What sort of agreements should I make or information should I consider before moving into an apartment that would be used as a daycare during the day when my roommate and I aren't around? [more inside]
posted on Aug 20, 2008 - 32 answers

What can my triplet infants be for Halloween? [more inside]
posted on Aug 7, 2008 - 56 answers

How did having a baby change your life? I'm intentionally leaving the question as broad as it is and would love to hear your answers, mothers and fathers; but especially in regard to how it may have changed you, as a person. My wife is expecting in 5 weeks, I feel both tremendous excitement, but also a slight anxiety as I know my life will never be the same.
posted on Jul 22, 2008 - 33 answers

Does a father's moderate drinking, around insemination, affect conception rates or baby health? I've googled aplenty, but the info that I've found is consistently of poor quality, with lots of assertions and opinions but no data regarding actual outcomes, either for conception rates or a baby's development. I'm not interested in stories about damaged sperm, but rather solid evidence about babies, either the lack of babies or damage to their health. And I'm talking about consumption levels comfortably within the moderate range, so alcholic malnutrition and whatnot don't factor in. Thanks!
posted on Jun 14, 2008 - 10 answers

Can you recommend a good combination bike trailer/jogging stroller. [more inside]
posted on Jun 2, 2008 - 8 answers

Help me with a name for a six week old black pug. We're stumped. [more inside]
posted on May 28, 2008 - 100 answers

Give me your baby hacks! My wife and I are expecting our first child in November. What tips and tricks can you offer us to make our lives a lot easier? For example, a friend of mine swears that putting a crying baby in front of a mirror will cause it to stop. Another uses noise cancelling headphones to temper the noise from his shrieking child. I am looking for hacks on everything from diaper changing to stroller modifications. Make our lives easier as we enter into parenthood.
posted on May 20, 2008 - 46 answers

What are your recommendations for good baby and toddler books in English? [more inside]
posted on May 17, 2008 - 22 answers

What influences trends in baby names? And why have popular girls names changed more over the past 20+ years than boys names? [more inside]
posted on May 11, 2008 - 65 answers

What do you do once you have a kid and family problem stakes seem higher, i.e. you're concerned about exposing your child things that go against what you believe? [more inside]
posted on May 6, 2008 - 27 answers

I'm helping a friend with her baby room this weekend and am looking for tips about working with a limited space and organizing it for two kids! [more inside]
posted on Feb 2, 2008 - 11 answers

Calling all parents! I'm due to become an uncle in December and with the holidays coming up I want to get my sister and brother-in-law some baby/parent-related gifts. What items did you find indispensable after your baby arrived? Please assume that all the major staples have been acquired at the Baby Shower... I'm looking for the type of thing that you never thought of or realized you needed until after the baby was home.
posted on Nov 27, 2007 - 42 answers

Pat-a-cake; The Itsy Bitsy Spider ... and ....? Can you suggest some traditional rhymes/games with motions like the two above that I can play with my 16 month old son. Preferably things that can be done lying down (so Head Shoulder Knees and Toes won't work well).
posted on Nov 20, 2007 - 29 answers

Help me find safe, amusing refrigerator magnets for my 15-month-old nephew. [more inside]
posted on Nov 13, 2007 - 9 answers

What do you wish you'd known about having twins? [more inside]
posted on Nov 6, 2007 - 21 answers

Mrs In_Oz is pregnant. We have two good natured, but enormous wolf-hound cross mastiff dogs. Since we have a bit of time up our sleeves, is there anything that we can do to assist in the inevitable integration of baby to beast? [more inside]
posted on Sep 25, 2007 - 14 answers

Why do babies pull their ears when they are tired? [more inside]
posted on Aug 6, 2007 - 11 answers

I remember reading as a young kid - in about 1985/6 - a comic book starring the cast of the Justice League of America as babies or toddlers. I'm not sure of the specifics, like if it was actually the JLA, but it definitely had cute little baby versions of all the favourite DC staples: Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman and the Flash. Does anyone else remember this? Am I imagining the whole thing? What was it called and where can I find a copy? [more inside]
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - 8 answers

