I am fortunate enough to belong to a church with a wonderful group of women who thrive on helping each other. When a new mom gives birth the group kicks into gear and meals are planned for as long as the new mom needs them. Even during pregnancy moms in our neighborhood have benefited from a fridge and freezer full of casseroles.

But not everyone has the same support system and that’s when MealBaby save the day! MealBaby is an online meal registry perfect for the new (or almost-new) mom. It is simple, quick and best of all free! All you do is sign up for a MealBaby account (just an email and password) for yourself or someone else. Then you create a personalized meal calendar, which includes a list of favorite foods, options for gift cards, contact information, maps and directions. Finally, decide which friends and family members are willing to help make meals, deliver food or even purchase a gift card to a local restaurant and send them an email.

I gave it a test run by creating a sample registry and it was very easy. I just clicked the days on the calendar I wished for meals, entered in foods my family likes, dislikes, allergy information and even portions (how many kids and/or adults). The next screen gave me a huge selection of restaurant gift cards to throw in if people want to help but would prefer to give a gift card than preparing food - and the list included Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse, two of my faves! And because MealBaby wants to help provide food for those who can’t, you can give friends and family an option to donate to Feed The Children. The final step had me enter email addresses and then one more click and I was done!

I know what it’s like to be a new mom, especially when you already have a child or two at home. Life can get pretty hectic and some days all you want to do is get in the shower before 3pm. Enlisting the help of friends and family when it comes to mealtime is a wonderful way to help with some of that new-mom craziness and MealBaby makes it easy to do so. - Emily H.