ParentData

If you have a child in day care, you may notice a shift around age 3: kindergarten starts to feel closer, and your kid’s care environment begins to look a little more like “school”. In many cases, this means a move into a preschool classroom. The naming and timing vary by location, but generally preschool covers ages 3 to 4, and pre-K covers ages 4 to 5, right before kindergarten.

Of the big decisions we make about our school-age children, perhaps none looms larger than school. Your child will spend eight hours a day there for about nine months of the year. That’s a lot of time! Their teachers and peers will shape them, for good or ill. All of this makes these school decisions seem incredibly important to many parents.

Featured tool Dinner Hub Age-appropriate weekly meal planning for your whole family — recipes, grocery lists, and plans that update as your kids grow. Weekly Prenatal visit planner What to expect, tests, and questions to bring — for every visit from 8 weeks through delivery. Visit by visit Prenatal testing options NIPT, amnio, CVS — compare accuracy, risks, and timing with a risk calculator.

Within the last year, two brands of formula — ByHeart and Nara Organics — have recalled all of their products due to outbreaks of infant botulism. This has, understandably, left parents confused and afraid. Fortunately, no babies have died, but some have become seriously ill. I’ve written about what parents can do immediately, including symptoms of infant botulism and what to do if your child was exposed to these formulas.

When our family moved to Barcelona, the only person I knew there was a single friend of a friend. I was also working from home and didn’t have anyone in my new life that I considered a friend, aside from my wife. Four months later, my son was born. Looking back, I can see a clear link between my feelings of loneliness and my paternal postpartum depression. Yes, I had friends elsewhere, and yes, once I opened up and shared that I was struggling, they were a huge support.

The CDC and FDA are investigating a multi-state outbreak of infantile botulism that may be connected to the consumption of Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Infant Formula. The investigation is ongoing. Three babies in California, Pennsylvania, and Washington were hospitalized after consuming the formula, and no deaths have been reported. Nara Organics has recalled all Nara Organics Whole Milk Organic Powdered Infant Formula.

“Day care naps are ruining my life.” This is a phrase I’ve heard twice recently from people that I work with. Both of them have older children — ages 3 to 5 — who no longer nap at home. They complain that their daytime nap at day care makes bedtime a nightmare. Despite their efforts, they haven’t been able to get their child care providers on board with any changes. “Can you give us some data?” they asked me.

What is the data on newborn jaundice? What are the best treatments? My baby boy just started showing signs a few days after birth, and I’m so worried it will get worse. — Worried FTM First of all, I offer you empathy. When my younger child was 2 days old, we got a call saying he had jaundice and we had to come back to the hospital immediately or he was at serious risk. This turned out to be a dramatic overstatement of the situation in our case, but I can still recall that panic.

Over the last several months, it feels like I’m hearing about “free birth” everywhere I turn. If you aren’t familiar, a “free birth” is when you give birth without any medical care, often following a “wild pregnancy” with no prenatal care. The Guardian did a big story on it, followed by the New York Times, and, of course, it was covered in “The Pitt” (great show, or greatest show?).

I love coffee. Before my first pregnancy, I was easily at three to four cups a day — one with breakfast, one for a mid-morning break, maybe one in the early afternoon. So when I found out I was pregnant, the coffee question was not abstract. It was urgent. I had a caffeine withdrawal headache coming on, I was about to sit through a day of conference talks, and I needed to know: could I have a cup or not? The official guidance I found was all over the place.