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.