First week home with a newborn: a checklist for dads and partners
A practical postpartum checklist for dads and partners: share the daily work, make room for rest, listen without judgment, and help your partner reach care.
Read the guide
Register for help, not just onesies
Your people want to help. Give them a list.
One link. Dinners, night shifts, errands and visits that your people sign up for with just their name. No app, no account for them.
Free for every family. Takes two minutes. Private until you share it.
The Rivera family12 of 18 taken
Dinner · TuesdayJess
Night shift · Friday, 9 pm to 1 amMom
Groceries · this week
Short visit · Saturday, 20 min
An example. Tap "I'll take this" to see what your people would see.
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Free to usePrivate profilesNo diagnosis, no judgment
Real life, not a highlight reel.Come as you are, on the good days and the heavy ones.
Where to start
Three good first steps
How it works
Three steps, then dinner shows up.
- Tap what would help. Dinners, night shifts, errands, a sitter. We fill in the usual; you change anything.
- Send one link. The group chat, the grandparents, the shower invitation, a card on the table.
- They claim, you rest. A first name is all it takes. No account, no app. You see who's coming and when.
From the community
Conversations happening now
Real members, real questions. Peer support is not medical advice, and it still helps.
Events
Get out of the house. No pressure.
Coffee meetups, stroller walks, virtual support groups and nights for dads and partners. Plans that understand naps happen.
Our mission
Mothers deserve more attention after birth, not less.
Postpartum+ grew out of a family learning the care system in real time, at the moment they had the least capacity to. We are building the calm, honest guide we wish had existed, for moms, dads and partners, solo parents and everyone who loves them.
Education, not diagnosisWe explain options and help you prepare questions. Clinicians make clinical decisions.
Privacy by defaultProfiles are private, posting can be anonymous, and your notes are yours alone.
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Community
Honest conversations, no judgment
Ask the 3 a.m. question. Share the win. Find people in the same stage. Peer support is not medical advice, and it still makes a difference.
Find Care
Find postpartum care near you
Search real provider directories for therapists, psychiatry, treatment programs, lactation support, pelvic floor therapy, doulas and childcare. We explain the options; you and your providers decide.
Understanding care
What outpatient, IOP, PHP, residential and inpatient actually mean
Levels of care describe how much structure and support a program provides. They are not a grade of how "bad" things are, and people do not always move through them in order. A clinical team recommends the right level; this page helps you understand the words.
Compare care
Compare options side by side
Keep the details that change family life in one private place: level of care, schedule, insurance, family involvement and childcare.
Family Assistance Fund
Help should not stop at "your insurance denied it."
The Family Assistance Fund is being built to help families overcome practical barriers to care: treatment costs, childcare, transportation and other verified needs, through a transparent application and review process.
Guides
Plain-language guides and trusted help
Short, honest guides for every part of postpartum, plus the organizations we trust. Written by the Postpartum+ team, checked against public guidance from organizations such as ACOG, AAP, NIMH and PSI, and never a substitute for your own care team.
For moms & birthing parents
You can love your baby and still find this hard.
Your body is healing, your sleep is gone and your mood has a mind of its own. Here is what's common, what helps, and when to call someone, in plain words. Other moms who get it, and a plan so the people around you actually help.
For dads & partners
Supporting someone you love can be hard too.
You can care deeply about your partner and still feel lost, scared or exhausted. These guides are practical, specific and written for you. Nothing here requires you to become the clinician.
How dads and partners can help
Notice
Learn what postpartum can look like, and the quieter signs that your partner is more than tired.
Take things off the plate
Own the night shift, the food, the appointments and the visitors so she doesn't have to hold it all.
Look after you
Roughly one in ten dads experience postpartum depression. You are allowed to need support too.
Dads & partners guides
Practical, not preachy
Each guide takes about four minutes. Start with whichever one matches this week.
What postpartum can actually look like
The first year is not one thing. Here is what dads and partners commonly see, and what is worth paying attention to.
Read the guideHow to support your partner after birth: the first six weeks
A practical plan for dads and partners, from the hospital to the six-week checkup: what she needs most each week, and what you can take off her plate.
Read the guideRecognizing when your partner is overwhelmed
Overwhelm rarely announces itself. Learn the quieter signals and how to check in without making it a confrontation.
Read the guideHelping without trying to fix everything
Most dads and partners want to solve the problem. Most postpartum problems are not solvable in one conversation. Here is what to do instead.
Read the guideTaking over the practical load
The invisible work is the heaviest. A concrete list of what to own, and how to own it fully.
