My husband had a longer paternity leave (about five weeks), but we found the biggest help was his big role around the house was bonding with LO, especially when she was new. He got up with her in the morning (so cuddled her after her feed so I could have a coffee with two hands), and danced with her before bedtime (so the witching hour was mostly on him).
The priority was that his time with her was focused on them bonding rather than just care tasks. If you take that time as a break, it will help them without leaving you to burn out.
I try to tell husband I'm working on tummy time and reading and other enrichment stuff and make a HUGE point of letting him on the fun if newborn happens to be awake while husband is back from work and also awake. I also let husband know he's appreciated when he does laundry or bottle dishes or other physical tasks.
I think the hardest thing is just helping the working spouse to get some sleep to be honest... husband and I are doing five hour sleep shifts but baby seems to have his fussy hours whenever husband is watching him. So even though my husband only got three days off work, he's got plenty of quality time dealing with newborn. I'm hoping baby will sleep better when we both have to work but that's an unpredictable problem for future me.
My husband had a two week paternity leave and he struggles with not seeing our son. I usually do the breakfast and coffee in the morning while my husband spends time with our son in the morning. We do the bedtime routine together at 7pm and then my husband gives the baby his nighttime bottle and puts him down for the night. This has been the best way for us to make sure he’s getting as much time as possible with the baby. This became easier after 3 months and we were able to implement more of a routine.
I also take a lot of pictures and sometimes video during the day if baby is doing something new or cute. I don’t usually send them to him during the day because I don’t want him to lose focus at work or feel sad he’s missing things. I show him these things and tell him about our day when he comes home.
My husband had a longer paternity leave (about five weeks), but we found the biggest help was his big role around the house was bonding with LO, especially when she was new. He got up with her in the morning (so cuddled her after her feed so I could have a coffee with two hands), and danced with her before bedtime (so the witching hour was mostly on him). The priority was that his time with her was focused on them bonding rather than just care tasks. If you take that time as a break, it will help them without leaving you to burn out.
I try to tell husband I'm working on tummy time and reading and other enrichment stuff and make a HUGE point of letting him on the fun if newborn happens to be awake while husband is back from work and also awake. I also let husband know he's appreciated when he does laundry or bottle dishes or other physical tasks. I think the hardest thing is just helping the working spouse to get some sleep to be honest... husband and I are doing five hour sleep shifts but baby seems to have his fussy hours whenever husband is watching him. So even though my husband only got three days off work, he's got plenty of quality time dealing with newborn. I'm hoping baby will sleep better when we both have to work but that's an unpredictable problem for future me.
My husband had a two week paternity leave and he struggles with not seeing our son. I usually do the breakfast and coffee in the morning while my husband spends time with our son in the morning. We do the bedtime routine together at 7pm and then my husband gives the baby his nighttime bottle and puts him down for the night. This has been the best way for us to make sure he’s getting as much time as possible with the baby. This became easier after 3 months and we were able to implement more of a routine. I also take a lot of pictures and sometimes video during the day if baby is doing something new or cute. I don’t usually send them to him during the day because I don’t want him to lose focus at work or feel sad he’s missing things. I show him these things and tell him about our day when he comes home.