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> Honestly for the vast majority of births the father is unnecessary to be there after two weeks. The child spends the first month basically eating and sleeping
by gwenzek 6y ago
> Honestly for the vast majority of births the father is unnecessary to be there after two weeks. The child spends the first month basically eating and sleeping.
I took 3 months off for my first and 4 months for the second. My wife was pretty miserable through the first month. Breastfeeding is exhausting, as well as being woke up at various time of the night. I'm glad I was home so I could take care of the rest.
I agree that afterwards things got easier, and we were able to enjoy some vacations.
But still there is a huge difference between spending a few hours at the beach with the baby and going back to work whole day.
- rapsey 6y agoFrankly that sounds like your partner had problems with depression. Not everyone's experience is the same but requiring 3 months full time care by two adults for a toddler is not the norm.
- chromanoid 6y agoHe never stated that 3 months were necessary. Only the first month was mentioned. Beside that recovery from birth itself can take quite some time (tearing, C-section etc.). Beside that I wonder if a post-partum depression might even be considered a normal complication when around 15 out of 100 women get one(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5941764/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5941764/).
- blackadder 6y agoThis was our experience as well. There was no way I would have left my wife alone for the first 4-6 weeks. Even though we didn't have any complication and a relatively "easy" birth. First month was just survival mode. I took 5 weeks off (4 weeks paid paternity leave and another of annual leave) . I'm glad I was around. It increased my confidence as a father too.