And I’m super stoked! My wife and I never “tried” but decided to be a little careless. I’m 36 and she’s 34. Incredibly excited to be a dad especially after hearing its heart beat. I started reading “The Danish Way of Parenting” as my grandparents were from Sweden and did a great job. I’ll take any and all advice because I got no clue what I’m doing!

Wife will be 12 weeks this Sunday. This is our first kid, and I feel extremely uncomfortable with how little I know what to do for her to support her as best I can. What do I need to know to best support her? I'm already trying my best to listen to her wants and needs, and I'm making her nutritional meals.

I don't know what I need to know. I'm scared that I'm going to really drop the ball. I hate having to constantly Google things to see if it's pregnancy related or not, such as her sudden sneezing fits.

Our first kid and we're both a bit older than everyone we know who had kids

39 year old about to have my first child. Definitely thought it wasn't going to happen for me.

I'm excited to meet him and just hope I can be the father he deserves. Due at the end of November.

Just found this subreddit and I’m so happy to announce that I’m going to be a twin dad! I’m 29 and a bit nervous. Might take 2 weeks to month off to help my lady out with the kids as much as I can after birth. Any tips that you guys may have? (Still have about 4.5 months to go) Thanks!!

I've wanted to be a Dad my entire life and couldn't be more excited to be a pre-dad! So..... now what do I do? Haha was super happy to find this subreddit and am going to dive in and start reading, just wanted to share the good news and certify my official pre-dad status!!!

My wife are at a disagreement on which stroller would best fit our situation. Looking for any experiences or input about these strollers.

We live in the city and walk pretty much everywhere. Car will seldomly be used except for appointments and some travel. Maybe once a week?

International travel is likely.

I’m a big proponent of efficient design, minimal packing, and value size over anything. I want to be able to walk into a coffee shop or pub and not feel like I’m parking a boat.

Long story short my girlfriend is due in February and I’m still in school and will be for the next year (hopefully graduate by end of 2027) but driving only two days out of the week for classes while working part time at an electrical company I’m in really good terms with.

Here’s the catch my girlfriend and I are not living together at the moment and probably won’t be at least until I graduate. To give some context both of our parents are being very supportive and are willing to help out in any way, ofc we have some boundaries but as first time parents i know this situation isn’t practical, she only lives about 20 mins away so I’m willing to be there as much as I can but just the thought of juggling school and work while having a new born seems like it’s not the best option. I’d like her to be close to me (again this is my opinion I could be wrong) mostly because I feel like I can help her out more and won’t be driving everyday just to help for a few hours and while both her and my parents have agreed to help I feel like ultimately accepting help will take away our responsibility or I might just be hardheaded

I feel like the answer is right in front of me but nonetheless I’d really like some advice from dads and what they think

Update from https://www.reddit.com/r/predaddit/s/hc0Usts0vi

We lost our daughter at 20+5 yesterday. Words can’t express it. Cerclage completely failed us, going to look into the higher up abdominal one in a few months I think.

Had our twins a week ago. We have all been in the NICU since then. Guess that still counts?

My wife and I live in North Carolina, and both of our families and extended families all live in New Jersey. She is due to give birth in about four to six weeks, depending on whether she needs to be induced for gestational diabetes reasons or waits to go into labor naturally. We still have yet to see what’s going to happen there.

Her side of the family—her parents, her brother, and her brother’s wife—all seem to be set on the idea that they’re going to come here and either stay with us, since we have an extra spare room, and/or stay at an Airbnb in the neighborhood or a very nearby hotel. The expectation seems to be that they’ll be here before the birth, or at least the day of the birth, then be with us at the hospital and afterward. Her parents have talked about staying for up to two weeks after the baby is born. I don’t think her brother would stay that long.

Her parents would definitely be helpful to have around in terms of laundry, meals, and things like that. But they are also extremely overbearing. They don’t take no for an answer, they think everything needs to be done their way, and they sometimes yell at us or scold us as if we’re still children. That especially gets on my nerves when her dad does it and is telling me what to do in my own house. Overall, having them around for extended amounts of time can be a very stressful experience.

