Bonding With Daddy

My husband took the first 2 weeks off after I gave birth to spend time with our new baby. I know that I am the luckiest woman alive because my husband insited on changing almost every single diaper those first couple of weeks. You might be wondering "why in the world would he want to change all those diapers?" and rightfully so. The answer is that this gave him a chance to bond with our new bundle of joy. Since I was breastfeeding, it was hard for him to find time to bond with her, so diaper changing time became daddy daughter time.

I believe that having your child's father bond with him/her is VERY important. For one, your child won't cry every time daddy takes her out of your arms. Additionally, a dad's involvement is important in a child's development. Children need the play time that only dads seem to be able to provide. There are many different ways that your significant other can bond with your child and it is your job to encourage this bonding time.

It seems that women (for the most part) seem to transition into motherhood much better than men transition into fatherhood. Many men struggle with becoming daddy. Luckily there are many websites dedicated to helping men with this challenging time (now you just need to get your man to swallow his ego and admit that he needs...gasp...help). Check out these resources on becoming a dad:
http://www.greatdad.com/
www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/362_757.asp
http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/father.html

And these sites on bonding:
http://life.familyeducation.com/bonding/fathers/50557.html
http://fatherhood.about.com/od/newdadresources/a/dad_bonding.htm

Moms-don't forget that your significant other may not be able to do things as well as you, but you need to let him do it anyway (I have to practice this one)!