Magazine

A glowing baby einstein sea dreams soother sitting safely on a nursery dresser in the dark

A Tech Dad's Review of the Baby Einstein Sea Dreams Soother

Last Tuesday, my mom told me to just leave the baby in the crib with a bottle of warm milk, my lead frontend developer swore I needed to strap a vibrating pad to the mattress, and a guy on TikTok...

Read more

Tired dad typing on laptop while baby sleeps next to organic play gym

The Megan Walerius Baby Drama and What I Wish I Knew Months Ago

Hey man. You’re currently sitting on the bathroom tiles at 3:14 AM, scrolling Twitter while the shower steam theoretically clears up your five-month-old's congestion. I know this because I'm you, six months in the future. The kid is eleven months...

Read more

A wet Newton mattress core drying in a Portland bathtub

Why I Hosed Down Our Newton Baby Crib Mattress at 2 AM

It was 3:14 AM. The infrared glow of the Nanit monitor showed a gray, pixelated blob that used to be my daughter, but now she was completely face-down. Smashed directly into the mattress fibers. I watched the screen, waiting for...

Read more

Exhausted mother holding baby in dimly lit nursery with wooden toys

Finding the Calm in the Chaos with a Sweet Baby James Lullaby

I was standing in my oldest son's nursery at 3:14 in the morning, wearing a nursing tank top that smelled strongly of sour milk and desperation, violently swaying back and forth. Three weeks prior, at my beautifully curated baby shower,...

Read more

Exhausted mom holding coffee and staring at baby gear.

Why "The Babys" Sleep Rules Broke Me (And What Really Worked)

I was standing in the kitchen at 3:17 AM wearing a gray maternity bra that smelled aggressively like sour milk and desperation. My husband, Dave, was asleepβ€”or pretending to be asleep, the bastardβ€”while I was furiously typing misspelled medical queries...

Read more

A tired mother holding a coughing baby in a dimly lit nursery

The brutal truth about baby cough medicine and what actually works

At 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was standing in my dark kitchen holding a thrashing, coughing toddler while my phone lit up with three different text threads. My mom was typing paragraphs about rubbing warm mustard oil on his...

Read more

A pile of square baby blankets next to a folded sleep sack on a crib mattress

My honest guide to receiving blankets versus swaddles at 2 AM

I was aggressively stuffing those white and pink-striped hospital blankets into my duffel bag while my husband stood by the door acting as a lookout. I was a pediatric nurse for five years before having my son. I knew exactly...

Read more

A pile of folded organic baby sleepwear on a messy nursery chair.

The Truth About Baby Sleepwear When Everyone Has an Opinion

"Put a hat on him, he's freezing," my mother-in-law said, handing me a knit cap that looked like an oversized acorn. This was at 2 PM. At 4 PM, my lactation consultant visited, took one look at Leo swaddled in...

Read more

Dad measuring sound machine volume next to baby crib

Decoding Infant Sleep Audio: My War With Sound Machines

It's 3 AM and I'm hovering over my eleven-month-old's crib with a free NIOSH decibel meter app glowing ominously on my phone, watching the needle spike into the red zone. My wife is standing in the doorway in her robe,...

Read more