Dad & Nighttime Duties: How & Why A Dad Should Help With Babies During The Nighttime!

Being a new parent is a full-time job, that can be stressful especially, when you have to wake up in the middle of the night to feed your baby or change that diaper! Long gone are the days, when moms were naturally expected to take on all the responsibility of the newborn, from changing diapers, to feeds. Nowadays, both moms and dads have a role to play when taking care of their newborn, after all, having and raising a newborn is all about teamwork. Remember, with the chores distributed during the day and especially the night, things become so much easier for both. It’s not just moms need to stay up to breastfeed, dads too, can & should help and support moms. Sleep deprivation and exhaustion are definitely not fun, hence it’s a blessing to have a partner that is ready to wake up to tend to a baby in one way or another. Remember, it’s not just doing mothers a favour, to find out how & why dads should help with night feeds, keep reading this article.

The Benefits Of Sharing The Nighttime Duties:

1. It Helps You Bond & Build A Stronger Relationship With Your Baby- Caring for your baby by waking up at night, means spending more time with your baby. You get to learn so much about your baby’s sleep patterns, how to calm him/her, hands-on experience with diaper changing and feeding etc. According to research, dads who spend more time with their kids, not only hone their parenting skills but also tend to have a stronger & better relationship with their child. Tip for dads: Stop thinking of night feeding as a chore, but treat it as a beautiful learning experience!
2. Sharing The Duties, Helps You Appreciate Your Partner More- Moms may be superheroes, but sometimes doing it all, can lead to sleep deprivation & exhaustion, which can take a toll on a mother and her relationship with her baby and you, her partner. It’s therefore important to give the support, even if it means to just be there while she is waking up in the middle of the night to breastfeed. This can make all the difference. You get to appreciate her and she, you, for being there and being supportive. Tip: Treat night duties as a common mission and just appreciate your partner and be grateful for the new life you have created together!
3. Teamwork Can Do Wonders For Both You & Mum- Helping, taking turns and just being there to support mum can help take away so much physical and mental stress & exhaustion that comes from waking up at odd hours to attend to your baby’s needs. This in turn can also prevent frustration and as a result arguments that could cause stress on your relationship.

Tips On How To Make It All Work:

1. Communicate Clearly With Each Other- Communicating with each other clearly, is important. Only if you discuss how you can share your duties, will it then be easier to carry them out. For example, a mother doesn’t always need to have the baby ‘latched on’, pumped breastmilk can be bottle-fed by the dad.
2. Have A Schedule That Works For Both- Every baby is different, and there is no fixed timetable that works for all. A newborn generally gets fed every 2-4 hours on an average, or 8-12 times in 24 hours. Your schedule needs to work around your baby. Once you have your baby’s schedule you can work and share your nighttime duties, so that you both get a little break and aren’t overly exhausted.
3.  Just Get Up & Be Supportive- If the mother insists on breastfeeding the baby, there’s still a lot you can do to help her and the baby. From helping the mother to get in a comfortable position to helping your baby latch on, and burping after. There’s so much to do. Sometimes, she may want to do it all by herself, but offering to help and being awake with her whilst she attends to the little one, can make all the difference.