What Matters
The Real Cost of Having a Baby in America in 2026
From prenatal care to the first year of childcare, the honest line-by-line accounting of what families are actually spending — and what it reveals about a country that says it values motherhood.
By Brittany Krystantos
What Matters
WIC Benefits Are Being Slashed: Here's What That Means for Your Table
The proposed FY27 budget would cut WIC's fruit and vegetable benefits by 75% for breastfeeding mothers and 62% for young children — the first benefit cut in the programme's 50-year history.
By Sam Blay
What Matters
The Loneliness Epidemic Nobody Is Talking About: Why New Mothers Are the Most Isolated Generation in History
Two-thirds of parents say the demands of parenthood feel isolating. Why modern motherhood is so lonely, and what actually helps.
By Brittany Krystantos
What Matters
Maternal Health Block Grant: What It Is, Why It Matters, and What's Happening to It
Mass layoffs at HRSA have left Title V — the block grant funding maternal and child health services in all 50 states — functionally unstaffed. What's at stake, and what states are doing.
By Sam Blay
What Matters
How to Access Every Financial Benefit Available to New Mothers in 2026
The money is sometimes there — it's just buried in acronyms and government websites. A plain-English guide to every federal and state benefit you may be entitled to, with the links to apply.
By Brittany Krystantos
What Matters
The Childcare Cliff Became a Plateau — and the View From Here Is Grim
Federal childcare funds lapsed in 2023 and experts predicted a cliff. What landed instead was a plateau — dysfunction so comprehensive it's now treated as the new normal.
By Mandy Krystantos
What Matters
What the Medicaid Cuts in H.R. 1 Mean for Mothers Who Give Birth
Medicaid covers 41% of US births — over 60% in some states. What the H.R. 1 cuts mean for prenatal care, deliveries, and postpartum coverage, and which mothers bear the risk.
By Brittany Krystantos
What Matters
Infant Care in California Costs More Than College Tuition. Where Did It Go So Wrong?
At nearly $20,000 a year, infant care now costs more than in-state college tuition in California and New York. The structural failures behind the crisis, and what other countries do differently.
By Brittany Krystantos
What Matters
The CDC Stopped Tracking Maternal Deaths. That Should Terrify All of Us.
In 2025 the CDC paused PRAMS, the system that tracked maternal mortality for 38 years. What was paused, what's been erased, and what the measurement gap means for every mother giving birth in America.
By Brittany Krystantos