Check Out Our New Dad Survival Guide

Being a new dad is certainly a Catch 22 kind of situation. Everything in your wife’s world has been rocked – her body, her emotional state, her sleep patterns and her to-do list.
As a new dad, accept that there will be times when nothing makes sense.

Your sweet, adoring wife has been replaced by a hyper-sensitive, overwhelmed chick in dirty yoga pants.

Try as you might to tip-toe around the land mines, you’re going to step on one.

My poor husband was the brunt of many mood swings postpartum.

Thankfully, by baby No. 2 he learned to ride the waves.

Still, he and I compiled a brief list of traps a new dad should try to avoid.

New Dad’s Survival Tips:

• Don’t mention how well you slept.

Because your wife didn’t. Just because you didn’t hear any crying doesn’t mean the baby slept like an angel.

• Don’t mention how tired you are.

Because your wife is more tired. She just is, don’t argue.

• The only words you should speak about her physical appearance should include “gorgeous,” “beautiful” or phrases like “the face that launched a thousand ships.”

Even if she looks like she just rolled in a pile of garbage.

• If she asks for help, do it now.

Asking for help is hard for a new mom, so let her know you are reliable by jumping on any task she gives you.

• If she doesn’t ask for help, do it now.

Write the thank you notes, do some dishes, just do something for the sake of taking it off her plate.

Trust me, you may have only added one more person to the household but the laundry somehow quadruples.

• Be aware of the hormone surges.

Emotions are going to run high and swing like Tarzan on a vine.

• But don’t blame things on the hormones.

Allow her to feel how she feels, no matter how irrational it seems.

(But if you suspect postpartum depression,  address it immediately.)

• Our main advice – Try not to take it personally.

This change is hard on everyone, so be supportive, and you’ll find your new normal together eventually.