Ways to Get Dad More Involved With Baby
When a newborn baby is introduced to the family, your child is almost exclusively busy breastfeeding and sleeping. During these first few weeks, it may seem a little discouraging to a father who is looking to bond with his new baby.
As time goes on however, you and your child will begin to develop that sought-after relationship and will have plenty of activities to do together. For now, here are some great ideas for dad to get more involved with baby:
Make Time
With the daily chores, tasks, and jobs to take care of, finding free time can be tough to do. When it comes to your newborn child however, setting aside this valuable time for them is crucial to building a special parental bond. Try to make some time after dinner to take a stroll around the neighborhood, or even just sitting with the baby while you relax and watch television after work. Every second, minute, and hour counts!
Practice Makes Perfect
The best way to learn how to care for this new child is by practice! Just like anything else, practice makes perfect, meaning the more time you put into working towards a goal the closer you’ll get to achieving it. In this case, your goal is to be more involved with your child and to figure out how you can help take care of them in any way possible.
Give your baby a bath, change their diaper, and try soothing your child when they can’t stop crying. All of these activities are not only your duty as a parent, but they’re the best way to practice as well!
Tag Yourself In
When the motherly instinct kicks in, your partner may feel as if she needs to do every possible task for the baby until she passes out. Even when fathers are trying to involve themselves in the duties as a parent, mothers still want to be the primary caretaker.
However, it’s vital for you to take control of the parenting duties from time to time. It’s important because it not only helps you grow and develop as a father, but it gives the mother of your child a much needed break.
Breastfeeding Partner
Since your newborn will be spending much of the first few weeks breastfeeding with mom, you should do your best to be the partner of this exchange. With your partner stuck on the couch while feeding the baby, try to provide her with anything she may need during this time; plenty of drinks and snacks, a good book to read, or just taking care of other chores around the house so she doesn’t have to.
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Written by Stephanie Parker from Sleepingbaby.com, inventor of the Zipadee-Zip
The motto for Sleeping Baby, makers of the Zipadee-Zip, is: "Inspiring Dreams One Night at A time," and that, in a nutshell, is how it all started…with one little dream that has since become the Parker family's reality. When Brett and Stephanie Parker's daughter, Charlotte, was born, the feeling that welled up inside of them was indescribable; they never realized until first looking into those baby blues of hers that they were even capable of that kind of love.
When it was time to transition baby from swaddling, the Parkers tried every sleep sack on the market and every swaddle weaning trick they could find for nearly two weeks and nothing worked to get baby Charlotte to fall and stay asleep.
Stephanie became determined to restore sleep and sanity to their household and set out to find a solution that would soothe Charlotte's startle reflex and provide her the cozy womb-like environment she loved so much but still give her the freedom to roll over and wiggle around in her crib safely. Out of sheer desperation and exhaustion, the Zipadee-Zip was born. The first Zipadee-Zip(R) Stephanie put together on her little sewing machine worked like magic!
To date tens of thousands of Zipadee-Zips have been sold and all from word-of-mouth marketing. It is so rewarding for the Parkers to see other parents and babies getting the sleep they both need and deserve!
For more information, visit sleepingbaby.com.
Interested in writing a guest blog for Sleeping Baby? Send your topic idea to pr@sleepingbaby.com.
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