Where can fathers get support?

Fathers need support too. Adjusting to the father role can feel overwhelming and tiring and there is a lot to learn, very quickly.

Fathers can get support

• Talking with other dads and sharing experience.
• Through dads’ local support groups.
• Going to parenting education groups/antenatal group follow up courses.
• Through the family doctor.
• Talking to your Plunket nurse.
• Calling Plunket’s free telephone advice service PlunketLine – 0800 933 922, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Adjusting to new roles

As mums and dads adjust to the responsibilities and demands of caring for a child, their relationship moves into a new phase.

Each may see a different side of their partner as they:

• experience changes in their relationship with family and friends
• may feel isolated from usual social networks
• undergo financial reprioritisation
• find that the experience may be different to the expectation
• experience the reality of breastfeeding, wakeful nights and disrupted routines
• experience a loss of spontaneity/freedom.

Talk together before the baby is born. This is a good way to share each other’s dreams and hopes for the baby and for the future. Talking also helps parents think about what their role will be as parents and about parenting. Both parents can support each other by taking time to get to know the new baby and learning about their needs.

Sharing the feelings and changes each notices can help parents understand each other’s experience of parenting, and enable them to develop ways of being parents together.

Read more about parenting from a male perspective at DIY Father and Father & Child.