Dad feeling down

Does anyone else’s partner feel a bit down about the fact the baby seems To prefer mum? Our 12 week old settles for me but not always for her dad and even prefers me to give her a bottle which is obviously just because I’m on maternity leave and with her all the time but I can totally understand why he’s hurt by it as I’d be exactly the same. It’s hard because I don’t want their bond to be affected by this and he even says now “she’ll start crying any minute now” when he’s holding her which isn’t the case.
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It’s really difficult for dads because as their mum you are complete comfort to them. Your voice, heartbeat and smell they have spent their whole life being comforted by. Babies don’t even realise that you and them are separate entities as they think of you as one. As they get older they will be able to take comfort with others but it takes more effort by those people. The best way is to play and for him to be around with you and it will work itself out. He just need to understand it’s normal but not forever x

My partner was feeling down about this too yesterday and was saying that she just cries and he can't settle her etc and as if she was listening she then spent the next 20 minutes babbling to him and smiling at him so that helped 😅 I'm exclusively breastfeeding and not pumping so partner has no option to help with feeds and she's recently switched up how she settles down to sleep which isn't easy for him to pick up on when he's out at work all day. I've just tried to reassure him that settling her is hard and just trying to help them bond when I know LO is in a good mood

My husband has felt similar, but then there are days where our little girl smiles massively at him as soon as she sees him and hasn’t smiled at me all day! Have you tried leaving the room more often so your partner is the only one for your little one to be around now and then? That should help them bond more. When Mums are in the room it’s natural that babies will gravitate to us more because we are an instant comfort to them. As baby gets older they’ll bond with dad more and more he just has to keep at it and try not to take it personally

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