Fatherhood Tips (The First Few Weeks)                    

1. Become active and involved from the very first day. Support your wife's recovery. Take time off or organize help (In first few weeks after delivery).
2. Your newborn may be quite different from what you imagined. Give baby and you time to get to know each other.
3. Help with laundry, cooking, dishes, cleaning, groceries and other household chores. This is especially important when both partners work outside the home as well. Just do it but don’t tell anybody.
4. Be supportive! Be patient! Be loving to your wife!
5. Discuss important issues before they arise. Circumcision, bottle vs breast-feeding, how to deal with late-night feeds, illnesses, etc.
6. Be supportive of her breast-feeding. It is a learned, not innate, skill. Get her snacks and drinks, fetch the baby, change the diaper. Husband support is one of the most important factors in a woman continuing breast-feeding.
7. Take a larger role in organizing the house and other children.
8. Get home early to help out. Learn to balance work vs. home.
9. If in doubt, ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question when you are learning to be a great father.
10. "Quality time" is a misnomer. Shoot for quantity and quality of time spent with your partner and children. To children, all time spent with their parents is considered quality time.
11. Ask your partner what she would like you to do to help out. Despite what you may think, most mothers do not want to do it all themselves. Mothers love fathers to pitch in and help.
12. Keep the lines of communication open - talk about each other's feelings, anxieties, parenting styles and beliefs.
13. Find a mentor. Ask them what they did right and, more important, what they did wrong. Learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others.
14. Expect your priorities to change... significantly.
15. Just do your best. Parenting is like learning to walk. You always need a little extra time and practice.
16. Fathers have unique stresses. Providing for the family, worries about becoming a father, about the health of mother and baby, fear of losing their relationship with their partner, and jealousy of the mother getting all the attention. These are all normal concerns. Talk openly to your mentor and partner about your concerns.
17. Mothers can be too busy or too concerned about others to ask for help. Ask them what you can do to help out.
18. Make time for you and baby to learn about each other.
19. Do special and unexpected things to keep the romance alive.
20. Fathers can get postpartum depressions too. If you find yourself developing symptoms of depression, get help.

21. True parent - child "bonding" occurs not at birth but through the succeeding decades of caring for your child's needs.

22. Feeling a little left out, jealous or inadequate? This is normal for many new fathers. Learn to perform a strong supporting role during this early performance.