Some babies wake up frequently at night even after their first birthday and want someone to be always with them during the day. Some mothers may also need support normally after a while. Especially with the need for breastfeeding at night, sleep-sharing between parents becomes necessary. In order to solve this situation, the mother and father can start by splitting the waking hours at night or taking over the care of the baby at night for one day at a time. When it comes to breastfeeding, mothers can express and safely store their breast milk for fathers to feed the baby during the designated times or hours when the father is awake. This situation can be difficult for fathers at first because babies may be used to their mothers putting them to sleep when they wake up at night. However, if you can establish a balance of parental care before it is too late, your baby will also be able to sleep peacefully with her/his father. Over time, she/he gets used to her/his father feeding her and putting her to sleep, and her crying decreases. This process of adaptation and adjustment is also a great bonding experience for fathers and their babies.
It is very important for the psychology of the baby and the parents and for the healthy development of the baby that the parents spend equal time and effort in caring for the baby. If each parent does her/his part and makes the necessary effort, peace in the family will be easier to achieve. In this sense, it may be more accurate to look at the issue as the father sharing the workload rather than helping the mother at home.
For example, the father can give the baby a bath while the mother prepares dinner, the father can put the dishes in the washing machine while the mother plays with the baby. While one parent reads a story to their baby, the other can prepare lunch to take to school the next day. It would be fairer to share all the responsibilities for your baby and it would not be right for one parent to take on these tasks, as well as shopping, cooking, housework and working. You can even make it fun to do some housework to make it easier. When your baby starts to grow, you can let her/him watch what you do. Because boring tasks such as placing vegetables or arranging dishes can be interesting actions for babies to follow.
Family planning
Many activities in life are easier to do than planned and are a great way for working parents to spend time with their children. Let’s take a look at a few suggestions for this:
Get into a routine.
If you establish a routine by determining when to feed your baby, when to put her/him to sleep, when to play, and when to go out to the park, both parents can fulfil tasks more easily.
Keep daily tasks and chores as simple as possible.
Use time-effective shortcuts wherever they are. For example, with internet banking and online shopping, you can save time you would otherwise spend in queues. In this way, both parents can adequately care for their baby.
Spend a few minutes each evening preparing for the next day.
Organise your baby’s clothes, prepare dinner, make sure you have the ingredients for the meal at home and think about what you will wear to work the next day.