Keeping your real newborn alive during the plastic toy craze
My mother-in-law told me to rub mustard oil in the baby's ears to prevent winter infections. My old charge nurse swore I had to wake him every two hours on the dot or his blood sugar would tank. The barista...
When Do Babies See Color? (And Why My Newborn Hated Pastels)
I was standing in the middle of the nursery at two in the morning, wearing nursing pads that were definitely leaking, holding my three-week-old daughter Maya. I had just spent an embarrassing amount of money on this gorgeous, handcrafted, organic...
How to Survive the Witching Hour Baby Meltdowns Without Losing It
My mother-in-law swore my son's evening screaming fits meant my breastmilk was literally too thin. The lactation consultant I paid two hundred dollars to see said he was cluster feeding and I just needed a better nursing pillow. A girl...
The Real Truth About How to Make a Baby Survive the First Year
I was standing in the kitchen at 4:13 a.m., wearing a dressing gown that smelled distinctly of sour milk, frantically pumping my daughter's tiny legs like she was participating in the Tour de France. My wife was hunched over the...
How to Get Rid of Baby Acne When Your Newborn Looks 15
I'm sitting in the low light of our London flat at three in the morning, holding Florence in one arm and frantically trying to keep a rogue stream of milk from finding its way into her neck creases, when I...
A Pediatric Nurse's Honest Guide to a Safe Bassinet for Baby
My C-section incision felt like a literal line of fire. It was 3 a.m. on night four of being a mother, and my son was wailing from the depths of a wicker nightmare. My mother-in-law had brought over her family...
A letter to my past self about the quest for superior baby wipes
Dear Tom of six months ago, You're currently standing in the semi-darkness of the nursery at 4:12 AM, attempting to perform a minor miracle while Twin A tries to kick you in the face and Twin B wails in aggressive...
Surviving Big Baby Davis: Raising A Literal Ten-Pound Newborn
"Are you absolutely sure there's only one in there?" I was staring at the popcorn ceiling of my OB's office in rural Texas, slick with that freezing blue ultrasound gel, while the poor tech just kept measuring and re-measuring my...
The Unfiltered Guide to Decoding Your Baby's Temperature Reality
Three days after bringing my son home, I was standing in the middle of my living room holding three different thermometers, staring at a baby who looked perfectly fine but felt like a baked potato. My mother-in-law was hovering over...