Because the experience of childbirth is so focused on the mother, it is common for the father to feel neglected or excluded. It is important for father and baby to bond, too: touch, smell, and sound are good ways to do this. If at all possible, her father should hold her against his skin soon after his baby is born; this way his baby will come into contact with his specific smell and over a period of weeks she will learn to associate this with comfort and reassurance. The father should also speak to his child so she will become familiar with his voice.
It is common for the mother to take prime responsibility for a newborn’s care, but the father should be encouraged to take an equal role. He should learn how to hold his baby and should build up a tactile relationship with her. Make sure he becomes involved with day-to-day routines such as bathing and diaper changing. Even if the baby is breastfed, he can bottle feed her using expressed breast milk. Although having two parents is the ideal, many babies are born to single mothers and into a variety of nontraditional family settings. Significant others, whether family members or other adults, can also establish a bond with a newborn.
Add A Comment