I'm on the fence about having a BABY! Please see more inside. [more inside]
posted on May 22, 2007 - 40 answers

How do you know when its time to have a child? [more inside]
posted on May 13, 2007 - 27 answers

How do I politely breast-feed my baby while visiting in St. Louis, Missouri? [more inside]
posted on Mar 21, 2007 - 14 answers

FetusSoupFilter: Looking for an exhaustive report into a terrifying rumor about Chinese diet that seems to have more legs than any report of infanto-cannibalism should. [more inside]
posted on Mar 10, 2007 - 30 answers

What should I say/do to be polite about someone's baby? [more inside]
posted on Feb 9, 2007 - 44 answers

Reproductive Technologies: Pros and cons [more inside]
posted on Feb 7, 2007 - 6 answers

Tricks for getting a breast-fed baby to delight in the joys of a breastmilk filled bottle? [more inside]
posted on Jan 6, 2007 - 17 answers

Anybody else grow up calling a pacifier, a "goots"? I'm not sure if I'm spelling it correctly, but that's how it sounds (rhymes with boots). I'm not Jewish, but that word sounds Yiddish to me. Now I've got a kid of my own, and everybody thinks I'm crazy because I call it a goots. Is it a name brand? West Michigan Polish/Italian slang? Or what?
posted on Dec 26, 2006 - 24 answers

Is it possible to over-breastfeed a baby? She's 6 weeks old and nurses, oh, like 10-12 hours a day at least. I think she's at the breast more than she's asleep. [more inside]
posted on Dec 5, 2006 - 22 answers

Possibly stupid question about having a beard and a baby at the same time, and then not having a beard. [more inside]
posted on Nov 29, 2006 - 30 answers

What colours do other cultures use for babies? Here we have baby blue & pink. Do other cultures also have colours that are used for newborns, or is that specific to Western culture?
posted on Oct 22, 2006 - 9 answers

My partner and I really want to procreate. I also want to go to medical school. I've spoken to friends about this, to gather several schools-of-thought that might be useful in making some kind of decision as to the timing of these two things. Now I'm turning to you. Which should we do first? [more inside]
posted on Oct 18, 2006 - 49 answers

Is there a name for the gesture/vocalization that consists of flapping your finger up and down between your lips while making sound with your vocal cords? It comes out as something like "wawawawawawa" or "bababababa" and is often done by people as a way to entertain/communicate with babies. [more inside]
posted on Oct 16, 2006 - 17 answers

I have a 7 month old son. We love him to death, but he's currently driving us crazy with his wildly inconsistent sleeping habits. What should we do? [more inside]
posted on Sep 29, 2006 - 26 answers

Help my wife and I pick a middle name for our daughter [more inside]
posted on Aug 3, 2006 - 55 answers

How to sate my baby lust without actually having a baby? [more inside]
posted on May 11, 2006 - 40 answers

What's so special about baby skin? [more inside]
posted on Apr 14, 2006 - 18 answers

We are moving to Dublin with our eight-month old baby and I'm finding it difficult to find information on playgroups, nursery rhyme groups etc. Does anyone know of any? Generally, what sort of social activites are there for new Mums in the city?
posted on Apr 2, 2006 - 2 answers

I need soundfiles of baby babble to dub over a movie. Where can I get these?
posted on Mar 23, 2006 - 6 answers

A friend of mine has asked me to sell her beanie babies on Ebay, and I know nothing... [more inside]
posted on Dec 28, 2005 - 12 answers

Why did you choose to have a baby? I'm trying to get inside the mindset of people who are older than I am and in a very different part of their life. If you're someone who has always planned on having a family, why did you always plan on it and how do you feel about it now? If you never planned on a family and changed your mind, what made you change your mind? If you never planned on children but one come along by accident, how do you feel about them now? I'm looking for personal stories/anecdotes/opinions about it, not so much statistics or figures.
posted on Dec 26, 2005 - 33 answers

What is the best way to tell someone that you want to have a child with him? [more inside]
posted on Dec 21, 2005 - 14 answers

