Magazine

A tired dad holding a medical binder next to a baby sleeping on a bamboo blanket

System Reboot: Surviving Year One With An HIE Diagnosis

The digital display above the plastic incubator read 33.5 degrees Celsius. I stood there in a yellow isolation gown that was slightly too short for my arms, staring at a screen that looked exactly like a 1990s MS-DOS prompt. I...

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Exhausted mother looking down at a fussy newborn in a dimly lit nursery

The Hey Baby Reality Check For Every Exhausted New Parent

It was 3:14 in the morning and I was standing over a crib trying to negotiate with a swaddled infant who looked like a very angry burrito. The white noise machine was turned up to a volume that probably violated...

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A tired mom holding a baby on a changing table looking at a fresh diaper

What I Wish I Knew About Finding Healthy Baby Diapers That Actually...

I'm looking at you right now from six months in the future. You're sitting on the cold bathroom tile at three in the morning. It's February in Chicago, the wind is howling, and the changing pad looks like a literal...

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An exhausted dad sitting on a sofa looking at two swaddled newborns.

Dear Tom: A guide to surviving the very weird baby alien phase

Dear Tom, You're currently sitting on the edge of a spectacularly uncomfortable plastic mattress in the maternity ward at St Thomas' Hospital, staring into a perspex box containing two squirming, purple, vernix-covered creatures. They look less like the cherubic infants...

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Baby in a soft green organic cotton long sleeve romper playing on a rug

A Nurse's Guide to the Infant Holiday Wardrobe Trap

My mother-in-law cornered me in the kitchen last December holding a miniature polyester tuxedo complete with a clip-on bowtie and tiny suspenders. She fully expected my four-month-old to wear this structural engineering marvel to our family dinner. I spent five...

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A messy pile of organic cotton yarn next to a half-finished crochet baby project.

Dear Past Jess: The Brutal Truth About Crochet Baby Blankets

You're currently sitting on the floor of the nursery surrounded by fifty dollars worth of mustard yellow yarn, crying because you dropped a stitch four rows back. I know this because I was you exactly six months ago, hugely pregnant...

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Folded organic cotton baby strampler on a wooden changing table next to baby essentials

The 3 AM Blowout: Finding A Baby Strampler That Actually Works

It was exactly 3:14 AM when the warmth hit my forearm. I was standing in the dark, swaying slightly, trying to burp a three-week-old infant who felt entirely composed of liquid and rage. The warmth was yellow, mustard-scented, and rapidly...

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A dad looking confused while holding knitting needles and tangled merino wool.

Why I Attempted Babydecke Stricken (And Almost Lost My Mind)

My mother-in-law slapped a skein of neon acrylic on our kitchen island and told me it was indestructible. Three hours later, the guy at the local Portland yarn shop looked at me like I'd asked to poison the water supply...

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Exhausted mother laughing on floor surrounded by baby boxes

The Tous Baby Consumer Trap: What I Wish I Knew Six Months Ago

Hey Jess. You're currently sitting cross-legged on the linoleum floor of the Target baby aisle, roughly seven months pregnant with baby number three, crying over whether to buy a sixty-dollar wipe warmer that has a built-in nightlight and Bluetooth speaker....

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