7 Moms On What You Can Do To Really Help The New Parent In Your Life

New parenthood is a special kind of difficult. Even the most diligent pre-baby prep can't guarantee that you and your co-parent will have time to bathe or sleep on a regular basis. It might not be until much later, when you're no longer considered a "new" parent, that it occurs to you what would have been actually helpful in those first few months.

Hoping to help their sister-in-law avoid that delayed realization, a child-free redditor asked the moms of Reddit, "What was something that would have made the first months/year of motherhood way easier?"

The responses varied, but quite a few users said the presence of another adult, whether as a babysitter or just an extra pair of hands, would have been the most helpful. Sleep, showers, and peace and quiet are hard to come by during the first few months of parenthood — unless someone else is available to stay with the baby.

So, future grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and anyone else who will soon know a new mom, this is your chance to shine. Read on to discover how you can help the new moms (and new babies) in your life.

Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.