Babyfilter: How do I throw a fun first birthday party for my son without hiring any corny/lameass entertainment to occupy the under-5 crowd? I'd like the adults to enjoy themselves, too. Is my plan to have each parent swing their kid around in a giant game of baby-foosball doomed to fail?
posted on Nov 10, 2005 - 12 answers

Help me reduce my anxiety about labor & delivery of my first child (due date = less than a week).... I'm having recurrent nightmares: Repeat airplane crash scenarios. Nightmares of my husband getting killed on the way home from work. Of having a stranger assault me at home, BTK style. And it doesn't help that we had to put our wonderful dog to sleep last week. [more inside]
posted on Oct 18, 2005 - 18 answers

Does anyone know any good games to play with a six-month old baby? I'm frequently with my son Max, and I often can't think of anything to do with him. I feel like I'm denying him proper game playing. He can't sit up yet, or completely roll over and back, so things are a bit limited. I often entertain him with songs and weird noises, but I would like to figure out more interactive stuff to do with him. Any suggestions out there?
posted on May 17, 2005 - 19 answers

Help us name our son! [more inside]
posted on Apr 1, 2005 - 73 answers

A friend who is 8 weeks pregnant recently had an ultrasound. The computer said that she was only 6 weeks pregnant. She suspected that the baby might have died two weeks ago, which is why it has remained at a 6 week size. However, the levels of hormones in her blood continue to rise as if she were pregnant. Is more likely the the baby is just somehow undersized, or that the baby has died but the pregnancy has continued?
posted on Mar 11, 2005 - 22 answers

The Wife and I are having our first child this summer (yikes!, yea!). Anyone know of some groovy sites to shop for cute and tasteful baby stuff?
posted on Jan 25, 2005 - 24 answers

FreakishlyStrongBabyFilter: My 9 month old baby boy is so strong that he's hurting me. He's not quite as muscular as the mutant German baby in this photo, but he's not far off. He's strong enough to pull his hand or foot out of my grasp no matter how tightly I'm holding it, and he's been able to put all his weight on his legs since he was 2 months old. The main problems are that he will strain against the grasp of whoever is holding him. Mostly, who's holding him is me, and by the end of the day my wrists are usually quite painful (as in ibuprofen doesn't help much) and it's exacerbating my carpal tunnel syndrome. He also wants to "pat" me, but he's so strong that it hurts somewhat. It doesn't bug me when he's smacking me on the arms or chest, but he also likes to "pat" me in the face. I wouldn't be suprised if he gives me a black eye one of these days. He seems to be doing it affectionately, so I don't want to scare him out of being affectionate, but being thwacked in the face every day is getting pretty damn old.

Saying "No!", depending on how stern, elicts either no reaction at all, or brief crying, and a quick return to smacking me in the face. I've tried putting him down when he "pats" me or strains against my grasp, but this usually just causes him to scream and cry to be picked up again. I don't know how to make a baby this young understand "Stop that, you're hurting me" or "Pat GENTLY." Any ideas?
posted on Jan 20, 2005 - 17 answers

NewParentFilter: To Co-Sleep or not to Co-Sleep, that is the question! The Family Bed versus 'give 'em their own room' is like the proverbial Protestant vs. Catholic thing-- The battle lines are fiercely drawn and both sides are convinced the other is the devil's work. We can easily weigh and analyze all the co-sleeping arguments (pro and con) that affect us (the parents) ie. like love life and worse sleep. But what about for the kid? What is really best for her? Any real research on this? Any anecdotal stuff that might help us decide?
posted on Jan 13, 2005 - 30 answers

How much do you pay your nanny? I'm in the process of hiring a regular babysitter for my kids. I've found someone I like, a college student with tons of experience who's really great with my little ones. She'll just be here two mornings a week-- one morning with just my infant and the other morning with my toddler as well. How much should I offer her? What about tips? What else do I need to know? This is in Chicago, but I'm also curious if the going rate varies in different parts of the country/world.
posted on Jan 12, 2005 - 8 answers

Advice on flying with a toddler: we're taking our two-year-old on a 13-hour flight to LA, then a bunch of domestic flights between LA-Philly-San Jose. We've flown a zillion times, but not with a child. (more inside)
posted on Dec 13, 2004 - 17 answers