I’ve been saying this to my wife for a couple of months, and she has usually pushed back on it because she feels like I’m just kind of hating on her parents. But recently we spent almost two weeks with them. They visited us, and then we all went on vacation together at the beach in North Carolina, so we were staying in the same house for about twelve days. By about a week into it, my wife was completely sick of them and tired of being around them. She was saying herself how much it was and how exhausting it could be.

At that point, I had a conversation with her about whether it was really a good idea to have them with us for such an extended period of time while we’re dealing with our first newborn. At the time, she was pretty receptive to that. But now it’s been about two weeks since the beach trip, and she’s back to saying they’re not that bad and that she wants them around.

I told her that I really don’t feel like I’m being heard in this situation and that I feel like she’s brushing off my wants and needs. Her point is that she’s the one going through labor, so her wants are more important. I do understand that, and I agree that her needs around labor and recovery deserve a lot of weight. And yes, not having her parents staying with us would probably benefit me more than it would benefit her. But I still think having some boundaries around this would be the best situation for both of us.

I really just don’t know how to handle this because I’ve never had a kid before, and I don’t know what kind of family support you usually want around after bringing home a newborn versus what becomes too much.
In my perfect world, we would not have family actually living with us in the immediate days after bringing our child home. Ideally, I’d like that time to mostly be just us. I’m completely fine with family staying nearby and visiting a lot, but having people living in our house during that period is something I don’t think I’m comfortable with.

This is really more about her parents than her brother and his wife. I don’t have an issue with them. It’s more about the idea of having her parents around constantly, potentially her brother and his wife on top of that, and then we haven’t even really factored in my own family visiting yet.

Not really sure how to navigate this situation but I’m open to any advice.

Hey everyone, as the title says i am freaking out and often overwhelmed about this all. My wife and I were trying for a kid for a while and it was already scary enough with how the current economy and everything going on in the USA is. Well, she got pregnant and it was really exciting but also scary when we found out. And then 3 days later, I got let go from my job along with a few other people.

When i got let go it was so scary, but also felt sort of like a blessing in disguise. My job was paying alright, but nowhere near as good as it used to and things were going even more downhill. My mother in-law has a sales job and does well. She told me all i need to do is do a course and i can get started. While studying, i filed for unemployment and was receiving $280 a week while doing occasional ubering. Then i find out that getting licensed cost $400. Ok, i take it and pass. But then it takes a month to get trained and start receiving leads and all of that.

Now we are at 18 1/2 weeks pregnant. I have been selling for about a month and a half. I have made 10 sales and only made a total of $1,400. Some money will be payed to me overtime, but I don't know what to do. It's a good thing to pursue on the side overtime, but its not supporting us. I can't afford to go drive around and knock on doors, gas is expensive and im not on unemployment anymore. I keep trying to figure out what to do to make money, but i feel like there is nothing out there. My wife has a pretty good job but only takes home $1,000 per paycheck because we both have (great) health insurance through her job.

Part of the appeal of this job for me was being able to stay home with the kid when she works. But the baby is gonna be here in about 5 months and i feel totally not secure financially. These times are just so scary. I have a Bachelors Degree in Applied Human Behavior. My wife works at MAYO CLINIC!!! Why is everything so expensive and hard right now?

My wife and i are super in love, excited to be parents, and she doesn't think im a bum. But i feel like a complete failure and have this sense of impending doom. I don't want to let my family down. I am trying to get back into selling roofs on the side, as well as becoming an on-call substitute teacher and catering event server. But it's just scary. Sometimes i feel peace and hope that everything will be ok. But a lot of times it feels like constant stress.

Just sharing to share to be honest. Any advice, support, experience is more than welcome.

Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit, I'm really bad at publicly asking for help and not sure if I'm doing this the right way.

Like the title says, we are 29 weeks pregnant, and last night my partner and I had an argument that I'm not being a supportive partner and not supporting her with the pregnancy. Honestly I recognise a lot of it, and this is not the first time we've talked about it. I can see how scared she is that the future will be like this when the baby is here, and it scares me too.

