We are on a mission to make high-quality postpartum and infant care available for all.

The Postpartum Problem

After one of the most medically and emotionally intense moments in life, support systems for infants and recovering parents quickly fall away. Typical postpartum care consists of a single six-week checkup for the mom and two or three brief appointments for the child, leaving families to manage recovery, feeding, sleep, infant care, mental health, and everyday life largely on their own.

  • For 1 in 3 mothers in the US, postpartum recovery follows major surgery.

    1 in 3

    US births are C-sections

    6-8 weeks

    C-section recovery includes significant driving and lifting restrictions, including essentials like car seats

    CDC | MedlinePlus/NIH

  • Maternal health risks continue after birth. Outcomes are not equal.

    1 year

    Pregnancy-related health risks can extend through the full year after birth

    80%

    of pregnancy-related deaths are considered preventable

    3x

    In 2024, Black women had 3 times the maternal mortality rate of White women

    CDC

  • Postpartum depression is common and can emerge months after birth.

    1 in 8

    women having recently given birth report symptoms of postpartum depression

    57%

    of mothers experiencing depressive symptoms at 9-10 months had not reported them at 2-6 months

    CDC

  • Lack of support affects infant safety & health.

    59%

    More emergency medical care through age 2 among families not offered postpartum home visiting support

    64%

    More child protective services investigations through age 5 among families not offered postpartum home visiting support

    Based on randomized postpartum home visiting trials

  • The public cost is enormous.

    $14 billion

    Estimated societal cost of untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders for one US birth cohort

    $31,800

    Average cost per affected mother-child pair

    AM J Public Health, 2020

The Infant Care Problem

The stakes are high for an infant in their first year. Over one million neural connections form every second. Secure attachment via early responsive relationships shapes brain architecture and is associated with stronger social outcomes. The first year requires intentional development, not just supervision.

Families need intensive, reliable infant care, but high-quality options are hard to access.

  • Work and infant development run on different timelines.

    57%

    of US mothers who return to work after their first child are back before 3 months

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 SIPP; Hernandez (2026).

  • 1:1 in-home infant care is exceptionally expensive and unregulated.

    $46,000/year

    Approximate wages for full-time Twin Cities nanny

    Sources: Indeed (2026); Nanny Lane (2026).

  • Group care is expensive and brings tradeoffs like increased illness exposure and higher infant-caregiver ratios.

    $23,452/year

    Average center-based infant care in the Twin Cities

    Source: Child Care Aware of Minnesota (2025).

The Workforce Problem

Caring for infants is skilled, consequential work. But the infant care industry is characterized by low pay, minimal career advancement, high turnover, and uneven access to training.

  • Caregivers are underpaid.

    $31,000/year

    Average annual wage across Minnesota’s child day care services industry

    16%

    of Minnesota early educators live below 200% of the federal poverty level

    Minnesota DEED, Minnesota Child Care Overview; Wilder Research, Minnesota’s Early Childhood Educators (2023).

  • High caregiver turnover.

    24%

    Annual turnover of infant teachers in Minnesota

    2.7 years

    Median experience in the field among infant/toddler educators nationally, compared with 4.2 years for preschool educators

    Wilder Research (2023); National Workforce Registry Alliance (2020).

  • Few infant caregivers receive the coaching, education, or career development to turn a job into a profession.

    31%

    of infant/toddler teachers receive coaching or mentoring

    24%

    took a relevant college or university course in the prior year

    1 in 3

    received paid time to pursue professional development

    Urban Institute, Infant-Toddler Teachers from 2012 to 2019 (2023); Wilder Research, Minnesota’s Early Childhood Educators (2023).

The Infant Season Solution

The Infant Season employs a workforce of professional postpartum and infant caregivers to provide evidence-based and responsive services in the home at a price each family can afford.

  • Care at home.

    A team of caregivers provides in-home infant and postpartum care through the first year, including birth recovery support, feeding assistance, newborn care and education, mental health support, sleep assistance, resource navigation, and more.

  • Professional Caregivers.

    Highly skilled postpartum doulas and newborn care specialists train a workforce of caregivers and facilitate connections to clinicians. Our caregivers receive a competitive salary, mentorship, technical instruction, and Postpartum Doula or Newborn Care Specialist certifications.

  • Affordable.

    Postpartum and infant care supports, critical for families navigating one of the most significant and vulnerable times of their lives, are made affordable through grants, donations, and government subsidies.

Affordability

1

Stacked Funding Sources

Providing high-quality services is costly, especially since we are committed to providing our caregivers competitive compensation. However, we’re assembling an innovative stack of public and private funding sources so that families bear as little of the cost burden as possible.

Family Co-Pays (if applicable)
Community Partnerships
Charitable Giving
Workforce Development Funding
Government Reimbursement & Subsidy
The Infant Season Subsidy
Full Cost of Care

2

Co-Pay Based on Ability-to-Pay

The Family Co-Pay is calculated based on the verifiable income level of the family household.

Lower-earning families access the same quality of services, at a price proportional to their income.

Higher-earning families are still subsidized by The Infant Season. By covering some amount of care services with a Family Co-Pay, they “pay-it-forward” to other families with less ability to cover the full cost of care services.

0%
Family A
No co-pay
15%
Family B
Lower co-pay
50%
Family C
Moderate co-pay
90%
Family D
Higher co-pay
Family co-payment Covered by braided public & charitable funding
illustrative mix only

3

Nonprofit Values

We don’t factor a profit margin into our service costs. Any Family Co-Pay is based on the actual cost of services. This lets us keep prices as low as possible and serve more families.

Care + Operations Actual Cost

Postpartum & infant care interventions make a proven difference.

  • Clinical guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) calls for ongoing postpartum care as a standard part of healthy recovery—addressing physical recovery, mental health, feeding, sleep, infant care, and the transition to parenthood.

    Source: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Optimizing Postpartum Care. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 736. June 2018. Reaffirmed 2023.

  • Better outcomes are linked to responsive, individualized infant care in the earliest years. Stable caregiving relationships help infants build secure attachment, which is associated with stronger social and emotional development later in childhood.

    Sources: Harvard Center on the Developing Child (2023); NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2002, 2005); Belsky et al., PNAS (2007).

  • Evidence-based postpartum support improves outcomes. Home visiting has reduced child emergency medical care and improved parenting, while individualized postpartum care can improve maternal mental health and help higher-risk mothers avoid serious complications.

    Sources: Goodman et al., JAMA Network Open (2021); Yonemoto et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2021); Brown et al., American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (2023).

  • Higher-income families already purchase postpartum doulas, lactation help, night support, and in-home care. This indicates these services qualitatively improve the postpartum and early infancy experience for families and could have a broader impact absent financial barriers.

    Sources: Blooma (2024); Doula Minnesota (2024); Child Care Aware of Minnesota (2024); Care.com (2024).

Our workforce is part of our mission.

We work with partners to create caregiving career pathways for people facing barriers to employment — particularly young parents and those re-entering the workforce after years of unpaid family caregiving.

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