Magazine

A tired mom holding a teething baby in a dimly lit nursery

The 3 AM Teething Triage: Surviving the First Tooth

It was three in the morning, mid-January in Chicago, and the wind was howling off Lake Michigan. My toddler was thrashing in her crib like she was possessed, her sleep sack completely saturated with drool. I stood there running through...

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Tired mom holding a baby wearing a custom cranial helmet and an organic cotton onesie

Why Do Babies Wear Helmets? A Letter To My Freaking Out Past Self

Dear Sarah from exactly six months ago, You're currently sitting cross-legged on the dusty attic floor. You're wearing Dave's old college hoodie that smells intensely of damp cardboard, and you're literally crying into a plastic storage bin of Leo's outgrown...

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Marcus looking exhausted while holding a spreadsheet about mosquito repellant and a baby bodysuit.

The Zika Baby Panic: What My Pediatrician Actually Told Me

I was staring at the smeared remains of a mosquito on my laptop screen when Sarah walked into the home office, holding our eleven-month-old like a football and looking highly alarmed. We were supposed to fly to a wedding in...

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A tired father holding a screaming newborn in a dimly lit kitchen.

Surviving the evening screams with your sanity mostly intact

There was a specific time, 6:13 PM to be exact, when the atmosphere in our London flat would shift from manageable chaos to complete psychological warfare. You could set a watch by it. The girls would be lying there, looking...

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A dad troubleshooting the best humidifier for baby next to a crib

The Search for the Best Humidifier for Baby (Without the Mold)

My mother-in-law handed me a vintage 1990s vaporizer and told me to boil eucalyptus oil in the nursery. Three hours later, the guy at Home Depot practically cornered me in the plumbing aisle to explain why ultrasonic machines are the...

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A dad looking confused while holding a clean baby nappy

A dad's honest survival guide to baby poop colors and nappies

My mother-in-law told me mustard yellow means they're digesting their milk perfectly. The NCT instructor casually mentioned that anything even slightly green requires immediate, intensive medical intervention. And a bloke at our local pubβ€”who freely admitted he hasn't held a...

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Mom holding her newborn baby's tiny hand to check for healthy pink nail beds

Decoding Your Infant's Pink Fingernails (And Surviving Trim Time)

I was sitting on the floor of my nursery at 3:00 AM with my oldest son, Jackson, sweating right through my maternity pajamas and holding a pair of baby clippers like I was trying to defuse a bomb. He was...

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Exhausted mom drinking coffee while holding a crying baby in a messy nursery

The Messy Truth About Raising Cute Babies (And Surviving The Crying)

It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was trying to wrestle a screaming, four-day-old Leo out of a stiff, scratchy mustard-yellow linen romper that had, like, seventeen tiny wooden buttons. I was sweating through my nursing bra. My...

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Mother placing soft acoustic earmuffs on her infant daughter's head at an event

The Medical Reality of Buying Baby Headphones: A Nurse's Guide

We were sitting in row fourteen at my cousin's sangeet in Schaumburg when the bass from the dhol vibrated through the floorboards and straight up into my sternum. My daughter was barely three months old. I had my hands clamped...

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