Fathers and Baby Behavior: The Father's Day Edition

First, we’d like to say Happy Father’s Day to all of our readers! We are so appreciative of all that fathers do for their children and hope that you get the celebration you deserve!

Research has shown that fathers play an important role in the cognitive, emotional, and physical development of their children. Over the last few years, several of our posts have focused specifically on fathers, so in honor of Father’s Day, we’d like to highlight these previous posts.

It Takes Two Baby: How Babies and Parents Learn about Each Other (December 2009) – This post focuses on how various caregivers can build relationships with newborn babies. It explains that fathers are often an important source of stimulation and fun, provide variety and security, and can be the first caregiver to learn to read the infant’s cues. It also highlights how important fathers can be in ensuring that the new baby doesn't get overstimulated by their new and exciting surroundings.

Parenting Roles Change: The Rise of the Stay-at-Home Dad (August 2010) - With more women working outside the home than ever before, it isn’t surprising that the number of stay-at-home dads has nearly doubled in the past 10 years. This post features 5 tips for stay-at-home dads with information about how to make caring for themselves and their babies a little easier.

New Dads on the Block (August 2010) – In this post, we describe how the father’s role has changed over the last 40 years, highlighting the increase in paternal involvement and understanding of their babies.

And Baby Makes 3: The Realities of becoming a dad (October 2010) - This post, the fourth in a series about how couples transition into parents, describes recent research on experiences shared by new fathers, including feeling lost in the shuffle, dealing with reality, and bonding with baby.

Baby Behavior Around the World: Key Caregivers of Babies (Part 2) (May 2011) - In the second part of our first Baby Behavior Around the World post, we describe how fathers’ roles vary in different cultures and countries.

We hope that the posts that we’ve written so far have been useful, and we are eager to provide more information for all of our male readers. So, we have a special request of our female readers: share this post with the fathers in your life! If you are a dad reading this post, share it with other dads you know. Understanding Baby Behavior can make parents' lives less stressful and make them feel more confident in knowing what their babies needs.

Have a great Father's Day weekend!