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Tips To Make Things Easier For New Dads
Illawarra Mercury
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Hazel Champion's top five tips for new dads are:
1 Do as much as you can.It may sound obvious, but often new dads see the incredible bond that mum and baby have and baulk at attempting to become a part of this during the early days. Love the baby together, solve problems together, try and learn and understand together. New dads should understand the only way to learn is to "do".2. Take paternity leave. The more time you are able to spend with your baby the quicker you will bond and the quicker you will feel comfortable and less anxious in caring for your new baby. This early stage is very important in establishing connection so take time out.3. Try new things: babies are very forgiving. So what if you don't get the nappy technique first try? And you need 10 attempts at swaddling before your baby doesn't look like a reject from The Mummy? This is completely OK. Can't settle the baby straight away? Why not try singing, swaying or massage? All are valid solutions yet only you can tell which will work on your unique child by trying them.4 Organise yourself.When the new mum comes home from hospital she is not only tired from giving birth but exhausted by the huge physical changes occurring in her body. Yes, it is correct that dads can't breastfeed, but instead they can be very organised in sharing the load. For example, while mum is feeding, dads can do the cooking for the adults. The secret is to divide the sleeplessness, divide the caring, divide the pressure and you divide the anxiety.5 Reject the super mum and super dad idea.In today's world it is particular tempting to think that you have to be good at everything straight away. Balancing the demands of a new member of the family, finances, hormones and new family roles is a hard job for any new mum, so dads can be supportive by seeing the experience of bringing a baby home as one of learning rather than pressure.
© 2006 Illawarra Mercury
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