Magazine

A toddler wearing an organic cotton bodysuit playing in the mud outside.

Why I Swapped Helicopter Parenting for the Achtung Baby Method

It was a Tuesday morning, maybe 10 AM, and I was wearing a pair of black yoga pants that definitely had spit-up crusted on the left thigh from three days prior. I was physically army-crawling through one of those enclosed...

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Baby in a soft green organic cotton long sleeve romper playing on a rug

A Nurse's Guide to the Infant Holiday Wardrobe Trap

My mother-in-law cornered me in the kitchen last December holding a miniature polyester tuxedo complete with a clip-on bowtie and tiny suspenders. She fully expected my four-month-old to wear this structural engineering marvel to our family dinner. I spent five...

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Sarah holding baby Maya at the beach trying to figure out infant SPF rules

The Huge Infant SPF Lie I Completely Fell For With My First Baby

It was July 2017, I was wearing these god-awful maternity jean shorts that I stubbornly refused to retire, and I was sitting on a sandy towel in Cape May, New Jersey, furiously painting my four-month-old daughter Maya with what can...

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Tired mother testing a baby stroller inside a local retail shop

My brutally honest guide to your baby store near me search

I was thirty-seven weeks pregnant, sweating profusely through a thin maternity top in a strip mall off the Kennedy Expressway. I had just desperately typed a search for the closest local baby shop into my phone, completely convinced that walking...

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Toddlers wearing durable boys apparel at a chaotic soft play centre

The Soft Play Disaster That Made Me Buy Boys Apparel For Twins

The static electricity in the ball pit at Pirate Pete’s Soft Play in Croydon was strong enough to power a small electric vehicle. I know this because my two-year-old twin daughters, Maya and Zoe, were currently trapped inside it, looking...

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A messy pile of organic cotton yarn next to a half-finished crochet baby project.

Dear Past Jess: The Brutal Truth About Crochet Baby Blankets

You're currently sitting on the floor of the nursery surrounded by fifty dollars worth of mustard yellow yarn, crying because you dropped a stitch four rows back. I know this because I was you exactly six months ago, hugely pregnant...

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Wooden building blocks scattered on a rug next to a play gym.

Why Most "Educational" Toys Are Just Overpriced Plastic

I'm currently staring down a plastic monstrosity that speaks three languages, flashes like a discount Vegas casino, and cost my mother-in-law forty-five dollars. It has a giant sticker on the box screaming that it'll teach my baby geometry, and let...

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A bewildered dad holding a tiny impractical baby outfit while toddlers create chaos.

An Honest Letter to Past Tom About the Best Baby Shower Gifts

I'm currently staring at a cashmere baby cardigan roughly the size of a teacup, aggressively regretting my life choices. My mate Dave’s gathering is tomorrow afternoon, and I'm writing this as a therapeutic exercise directed entirely at my past self—specifically...

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Wooden baby activity center with hanging toys on a rug

The 15-Minute Peace Treaty: Surviving Baby Activity Centers

At exactly 4:12 PM on a rainy Tuesday, I realized I had made a terrible, terrible mistake. I was sitting on our battered London flat's living room rug, nursing a desperately lukewarm cup of tea, while my twin daughters, Maya...

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