Guides
Plain answers, from good sources, for parents and the people who love them. No forums, no horror stories. Many come with a free tool that works it out for your family.
Trying to conceive
- Implantation calculator When implantation usually happens after ovulation, and when a test can tell you.
- Ovulation calculator Your fertile window, ovulation day and test day for the next three cycles.
IVF and fertility treatment
- IVF: the timeline and what it costs The IVF steps and how long each takes, what a cycle costs in the US, which states require insurance to cover it, and the CDC's success rates by age.
- IVF due date calculator Due date, implantation window and beta day from your transfer date and embryo age.
- hCG doubling time calculator Two beta results in, the doubling time and the rise over 48 hours out, with what clinics look at.
Pregnancy
- How to choose a pediatrician: questions to ask before birth When to start looking, how to check who's in network, and the questions to ask at a meet-the-pediatrician visit, so you know who to call on day one.
- High-risk pregnancy: when to ask for an MFM specialist What makes a pregnancy high-risk, what a maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialist does, when to ask for a referral, and how to speak up for the care you need.
- Miscarriage: what happens, your options, and support Plain answers after an early pregnancy loss: what happens, your three treatment options, when to get urgent care, recovery, trying again, and where to find support.
- For dads and partners: before birth, at the hospital, after A to-do list for the non-birthing partner: what to sort before the birth, your jobs at the hospital, and how to carry your half of the first weeks at home.
- How to support someone after a miscarriage or pregnancy loss For partners, family and friends: what to say and what not to, practical help that matters, how to grieve as a partner, and the dates that can hurt later.
- Prenatal appointments and tests, week by week The usual prenatal visit schedule and every common test, from the first visit to 41 weeks: NIPT, the anatomy scan, the glucose test, GBS, and what to ask at each.
- Birth plan builder Your choices on one page, ready to print and share with your care team.
- Contraction timer Time contractions with one button, and see when the pattern means it's time to call.
- Breast pump through insurance Which suppliers take your insurance, which pumps are free, and when you can order.
- Due date calculator How far along you are, and every scan, test and vaccine by date.
- Hospital bag checklist A tickable, printable list for how you'll give birth, feed and get home, by season.
- Kick counter Count your baby's movements the way your provider asks, with the signs that mean call now.
- Parental leave planner Whether your job is protected, what your state pays, when to tell work, and when leave ends.
- Baby registry builder What you actually need, for how you'll live: by feeding, childcare, space and budget, with what to skip.
The newborn months
- Safe sleep, the AAP way Every American Academy of Pediatrics safe-sleep rule in plain words: back, alone, firm and flat, no bed-sharing. Plus the federal rules on sleepers and bumpers.
- Exclusive pumping and power pumping schedules How often to pump when you exclusively pump, early and later, with output targets, nights, cutting back, power pumping, flange fit and mastitis signs.
- Low milk supply: what helps and what's myth How to tell if your milk supply is really low, what raises it (more milk removal, latch help), why herbs and cookies are weak, and when to call the pediatrician.
- Postpartum recovery: what's normal, and when to call For whoever gave birth: bleeding, pain and cesarean healing in the first 6 weeks, the urgent warning signs, baby blues versus depression, and who to call.
- Baby blues, night sweats and hair loss: the hormone crash What the hormone drop after birth does in the first days, weeks and months: baby blues, night sweats, hair loss, dryness, and the signs it's more than hormones.
- Postpartum depression, anxiety and rage: signs and help The signs of postpartum depression, anxiety, rage, OCD and psychosis, how screening works, what treatment looks like, and where to get help today, for any parent.
- Visitors after the baby: boundaries with family Health rules for visitors, words to use when setting limits, how to handle unwanted advice and difficult relatives, and where to get help if home isn't safe.
- How to take care of her after birth: a partner's guide For partners: what recovery from birth involves, a day-by-day list of what to take on, how to support feeding, what to say, and the warning signs to act on.
- New grandparents: how to help (and what's changed since your day) For grandparents: why your first job is the new parents, the help they usually need, how to offer it, and what's changed in baby care since you raised yours.
- Postpartum self-care: how to look after yourself after birth Practical self-care for the year after birth: sleep, food, movement, your pelvic floor, your own checkups, asking for help, and the signs it's time to call.
The baby year
- Starting solids and introducing allergens When to start solids (about 6 months, not before 4), signs your baby is ready, first foods, iron, gagging versus choking, and introducing peanut and other allergens.
- Sleep regressions: the 4-month change and the rest Which sleep regressions are real? The 4-month change is sleep maturing. 8 to 10 months has some evidence. 12 and 18 months are folk labels. What helps, and when to call.
