Magazine

A frustrated mom holding a tiny red velvet holiday dress next to a comfortable organic cotton baby romper.

Dear Jess: Stop buying the velvet holiday dresses for your baby

It's currently July, you're sweating completely through your maternity shorts in the hundred-degree Texas heat, and for some ungodly reason, you're scrolling the internet looking at a stiff, synthetic red velvet monstrosity with eighty-two sequins on it. I need you...

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Baby girl wearing a rust colored organic cotton henley romper in the fall

The Truth About Fall Baby Clothes (And What Actually Works)

The biggest lie the internet ever told us about fall is that your infant needs to look like a miniature adult lumberjack. I'm just gonna be real with you, the idea of stuffing a four-month-old into a tiny, stiff denim...

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Wooden infant activity arch over an organic mat in a Chicago apartment.

The ugly truth about that neon plastic baby play gym you just bought

I was sitting cross-legged on my living room rug at three in the morning, holding a screwdriver and weeping quietly over a piece of molded plastic that required four D batteries. The box promised it would stimulate my newborn's cognitive...

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A tired mother folding tiny organic baby clothes on a bed

Dear Past Priya: The Clinical Reality of Baby Clothes Shopping

Dear Priya of six months ago. You're currently standing in the glow of a cracked iPhone screen at 3:14 AM. You're holding a newborn who just produced a blowout that somehow breached the known laws of physics, and you're staring...

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A highly unamused toddler sitting on the floor wearing stiff boys dress pants

Why buying boys dress pants is a specific kind of modern torture

I'm currently wedged next to the sanitary bin in the disabled toilet of a twelfth-century Surrey church, sweating completely through my only clean wedding suit, attempting to wrestle a screaming two-year-old into a pair of miniature, fiercely rigid navy slacks....

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A very drooly baby aggressively chewing on a wooden fox teething ring

The truth about newborn teething rings and endless drool

"Just rub a little bit of whisky on her gums, that’s what we did with you," my dad suggested, watching Mabel gnaw furiously on her own fist at a Sunday roast. "No, you need a Baltic amber necklace, but only...

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A sweaty toddler sleeping peacefully under a lightweight breathable cotton blanket in a dimly lit nursery

My Sweaty Journey to Find the Best Cooling Blanket for Babies

It's three in the morning in mid-July. The ancient window AC unit in my Chicago apartment is rattling like a dying lawnmower, and my toddler is plastered to my left side. He feels like a baked potato fresh out of...

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A tired mother holding a newborn surrounded by practical baby items instead of stuffed animals.

The Brutal Truth About Buying Actually Useful New Baby Gifts

I'm staring at a pair of infant converse sneakers. They're the size of a jalapeño. They have actual, functional laces. Someone spent real money on these at a baby shower last weekend, and I know exactly where they're going to...

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Marcus inspecting a printed baby t-shirt for safety and organic cotton quality

Debugging Your Kid's Wardrobe: The Ultimate Graphic Baby Tee

It was 2:14 AM on a Tuesday, and I had seventeen browser tabs open, deeply confused about how the internet works. Leo, my 11-month-old son, had finally entered a sleep cycle that didn't involve him kicking me in the ribs,...

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