Magazine

Baby getting temperature checked by mom with a digital thermometer

The Unfiltered Guide to Decoding Your Baby's Temperature Reality

Three days after bringing my son home, I was standing in the middle of my living room holding three different thermometers, staring at a baby who looked perfectly fine but felt like a baked potato. My mother-in-law was hovering over...

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Exhausted mom drinking coffee while holding a sleeping baby in the nursery.

The Messy, Exhausting Truth About Getting Your Baby to Sleep

It was 3:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I was sitting frozen on the floor of the nursery, holding my breath because my knee had just popped. I knew if my oldest son, Leo, heard that tiny joint crack and...

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Pregnant mom sitting on couch surrounded by blank baby shower thank you cards and gifts

Writing Baby Shower Thank You Cards Without Losing Your Mind

I was exactly thirty-six weeks pregnant with my oldest, sitting dead center on the faux-wood floor of our tiny rental duplex, surrounded by seventy-five pastel blue envelopes. I was absolutely sobbing. My lower back felt like it was splitting in...

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Sarah holding a giant iced coffee looking terrified in the middle of a crowded baby convention center.

Surviving a Massive Baby Show Without Losing Your Damn Mind

I'm standing in aisle 400 of the convention center, seven months pregnant with Maya, sweating through a maternity shirt that was absolutely not designed for indoor arena temperatures, while my husband Dave is holding three different neon tote bags filled...

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A toddler looking at a tablet playing a colorful animated video

Why the baby shark video is actually neurological genius

We're stuck in gridlock on Lake Shore Drive. The smell of three-day-old formula is radiating from somewhere under the passenger seat. In the back, my daughter has initiated the kind of breath-holding, red-faced scream that usually requires a medical intervention....

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Mom holding baby upright over her shoulder with a burp cloth

The Reality of Baby Reflux: Surviving the Spit-Up Years

It was 3:17 AM on a Tuesday, and I was sitting in my grandmother's old floral rocking chair, completely drenched in what I can only describe as sour Parmesan cheese. My oldest son, Jacksonβ€”bless his heart, he's my cautionary tale...

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A mother looking tired next to a wooden baby play enclosure

The Honest Truth About Needing a Baby Play Pen

My mother-in-law told me a baby play pen is a cage that stunts gross motor skills and ruins a child's natural curiosity. My neighbor, on the other hand, told me she leaves her daughter in one for four hours a...

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Baby playing on a wooden playmat while a television plays a nature documentary in the background

Streaming Shows For Babies And The Real Science Of Screen Time

My mother-in-law insisted that any moving image on a television would permanently short-circuit my infant's brain. My neighbor down the hall swore that putting on animated dancing fruit was the only way she managed to wash her hair without someone...

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Mother in dark nursery rocking a baby while listening to music.

Decoding The Postpartum Truth In Go Baby Justin Bieber Lyrics

It's 3:17 AM in Chicago. The radiator in my pre-war apartment is hissing, and I'm swaying in the dark with a reflux-prone fourteen-month-old draped over my shoulder. I'm trying to keep my sanity intact. In my right earbud, I'm listening...

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