- Baby percentiles, explained What your baby's weight and length percentile means, why US pediatricians use WHO charts under 2, the 2nd and 98th lines, and why the trend beats any single number.
- Well-baby visits: what happens at each checkup, birth to 2 A checklist for every checkup from the hospital to age 2: what the pediatrician does at each, the screenings, what to bring and the questions to ask.
- Baby vaccine schedule, explained (AAP and CDC, 2026) Every vaccine from birth to age 2 with its ages, where the AAP and CDC schedules differ in 2026, what insurance covers, and what to expect after shots.
- Baby percentile calculator Weight, length and head percentiles on the WHO growth charts US pediatricians use.
- Baby sleep schedule by age Today's wake windows, naps and bedtime for your baby's age, and what changes next.
- Feeding calculator How much and how often by age and weight, for breast milk, formula or both.
- Breast milk storage calculator When to use pumped milk by: counter, fridge, freezer or thawed, with a printable fridge chart.
- Starting solids calendar A dated plan for first foods and allergens like peanut and egg, one new food every few days.
- Pumping plan A pumping schedule for your goal and your hours away, with a freezer-stash target.
- Baby milestones checker The CDC's milestone checklists from 2 months to 2 years: tick what your child does, and know when to ask.
Toddlers
- Milk at 12 months: switching to whole milk and a cup From 12 months: whole cow's milk, about 16 to 24 oz a day, from a cup. Plus plant milks, breastfeeding, juice, water, and why toddler formula isn't needed.
- Toddler sleep: one nap, bedtime, and the crib Toddlers need 11 to 14 hours of sleep a day. When two naps become one, bedtime routines, night waking, crib to bed, blankets and pillows, and when to call.
Money, leave and childcare
- What having a baby costs in the US What a birth costs with and without insurance, the first-year costs that matter, and how to check a birth bill. Every figure is sourced and dated.
- Daycare, nanny or nanny share: costs and waitlists What childcare costs in the US, how daycare, a nanny and a nanny share compare, when to join waitlists, and the tax breaks and nanny taxes to know.
- Pumping at work: your rights Your federal right to pump at work: break time and a private space that isn't a bathroom, for a year after birth. Who's covered, how to complain, states that do more.
- Paid family leave by state, and FMLA in plain English Which states pay you to bond with a new baby, for how long and how much, plus what the federal FMLA does and doesn't promise. Checked against each state's program.
Coming next
We add new guides every week. Here's the plan. Each one is fact-checked before it goes up.
Week of Nov 16
- Stillbirth and loss later in pregnancy
- Trying again after a loss
- Baby milestones by month, with a printable chart
- Car seat stages by age, with a printable chart
- After embryo transfer: day by day (day 3 and day 5) (a new tool)
- When to see a fertility specialist (under and over 35)
Week of Nov 23
- Baby registries compared
- Planning a baby shower, with printables
- Websites, apps and books we trust
- Colic and the Period of PURPLE Crying
- A failed transfer, and loss during IVF
- IUI vs IVF: cost, success rates and which comes first
- Semen analysis results explained (WHO reference ranges) (a new tool)
Week of Nov 30
- Fever in babies: when to call, when to go
- Newborn jaundice
- Tongue tie
- Spit-up and reflux
- Baby names: a shortlist you both vote on (a new tool)
- How much IVF costs, and how to pay for it
- AMH levels by age: what low AMH does and doesn't mean
Week of Dec 7
- Preeclampsia: the signs to know
- Morning sickness and hyperemesis
- Signs of preterm labor
- Induction: what to expect
- IVF success rates by age (CDC data) (a new tool)
- IVF step by step: from first consult to transfer
- Male infertility: causes, tests and what actually helps
Week of Dec 14
- C-section recovery
- A NICU stay: what to expect
- Pelvic floor recovery after birth
- Exercise after a baby
- Embryo grading: decode your embryo's grade (a new tool)
- Clomid vs letrozole: what to expect in each cycle
- Secondary infertility: when baby number two isn't coming
Week of Dec 21
- When feeding doesn't go to plan
- Sleep for two exhausted parents
- Your relationship after a baby
- After a hard or traumatic birth
- Egg freezing: cost, best age and real odds
- Reciprocal IVF: how it works and what it costs
Week of Dec 28
- Cradle cap and baby acne
- Teething
- Tummy time, week by week
- Going back to work: the emotional side
- Donor eggs, donor sperm and gestational carriers
- IVF medications and injections, explained
Week of Jan 4
- Tantrums
- Potty training: signs they're ready
- Medicines in pregnancy
- PGT-A testing: what it tells you and what it can't
- Does my state require IVF coverage? (a new tool)
- Looking after your mind during fertility treatment
- ICSI vs IVF: what's different and when it's used