Magazine

A sleeping newborn with arms extended in a sudden Moro startle reflex

Before And After Nursing School: The Truth About Baby Reflexes

I dropped a metal travel mug on our hardwood floor at two in the morning. The sound echoed like a gunshot through our cramped Chicago apartment. My two-week-old son, who was dead asleep on his back in the bassinet, violently...

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A frustrated dad staring at a digital infant scale next to a stack of nappies

The baby scale anxiety trap (and why we threw ours out)

It's 4:12 AM on a Tuesday, and I'm standing in the kitchen illuminated only by the aggressive blue backlight of an LCD screen, trying to calculate the relative density of a soiled nappy. I'm staring at an Excel spreadsheet that...

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A half-empty tub of healing ointment next to a spilled coffee cup on a messy nursery changing table.

The Honest Truth About Baby Aquaphor: A Letter To My Past Self

Dear Sarah from exactly six months ago. You're standing in aisle fourteen of Target. It's a Tuesday, I think. You're wearing those black maternity leggings that have the weird crusty yogurt stain on the left thigh that you swore you'd...

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Priya testing tub water temperature with a newborn in a grey mesh seat

Surviving The Slippery Newborn Phase With A Mesh Seat

My knees were cracking against the cold hexagonal tile of our vintage Chicago apartment bathroom while I gripped a screaming, six-pound human who felt exactly like a wet football covered in olive oil. The tap was running. Steam was fogging...

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Exhausted mother drinking coffee while holding a baby wrapped in a gray blanket.

Dear Past Sarah: Everything To Know About The Baby Whale Phase

Dear Sarah of exactly six months ago, You're currently hiding in the downstairs half-bath. I know this because I remember the exact smell of the lavender air freshener you're stress-spraying, and I know you're wearing those black Lululemon leggings with...

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A pile of folded organic cotton infant garments sitting on a wooden nursery changing table

My Chicago Winter Blowout and the Perfect Onesies Baby

It was two in the morning inside the Northwestern Memorial Hospital parking garage in late January. The wind off Lake Michigan was doing that thing where it physically hurts your face. My daughter, then six weeks old, had just weaponized...

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Exhausted mother staring at a sleeping infant in a dimly lit nursery room

Surviving the first weeks with your new baby without losing it

I was sitting in the passenger seat of our Honda CR-V on top of a literal ice pack, staring at the mirror angled toward the car seat in the back. My husband was driving ten miles under the speed limit...

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A tired mom holding a digital thermometer and a fussy baby in a dimly lit nursery.

Finding the Normal Temperature for Baby Without Losing Your Mind

I was sitting on the edge of the nursery glider at 2:14 in the morning, staring at the glowing red screen of a plastic forehead scanner, completely convinced my firstborn was boiling from the inside out. He felt like a...

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Tired dad staring at a laptop in a dark nursery with a baby monitor

3 AM Server Logs and Unexpected Pediatric Data from Paris Hilton

Dear Marcus of Six Months Ago, You're currently sitting in the dark in our Portland apartment, illuminated only by the harsh blue glow of the baby monitor and a half-empty mug of coffee you microwaved three times and still forgot...

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