Read the guideNighttime support that actually works
Sleep is medicine in postpartum. How to build a night plan that protects her rest even if she is breastfeeding.
Read the guideSupporting treatment: therapy, medication and programs
What dads and partners can do before, during and after someone starts care, without taking over the decisions.
Read the guideCommunicating when everyone is running on empty
Arguments at 2 a.m. are rarely about the thing you are arguing about. Tools for staying on the same team.
Read the guideRelationship changes after having a baby
Intimacy, resentment, roles and the feeling of being roommates. What is normal, and how to find your way back to each other.
Read the guideTaking care of yourself as a dad or partner
Roughly one in ten dads experience postpartum depression. You are allowed to struggle, and you are allowed to get help.
Read the guidePostpartum depression in dads and partners
About one in ten new dads experience depression after a baby arrives. It often looks like anger, withdrawal or working all the time rather than sadness. How to spot it, and what helps.
Read the guideMaking paternity leave count
How to plan leave as a dad or partner: when to take it, whether to split it, what to do with the days, and how to talk to your employer before the baby comes.
Read the guideKnowing when professional support may be appropriate
You do not need to be sure something is wrong to ask. A simple framework for deciding when and who to call.
Read the guide
This week
Five things you can do tonight
- Take one full night stretch, or the whole morning, without being asked.
- Make sure she eats something with protein before noon.
- Ask "what was the hardest part of today?" and just listen.
- Handle one phone call: the pediatrician, insurance, or a therapist's intake line.
- Text one friend the truth about how you're doing.
You're not the only one
A community just for dads and partners
Treatment logistics, work, burnout, baby care, relationship changes and the stuff you don't want to say out loud to her yet. Anonymous posting is always available.
Plan at home, together
Who does nights, who cooks, who says no to visitors, the warning signs you'll both watch for, and the numbers to have ready.
Bring in the grandparents and friends
Send the people offering to help a short guide on what actually helps, and what quietly makes it harder.
Use the shared support space
Your partner can invite you into a private shared space for appointments, questions, childcare plans and tasks, without exposing her private notes or posts.
Understand the care words
If a provider mentions IOP or PHP, read the levels-of-care explainer so you can help with logistics instead of guessing.
For family & friends
You want to help. Here's how to actually help.
Grandparents, siblings, friends, neighbors and chosen family make an enormous difference after a birth, when the help is the right kind. These guides are short, specific and honest about what makes things harder.
Village · Plan at home
Decide who does what at home, before everyone is exhausted.
Ten minutes, together: nights, food, visitors, the warning signs you'll all watch for, and the numbers to have ready. It saves as you type. Print it, or share it by link.
Village
Let your people help.
One place for the help around you: the dinners, nights and errands people sign up for with just a name, who's bringing what and when, and the plan at home for nights, visitors and the numbers to have ready.
The Village Score
How strong is your village?
Eight honest questions about the weeks after the baby, sixty seconds, a score out of eight, and the gaps to close this week. Take it before the birth if you can.
Free for every family
Postpartum+ is free. All of it.
There is no paid membership. Every tool that keeps a family organized comes with a free account, for you and everyone helping you.
About Postpartum+
No parent should navigate postpartum alone.
Postpartum+ was created from a simple belief: no parent should have to navigate the postpartum period feeling alone, overwhelmed, or unsure of where to turn.
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Trust has to be designed into the product.
Postpartum+ touches mental health and family life. These are the commitments we build against.
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How we write our guides.
Who writes the Postpartum+ guides, what they are checked against, how AI is used, and how to tell us when something is wrong.
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Copyright
How to tell us something on Postpartum+ infringes your copyright, and how to respond if your post was removed.
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Plain-language terms for using Postpartum+. Please read them; they explain what Postpartum+ is and is not.
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What Postpartum+ collects, who can see it, and the choices you have. Written to be read, not skimmed.
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The health information Postpartum+ collects, why, who it is shared with, and how to see it, delete it or withdraw your consent.
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How we keep the Postpartum+ community kind, honest and safe for people at a vulnerable time.
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Get in touch
Questions, account or data requests, concerns about content, press or partnerships. A person reads every message.
Help us build it
What would help you?
Tell us what you wish Postpartum+ had, what's missing, or what didn't work. A person reads every note, and it decides what we build next.
Write for Postpartum+
Help write the guide you wish you'd had
Parents, dads and partners, grandparents, doulas and clinicians can ask to write for Postpartum+. We edit every piece with its author and check anything medical against public guidance before it goes up.
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