The new parent advice thread!

[lucafen4]

Day 4, what ride its been so far...
Wife gave birth to a beautiful ginger, Ruby Elise.. 5lb 10 oz.. tiny but fierce..
best bit of advice came from our midwife, "do what you have to do to survive the first 2 weeks."...TRUTH!.

1 hr naps are priceless..

Congrats! Super happy for you and your wife. Let the most amazing journey of your life begin. Whatever you do, do not let go of those survival techniques and at all times remain a chameleon/ninja/shapeshifter heh.

I cant ant be bothered to go back and see if this is in any previous advice given. So....

#25 -take a few seconds every day, more than once a day to commit just fully soak in your daughter. Do it consciously. I still do, it was better when she was little. Already at five I get, "ugh, ahh dad!"

[Call of Doughty]

Thank God I was never this bad. Still hilarious - caution - guy has a weak gag reflex.

[Daydream Nation]

Awesome stuff!! Congrats.

[Eskimo Brother]

Hope Dooley and the rest of you guys that were talking about this back in 2017 are all still doing well.

Figured I would revive this season as I've read through it at least five time over the last couple months. Yup, EB is going to be a dad. It's going to be a girl, and she's due the last week of July, so I managed the offseason planning pretty well

If people have anything they want to add, reinforce, or update from a few years ago in this thread, I'm all ears. Wife has been all over the shopping and items lists, so we're pretty set there. Most of the decisions have at least been over and discussed if not written in pen too. I am a rookie when it comes to this though, so there's no such thing as too much information.

[PenguinHunter]

Congrats EB that is exciting news!! So Happy for your guys!!

I stick by my original response - follow the EASY method and they should sleep well for you!!!

Another suggestion I would make is to get them into that car seat and go for trips as often as you can in the early weeks.

It may seem like a lot of work, but getting them used to the car seat and travelling is huge!!

We have some friends that avoided taking their babies anywhere in the vehicle - and for the first 2-3 years the kids hated the car seats and travelling and it made the parents life miserable when they decided they did want to go places.

Small term pain = long term gain

And the care seat example is a perfect one. The short term pain of getting the baby in the seat is worth it to get them accustomed to it so they are not bad travellers.

[COLT.45]

Congrats! Its an exciting time!
I have 3 kids under 6. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.
My advise, or warning perhaps, is that post partum is very real. We tend to focus our attention on the needs of the baby but your partners body, hormones, mental health etc will be jumping through hoops for the forseeable future. Make sure she has the support she needs for that. Dont take things personally and try to be sympathetic/compassionate with what can appear as (and often time is) irrational behavior. My wife literally broke down in tears the first time I carried the baby up the stairs because she was convinced the baby would fall...

You and your partner will do great! kids are resilient

[Axeman33]

Both of my kids are older and left the "nest" so to say so while I have tons of experience, I cant say my newborn skills are all that sharp. I think as much advice as others can give you, it all goes out the window in the heat of the moment so to say. It's a lot of learning on the fly LOL! You're a sharp cookie so I am sure you'll do just fine.

[Feenom]

Enjoy the ride. My kids are 16 and 18 and I miss the whole born to 10 yrs of age range. It’s like baseball, they are under your control for a while then they test free agency. Keep them close for as long as you can and take lots of pics and vids. Revisit them when you get older with the wife and it’s a tear fest. Good luck and congrats. Be patient!!

[Pengwin7]

Congrats EB. It's a lot, but you can handle it! You'll be great!
Just remember to save some time for fantasy hockey!!!

[2014olympicgold]

"Enjoy your quiet morning cups of coffee, because it'll be the last time until your kids grow up and start drinking your coffee" - That's something my dad said to me about 10yrs ago. I was prolly being loud and took his coffee he made.

[doulos]

Congrats and enjoy the ride.

I took my daughter out to learn driving for the first time yesterday. Time flies with your kids. Cherish it.

[Eskimo Brother]

"Enjoy your quiet morning cups of coffee, because it'll be the last time until your kids grow up and start drinking your coffee" - That's something my dad said to me about 10yrs ago

Solid quote!

Thanks all. Definitely a good point about the post-partum care too. We're doing some online baby/parenting classes now through one of the local municipalities, and I think tonight's is on that kind of post-partum care topic too. It's definitely becoming more of a focus nowadays, and I think that's great to have it out there so accessing support is much more manageable if/when necessary.

[Dennis]

To echo PenguinHunter's advice a bit after you're settled a bit I'd recommend trying to get out with the kiddo as much as you can this summer. Partially for your own sanity and to help you adjust to your massive life change but before you know it your life is going to be dictated by your daughter's nap routine so get out and about while baby is passive and sleeping half the time.

Also, if you don't want a surprise 2 pregnancy a few months after your daughter is born wrap it up or start working on you pull out game now. Not that I'm saying my 2nd child was a mistake, he was just earlier than planned for.

[Invictus]

Congrats EB!!!

[DJ Rection]

Enjoy your last few weeks of freedom! Once the baby is born, you'll realise that you had a lot of time that you were using very very badly before it.
Change the diapers, mom went through a painful journey. Get yo hands dirty!
Do not only plan your days around the baby. If you want to go out on a small hike, walk, see friends/family, whatever, do it.
Don't be afraid to make noises in the house while you baby sleep, he's going to be a light sleeper if you keep it too silent.

Most importantly, chill out. Don't stress, keep the advices and books in mind but use your common sense, every babies are different.
Have fun and cheerish every moments.