Dear New Dad or Partner,
There’s nothing worse than feeling helpless with your brand new baby. However, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding are all about the Mom and baby. Here are 7 ways you can be involved.
- Protect your partner from advice of others
Friends, family and neighbors LOVE to give advice (some good and some bad). Protect her from others’ opinions about what’s right and wrong. Sometimes opinions can be contradicting. Instead, have her focus on advice from your medical professional and others you trust. You can always listen and say, “Thank you for the advice!” and not follow it!
- Be the taskmaster
You can become the new owner of some tasks that don’t involve feeding. Diaper changes, bath time, bottle feedings, burping and assembling all the baby equipment can all be done by you! The more you are involved in these small tasks, the less overwhelmed mom can feel.
- Be the cleaner
Take over cleaning the kitchen and living room. Do a load of laundry. Make the bed. Cook dinner. It’s a surefire way to make her friends jealous when she tells them all you’re doing to help.
- Be her biggest supporter
Here are some compliments to make any mom feel great.
• “What an amazing job you are doing!”
• “This looks so hard, I’m pretty amazed at how dedicated you are!”
• “Our baby is so lucky to have you as a mom”
- Encourage her to nap
When the baby is done feeding, take over and send her for a snooze! Even a 20-minute nap will make a huge difference in her sleep-deprived state!
If you are reading this, I’m already impressed. You wanted to be part of this process and taking action to be helpful is a huge step. This baby will be around for many years and this is just the beginning of your relationship!
Keep up the good work! If you need more ideas of ways to be helpful and support your partner and new child a video consultation may be just what you need.