Past our Bedtime

Sleep Deprivation, Judgmental In-Laws, and the Baby Poop Era Nobody Warns You About

Is your baby a unicorn, or did you already blow your luck? This week Taylee and Braydon dive into listener questions from the Parent Helpline, tackling everything from the mythical easy baby to shift systems that almost end marriages. This episode covers: * The "unicorn baby" phenomenon, third time's the charm for one exhausted family * Nap schedules, type-A moms, and why mother-in-laws need to stay in their lane * Surviving the newborn shift system at three weeks old (spoiler: it's brutal) * Baby poop entering its "personality era" and why solid poop is actually a win * Hand-flapping, babbling timelines, and first-time mom anxiety at 8 months Plus... the moon landing conspiracy gets debunked in real time, wild cows apparently exist, and someone's parenting loss involved clipping their kid's skin instead of his toenail. It happens. Parenting win of the week: He just... started walking. One day. No warning. Send us your questions, wins, losses, and unicorn stories — DM, comment, or email us. We want to hear from the parent peeps.

The Poop Incident, Protein Bar Lies & a Baby Who Won't Stop Sucking His Lip

Every parent has a story they swear they'll never tell anyone they know in person. This week, someone finally told us theirs, and it involves a playpen, ten minutes of alone time, and a diaper that should not have come off. We'll just leave it at that. This week on Past Our Bedtime's Parent Helpline: a first-time mom is panicking about what happens to her formula-fed baby's nutrition after he turns one — and we actually have some useful thoughts. A mom drowning in guilt over her kids' lunches gets the reality check she actually needed. And a pediatrician told a mom her four-month-old should already be sleeping through the night. Then we spiral into whether chocolate is even real anymore, the David protein bar lawsuit that will make you never trust a macro label again, and a baby who has started sucking his own bottom lip like a pacifier 24/7 until it's bruised. Is it a phase? We genuinely don't know. Not doctors. Not nutritionists. Just two parents on a couch up way past their bedtime giving you the realest parenting conversation on the internet. Got a question for the Parent Helpline? DM us, email us, leave a comment

Red Dye 40, Free Daycare & the Hallway Incident

This week on Past Our Bedtime: a mom in a country with FREE daycare wonders if she'd even use it (we debate this for a while), a first-time mom in North Dakota is too scared to leave the house with her 8-week-old and we share what we wish we'd done differently, and someone asks what you actually miss about being pregnant. We share our parenting loss of the week, baby discovered he could crawl and pee at the same time, straight down the hallway carpet...  and the parenting wins, which is that baby learned his first sign language word. We'll let you guess which one happened first. Then Taylee climbs fully onto her soapbox: crunchy parents are raising kids who will never experience gushers, Kool-Aid, or fruit by the foot, and she has a lot of feelings about it. Braydon thinks she's being dramatic. The debate is ongoing. Also: 4-1-1 was absolutely a real thing and we cannot believe we had to google it. Not doctors. Not qualified. Just two mid-twenties parents keeping it real every week. Got a question for the Parent Helpline? DM us, email us, carrier pigeon us — we'll read it on the show.

Bad Nanny, Big Food Conspiracies & Baby's First Steps

A nanny quit after one week because a toddler threw a tantrum. We have thoughts. We're back with another episode and things got spicy fast. This week: a mom who's also an engineer, triathlete, and financial professional is DONE being called "mama" by everyone, and we get into why the title mom deserves more credit than people give it. A first-time dad with zero paternity leave wants to know how to survive the newborn stage, and Luke Combs actually said it best. A nanny quit after a one-week trial because a 15-month-old hit her and threw food on the floor... you know, normal toddler stuff. We also need to talk about Big Food and their "healthy" snack scam because we're onto them. Plus, Taylee was convinced the flu test touches your brain. She looked it up. She was wrong. And baby took his first steps this week so we're basically emotional wrecks. As always, this is not real medical or parenting advice. We're just two mid-twenties parents doing our best and dragging you along for the ride. Got a question for the Parent Helpline? Send it our way! We'd love to feature you next week

Rear-Facing Car Seats, Flight Tips for Toddlers & New Parent Hygiene Struggles

The mic is back on, the sand is still in our shoes, and the Parent Helpline is buzzing. We’re diving straight into the real stuff parents whisper about at 2 a.m.—how to set boundaries with recently sick in-laws when you’ve got a preemie, why hormones can trick us into thinking every newborn is runway-ready, and how to stop turning laundry into a part-time job when breast milk hits the sheets. From there, we get practical and a little nerdy. We unpack the sudden onset of car sickness in a rear-facing 14-month-old—how airflow, shade, seat angle, timing, and cleanup kits can help, and why calling the pediatrician is worth it if vomit becomes the new normal. We hold the line on safety while chasing comfort and sanity. Then we share the flight strategy that saved us on a five-hour haul: novel snacks (hello, Goldfish), a deep bench of tiny fidget toys, one-at-a-time reveals, nap-aligned takeoff, and a soft cover to dim distractions. We also confess what flopped, like the beloved but bulky audio toy that tanked with toddler headphones. It wouldn’t be our show without a friendly bicker, so we spar over handwashing, immunity, and whether a little grit makes us stronger. We land on a balanced take: wash when it matters, don’t panic when it doesn’t, and keep perspective. Parenting is a rolling risk assessment mixed with humor, love, and logistical hacks. If you’ve ever skipped a family dinner to protect a fragile immune system, wiped instead of bathed at 4 a.m., or packed ten tiny airplane toys like a master strategist, you’re among friends here. We’d love to hear your car-sickness fixes, flight wins, and boundary scripts that worked. Tap follow, share this episode with a tired parent who needs a smile, and leave a quick review to help more families find us. Your stories shape the next Helpline—send them our way.