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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 3682503" data-attributes="member: 5171">Not much to add to other people's awesome advice.Get as much face time with the baby as you can. Sure, a lot of the time. Olaf(ette) will be asleep, but in those rare times when the baby is awake, be there, talking and making eye contact. And since babies have limited vision at first, you need to be close to the baby's face -- and talking in a gentle but clear voice. Seeing the baby look up into you with these awesome wide eyes is extremely humbling.Change diapers. It's not pleasant. Get over it. (Maybe this doesn't need to be said, but some dads still subscribe to the "The wife changes diapers" thing, and really? No.)If your wife is breastfeeding, you'll be sleeping more than she is. Be available to be woken up if the baby needs to be cuddled or diaper-changed. Don't stay up all night to be supportive -- she's going to need somebody awake and alert to hunt and gather through the day -- but be available when it's 4 in the morning and she's weeping from fatigue and frustration.I've been taking care of my wife since the new baby arrived. In the morning, I get up with our older son, and I let my wife sleep. Later in the morning, I bring up some breakfast for her. It helps make up for the sleep she's missing during the night.I remember that you read my blog post about the birth, so you know that I have no real advice there beyond "Listen to your wife, and advocate for her to doctors and nurses, and be positive and reassuring at all times." A lot of times, that means a Bluff check. Roll well. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Oh, and when a baby cries, it's pretty much for one of six reasons:1) I want food2) I need a diaper change3) I need to be burped (or tummy-rubbed to get me to the diaper-change part)4) I need to have my environment checked for uncomfortable things (an edge of the diaper pinching or cutting, for example, or it being too hot or too cold for the baby)5) I need to be cuddled6) I am sick, teething, or have colic -- sucks to be you!When the baby cries at 5 in the morning, it's tough to remember all of those, and it's easy to get frustrated or fixated on one of the 6 -- "Why won't he just eat?" When things start to get frustrating, work through the list. There's no real cure for colic, so if the first five don't work, take the temperature and, unless the baby is running a fever, try a washcloth frozen in the freezer as a chew toy (for teething) or just keep cuddling (for colic).Good luck!</blockquote>

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