Sharing infant caregiving with others, known as alloparenting, helps mothers conserve energy and stay better nourished, increasing their chances of survival and being able to reproduce again in the future. Alloparenting can be carried out by any members of a society willing to support new parents or an established family with multiple children—often such helpers are the parents’ younger siblings or the babies’ grandmothers, but grandfathers, fathers, and other village members take care of babies in different societies.
