Fortunately, times have changed and we have proven that the father’s role in parenting is very important for both mother and baby from minute one . Fortunately for everyone, behind are the times when he was a mere spectator (and sometimes not even that), in the intense and difficult first weeks of his son.
Being the mother’s emotional support should be the father’s first role
When we have a baby (and indeed before it is born), we undergo an emotional revolution. Although in large part it is due to the hormonal adjustment we experience once the baby is born, it also has to do with the great responsibility that we see before our eyes.
I firmly believe that these feelings can be experienced by the father when he is very involved . Life also changes them (and even their brain), and when she becomes deeply involved in caring for her baby when both the baby and the mother are in such a vulnerable moment, she is able to fully empathize with the process that women go through.
We need you because your support is essential to create a team. There is no other person in the world who can give us that strength that we need more than our partner , either through a glass of water when we are breastfeeding, taking the initiative to take the baby for a walk so that we can sleep a while longer. (because rest in the postpartum is essential for our recovery), or hugging by surprise when we have a zombie face and a messy bun after a long night of waking up, boobs and diapers.
Caring for the baby is the responsibility of both
There is no better way to value the work of having a baby than to experience it in our own flesh. In the event that you are exclusively breastfeeding, clearly that will always be the mother’s job. The rest, absolutely everything, is the responsibility of both.
If many of us idealize motherhood (especially when the baby is newborn), surely there are not a few men who, just before entering into fatherhood, believe that the baby only eats and sleeps. That long-distance race that the first days suppose , in which we both experience what it really is – because here we are learning both, from taking gas to healing a navel – will be decisive in the long-term meaning of its new title.
Housework: the old and the new
The arrival of a baby multiplies the work (they say that by two, but I always felt that that number fell short), so, in case more help is not available, the new father must also take on a large part of the work. these tasks, and during the first days, most of them.
In addition to collecting, taking care of the purchase, meals and everything we already know that a house needs (which obviously many men know perfectly because they have been in charge of that forever), there are other tasks that arise suddenly, such as managing visits and take care of the mother like she never had to before . It is also work and by the way, quite exhausting.
In conclusion, during the first weeks of the baby, our partner is the perfect bastion on which to lean , because although he also has doubts, fears and insecurities, he can give us a calmer and more practical vision of any situation, from how to bathe him – I say so from my own experience – even how to reorganize the routine so that things at home can flow better.
I believe that with this change in the role that parents currently have, we have all come out winning: the baby, because the love of his father, his presence and his care will play a very important role in his development. We, because we feel more secure and supported and of course they: the experience and that connection that arises in the first days of your life with your child, will be a gift of life that will accompany you forever .
In Babies and More | Dad, you count too: get up too when the child cries at night
Image | whatwolf