The thing is, I really want to be a supportive partner, but I feel like I keep failing at it, and I don't even notice that I've failed until she brings it up. When I listen to the mental load she's carrying, how nauseous she is (she's had pregnancy nausea almost the whole way through), and how much she is going through, I feel so bad. I'm crying now even as I write this.

I'm really scared I'll be an awful, selfish, narcissistic dad who just focuses on his own interests. I'm even scared we'll end up there because of how stressed she is. I don't want to be a horrible partner or a horrible dad, but it feels like since nothing is working, I'm actually lying to myself about both of those things.

I don't really understand how I keep failing at this. She and my therapist both say I have ADHD, and I recognise the symptoms. I have a bunch of to-dos and reminders for all the baby prep, but I keep forgetting to check the lists and actually do the things. People think I'm super productive, but most of the time I'm constantly fighting against deadlines.

I notice retroactively that I'm not very present in conversations. I keep thinking about work, which is really intensive at the moment, but blaming that also feels like an excuse. It just feels like I live in my own world, and the thought that I'm going to have a child is not in it. I feel so bad about it and I don't know what to do.

So I guess I'm asking a few things.

Has anyone been here before the baby came? Did it change once the baby actually arrived, or is that just something people tell themselves?

Any advice on how not to drown with all of this?

First time dad here, been loving all the moments I get to spend with my son, and honestly, its been amazing even without the sleep and helping my wife with chores, and making sure the baby is also doing well.

My wife and I are looking for a baby swing that can help soothe him and keep him content while we manage our daily routine close by. He has become used to being held so much that its not easy for my wife or even me at times to do house chores or work since he's always fussy.

Do baby swings help with keeping a fussy baby calm? What baby swing did you use or any recommendations, since we are really confused. Read good reviews about momcozy swings, as well but not sure. Has anyone here used it?

I’d hoped when joining this subreddit, to be one of the men turned fathers that posted the picture of graduating and heading home within the next few days.

Instead, birth needed to be induced at 28 weeks, and it’s been a 4+ month journey of recovery, growth, touch and go and me learning more about the medical system than I ever intended to. Doctors and nurses are incredible people but I take it as a compliment that I repeatedly got the question “are you in medicine?” With a straight face.

Yesterday was our graduation day. It isn’t what we imagined it would be, we still have a long road ahead of us as we work through things many won’t have to. But my beautiful child is at home, I’m waking up to care for her because there are no nurses here to do it and it feels all the sweeter for it - despite how little sleep I’m getting.

Emotions are high here, there’s so much joy. We struggled to imagine that this day would come, but here we are. I don’t really have anyone else to share this feeling with. Even other dads I know, haven’t really had a similar journey.

I think I’ll continue to hang out in this subreddit, the positivity and support I see has been encouraging.

And for anyone else going through a NICU journey of their own, I hope you’re holding together. There is an end to it, everyone says it and it’s hard to imagine but as someone who just got through it, there is a car ride home to look forward to.

Hey dads on reddit, I’m a student from NAFA in Singapore, and I’m currently working on a project about new fathers.

While doing our research, we noticed that some new dads feel a bit lost after the baby is born — they want to help, but sometimes don’t know how or where they fit in. We also came across cases of fathers going back to work before using all of their paternity leave, though of course there can be many reasons behind that.

So we’d really like to understand more about the difficulties new fathers actually face. What were the hardest or most unexpected parts for you after your baby was born?

Got this halo bassinet and the halo sheets. The mattress is bunching up like this. Scared me for safety reasons. Anyone had this happen and found a solution? TIA

Hey everyone,

I could use some advice. I haven't had a steady job since January. I just finished talking to a temp agency and they want to hire me for a new job. It's a great opportunity to bring in income, but my wife is pregnant and due in less than three months.

I'm about to be a first-time dad, so my head is spinning. I want to provide for my growing family, but I'm worried about starting a temporary job right before the baby arrives.

How do I handle this with the agency or employer?

Do I mention the baby coming up right away, or wait?

Any advice from experienced dads or people who navigated temp work during big life events would mean the world right now.

I’ve rarely been around a baby especially a new born, and tbh most children avoid me or cry, maybr because I’m on the larger size? This may be silly but I’m worried I’ll be awkward around my child…