Tips for a dad who feels useless at times with newborn..

Baby wearing, skin to skin, taking baby for a walk, holding baby after she feeds, if she pumps then you can feed a bottle, diaper changes, being the one to get meals set up. Back or feet massages for mom when she just is beyond tired and stuck feeding baby. With our first i tried to do everything on my own since i was going to be the SAHM but i quickly started to get too exhausted and would cry as baby cried and took baby out the room to not wake my husband. Once we talked it thru we worked out that for us it worked best to team up and just get stuff done. I feed, he will feed a bottle if needed, diaper change either of us will do, once i fed baby he held baby and got baby back to bed because I meant food and as long as i was holding then baby expected to be fed. Now with a toddler and baby (also born aug 30th) we still do the same also he handles dinner for now until baby is less demanding. My husband does more than he needs to but i truly am able to not stress because he does things i would just forget about, he keeps a full bottle of water by my bedside, insures i eat, massages my back when he realizes i have been up for 2 hrs with baby, after i feed baby he will hold her while i pump or makes a bottle/ warms up milk if she is still hungry. This makes me sound lazy lol but we really make a great team and the key is not having to really ask the other to do something (we do ask if needed) but just having the other person see something needs to be done and just do it. Mom has been up for 2 hrs she needs a break, bam he taps in and just says let me hold her. Bottles need to be washed, we just do it regardless of if you washed it the last 3 times.

/r/beyondthebump Thread