How learning the dont worry baby chords fixed our sleep bugs
At 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, I was standing in the middle of our Portland nursery holding an iPad running a professional-grade decibel meter app in my left hand while frantically toggling between twelve different "womb environment" Spotify tracks with...
The truth about that Jenna baby nude photo uproar
My mother-in-law swore my baby needed three layers of wool at all times or he would catch a draft and perish instantly. A lactation consultant in a fluorescent hospital basement told me skin-to-skin meant I shouldn't wear a top for...
How Long Can A Baby Sleep In A Bassinet Before You Lose It
Dear Sarah from exactly four years and six months ago, It's 3:14 AM on a Tuesday. You're wearing Dave’s stained college lacrosse t-shirt, the one with the hole near the left armpit, and you've literally been staring at Leo for...
Why I Went Down a Late-Night Rabbit Hole About Crib Scandals
I was holding a 20-volt DeWalt impact driver in one hand and a piece of splintered, ostensibly non-toxic mahogany in the other when my wife gently suggested from the doorway that I was "doing it wrong." It was a Tuesday...
When Is It Safe to Give Your Baby a Blanket?
I was exactly three weeks into this whole motherhood gig when I almost gave myself a heart attack. My oldest son, Carter—who exists mostly now as a walking cautionary tale for everything I did wrong as a first-time mom—was born...
When Do Babies Discover Their Feet: A Letter to My Anxious Self
Dear Priya from six months ago. You're sitting on the nursery rug at 3 AM. The glow of the humidifier is casting weird shadows on the wall, and your kid is lying flat on his back, staring at the ceiling...
When Do Babies Switch To One Nap
I'm currently staring at a baby monitor that displays a room temperature of exactly 68.4 degrees and an 11-month-old standing in his crib, aggressively shaking the rails like a tiny, sleep-deprived prisoner. It's 10:15 AM. This is supposed to be...
When to Move Baby to Their Own Room Without Losing Your Mind
I was standing in the Target baby aisle holding a three-pack of pacifiers and staring blankly into space when it happened. Maya was about four months old, strapped to my chest in a carrier, blowing those aggressive little spit bubbles...
How to survive a woven baby wrap without losing your mind
I was standing in the hallway at two in the morning. Maya was screaming the kind of red-faced scream that sets off your fight or flight response. I was holding a five-meter strip of linen like it was a giant...