Magazine

A tired mother looking at her baby's mouth in a dimly lit nursery

A letter to myself about thrush in babies and the white spots

You're sitting on the edge of the glider at 3 a.m. with your phone flashlight pointed into a sleeping mouth. You're trying to pry his tiny jaw open without waking him, which is as impossible as it sounds. His lips...

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A sleeping newborn baby wrapped in a soft blanket

What no one tells you about bringing a jaundice baby home

My mother-in-law told me to put him in the living room window like a houseplant. The hospital lactation consultant told me to feed him until my nipples literally fell off. My deeply sleep-deprived husband downloaded three different tracking apps, poking...

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Marcus troubleshooting the slippery infant bath setup in his Portland home - KIANAO

Debugging the Infant Wash Cycle: A Letter to My Clueless Past Self

You're currently holding a screaming, soapy five-month-old over a stainless steel kitchen sink while the water temperature wildly fluctuates between Arctic runoff and molten lava, and you're terrified. I know this because I'm you, writing from six months in the...

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Exhausted mom in stained sweatpants holding a baby with dry skin

Surviving The Ash Baby Look And Other Sweaty Newborn Disasters

It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was staring at Leo under the harsh bathroom vanity light, wearing a nursing bra that smelled aggressively of sour milk and my husband Dave's oversized college sweatpants. Leo was three weeks...

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Sarah holding a subtle terracotta rainbow blanket in a dimly lit nursery

The Terrifying, Beautiful Truth About Having a Rainbow Baby

I was wearing this absolutely hideous mustard-yellow maternity sweater that I hated but wore anyway because it was clean, and I was squeezing my husband’s hand so hard in the ultrasound room that his knuckles were actually turning white. It...

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A tired but smiling solo parent holding a baby while drinking coffee

"I had a baby without you": The messy truth of solo parenting

The biggest myth about doing this alone is that it looks absolutely anything like the cinema. People type i had a baby without you full movie into their search bars late at night, expecting some sweeping romantic drama starring an...

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A very tired father staring into the middle distance while holding a crying baby.

Decoding the Relentless Midnight Screams of Your Tiny Human

It’s 3:14 in the morning and both twins are vibrating with the kind of acoustic violence usually reserved for heavy metal festivals. I'm standing in the dark, rocking on my heels in a rhythm that has permanently damaged my lower...

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Tired mother sitting on nursery floor calculating budget with baby gear

Surviving the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps With Three Under Five

I was sitting on the nursery floor at 2:14 AM with my oldest, staring at a $400 emergency room bill for what turned out to be entirely normal teething pain, when I realized we were financially drowning. He was screaming,...

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Twin dad holding a red-faced screaming baby in a dim living room

Surviving the 6pm Meltdown: A Very Tired Dad's Guide to Colic

The absolute worst thing you can do at 6:13 PM on a Tuesday, when your infant begins their nightly impersonation of a faulty car alarm, is to load up YouTube on your phone, prop it against a cold cup of...

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