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A tired father holding a baby while staring anxiously at a smartphone screen in a dark room

The 3 AM Google Spiral: Early Signs of Autism in Babies

I'm sitting on the freezing bathroom tiles at 2:14 in the morning, bathed in the blue light of my smartphone, watching my daughter E repeatedly line up three plastic bath boats in absolute silence. In the next room, her twin...

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Bewildered dad holding an avocado teether while looking at his drooling baby

When Do Babies Get Teeth? A Dad's Troubleshooting Guide

Dear Marcus from six months ago: Put down the tactical flashlight. She is not going to let you look in her mouth, and shining a 1000-lumen beam at a five-month-old's face at 2 AM is exactly why your wife is...

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Twin toddlers sitting on the floor looking confused at a smartphone screen

The Midnight Google Search for Baby Metal That Broke My Brain

It was roughly 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, a time of night when the human brain is largely just a puddle of lukewarm porridge, and I was pinned beneath Maya, the heavier of the twins, who had recently decided that...

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A stressed mother holding her highly congested infant next to a cool mist humidifier at night

Why the "It's Just a Cold" Myth is Dangerous for Infants

It was December 2019, I was running on exactly three hours of sleep and half a pot of lukewarm Folgers, wearing a hideous green sweater that already smelled like sour breastmilk, when Dave's aunt Linda peered into four-month-old Leo's car...

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Tired mother holding a medicine syringe and a baby in a dim kitchen

The Absolute Truth About Dosing Baby Fever Medicine at 3 AM

I used to think that if Maya was six months old, she just automatically got the "six-month" squirt of medicine. Like it was a shoe size or a milestone. I vividly remember standing in our tiny galley kitchen in our...

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A confused dad looking at a tiny baby roach on the kitchen floor.

The 3AM Kitchen Intruder: Dealing With Baby Roaches

It was 3:14 AM, and I was doing something I explicitly knew I shouldn't be doing. Maya, who's two years old but possesses the demanding palate of a Michelin-star food critic, refused to go back to sleep unless her milk...

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Mom in dimly lit nursery checking infant's temperature.

Note to self at 2 AM: A pediatric nurse's guide to infant fevers

Dear Priya from last November. You're standing in the nursery, barefoot on the cold hardwood, and the radiator is hissing. You're holding a child who suddenly feels like a baked potato in your arms. Ten minutes ago you were mindlessly...

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A frustrated mom holding a baby with red bumps on their neck in the summer heat

The Southern Mom's Guide to Clearing Up Baby Summer Skin Bumps

It was July 2019, the thermometer on my back porch in rural Texas read 104 degrees, and my oldest son looked like he had been attacked by a swarm of invisible fire ants. He had these tiny, angry red bumps...

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A skeptical pediatric nurse looking at her phone showing a viral wildlife video.

Why That Viral Bush Baby TikTok Is A Terrible Idea For Your Toddler

My cousin in Miami texted me a video of a tiny primate eating a grape on Tuesday and told me I should get one for Maya's second birthday. Three hours later, a girl in my local mom group forwarded the...

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