how do you get OH more involved?

[Mummymoo_x]

My baby's just over 2 weeks old & I'm loving being a mummy but at certain times on certain days the tiredness hits me like a brick wall & I struggle to do anything. (Of course I was expecting sleepless nights etc when I fell pregnant lol)

Anyhow, how do you get your OH more involved? As obviously he can't feed our LB! He does work during the day leaves home at 6am and is home for 6pm. He is willing to help but I'm not sure what he can actually do baby related? Any tips? x

 

[annio84]

When DD was tiny she used to clusterfeed until about 9 and then go to sleep. DH would keep her upstairs while I went to bed and then bring her to me next time she woke up. It only got me an hour or 2 at most but it was the best sleep i got in those early weeks.

More generally he would get involved by changing nappies before feeds, burping after, things like that. I found that a big help to feel like we were in this together, because it can get to feel like it's all on you even with the best hubby in the world.

 

[Rachel_C]

As above, OH would spend a few hours entertaining LO while I took a nap/had an uninterrupted lie down or long bath in the evenings and at weekend. I think it's really important for dads to learn their own ways of soothing baby - yes it's often easiest to pop them on the boob and there's nothing wrong with that at all, but I think some men can just give up and always hand the baby back to mum, which I feel is a little sad. My OH worked really hard to come up with his own ways... some really weird and random things he would do with the kids (showing them inside the fridge always stopped them crying!) would never have worked for me but it was nice for him and LO.

 

[Noo]

Nappy changes though realistically it was a case of I feed baby he feeds me.

 

[Kanichen34]

Bath time is the obvious one. My hubby also did lots of skin to skin with LO. Despite what people will tell you about daddy's needing to bottle feed to bond it's all rubbish. As my LO proved last night! She fed from me but would not settle, all she wanted was Daddy. (He wasn't best pleased by this at 2am lol - shock to his system!)

 

[Perplexed]

I give LO to DH to burp. And when LO cluster feeds DH brings me food and drink. He will respond to upset LO / settle her if I were having a meal. In the earlier days when I had painful stitches he'd hand LO to me for night feeds so that all I had to do was feed.

 

[KatyR]

My OH does burping (which takes a while), changing nappies before a feed, soothes baby when I know he's not hungry, baths. I try not to disturb OH of a night so he can sleep but of a weekend he will do the 5am ish burping and settling so I can go straight back to sleep after his feed. He will also bring LO into bed with us on the weekend from about 8am for cuddles and to keep him entertained so I can sleep in.

 

[Mummymoo_x]

He does try whenever he can bless him. But we dont live together at the moment so I'm doing most of it alone. And whenever he see's him my LB always tends to be asleep....typical haha xx