in sweatpants that hadn't been washed since the Obama administration, crying over a tiny sleeve. It was somewhere around 2 PM, though time is...

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A chronological guide to helping family select a baby's headstone and processing the logistics of infant loss.

When Your Brother Asks You to Help Pick a Memorial Marker

The fluorescent lighting in the monument showroom was humming at a frequency that felt like a localized cyber-attack on my nervous system. I was sitting at a faux-wood desk next to my older brother, Dave, staring at a catalog of...

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Dad holding baby while researching true crime on laptop

Did Ed Gein Kill The Baby Sitter? A Dad's Late-Night Search

11:43 PM. The glow of the television is casting a sickly blue light across our living room, illuminating an abandoned silicone teething ring and a half-drank bottle of formula. Sarah is asleep on the couch, her head resting at an...

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Sarah holding a cold coffee mug while rocking a screaming newborn

How Do People Abadon Babies? A Letter To Myself

Dear Sarah from six months ago, It's 2:14 AM. You're sitting on the cold, weirdly sticky tile of the upstairs bathroom floor. You're wearing Dave's gray Villanova sweatpants—the ones with the literal hole in the left knee that you keep...

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