Even after participating in the plans and activities over nine months of pregnancy, it never fails: Men become fathers rather suddenly. Until that baby arrives, your role has been to support your partner and to watch and wait. Then the baby arrives and everything changes. Now there's a tiny person whom you can hold and marvel at. You may feel worried about your baby-care skills and fearful of how your lives will change, but at least now your baby is a physical reality. You can finally get started at being a father.
Father's "baby blues"
It's not unusual for fathers to suffer a low emotional period in the first few weeks after birth, although not to the same extent as mothers do. Some fathers who take time off from work to be with their partner and new baby for that first intense week find it very hard to go back to work and be separated from their family. They may also feel resentful of the special bond that is growing between mother and child.
Although breast-feeding is recognized as the best form of infant nutrition and important for mother and infant, fathers may perceive it more negatively; if so, it might inhibit the development of the father-infant relationship. A 1990 academic study revealed that a father's concerns about breast-feeding include the lack of opportunity to develop a relationship with his child, feelings of inadequacy, and being separated from his mate by the baby.
A father may also feel pressure to maintain the family income, particularly if his partner left her job or reduced her earnings to have more time with the new baby. Combine these feelings with an alarming lack of sleep and a sense of loss over an old lifestyle and you have a recipe for a serious case of the blues.
Fathers and breast-feeding
To be more involved in the breast-feeding process, fathers can:
• Get the baby and bring him to mom in the night.
• Settle him down after a feeding.
• Cuddle in beside the feeding couple.
• Burp the baby after feeding.
• Wake the baby up, if he falls asleep while feeding.
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