How To Share Parenting Roles With Your Spouse

There are no major milestones in life quite like entering parenthood. Your life will become a little busier, a little more complicated, but most importantly, a lot more fulfilled. If you can’t help but feel overwhelmed, remember that you are not in this alone. You have your friends and family, and especially your husband to support you. 

Having and being a supportive spouse along this journey is not only important for a happy relationship, it will positively impact your child’s growth as well. So here are some suggestions on how you can share parenting roles with your spouse! 

Examples of Baby Care Responsibilities

Before we dive into the ways to share childcare roles with your husband, let’s have a look on what basic daily responsibilities are there to share.

Feeding: This includes breastfeeding or bottle-feeding your baby during the day and throughout the night, as well as keeping track of your baby’s feeding schedule and milk intake.

Changing Diapers: Your baby’s diapers should be changed whenever it’s wet or soiled. Cleanse the area so the baby does not get rashes. Furthermore, apply ointments or creams to keep your baby’s skin moisturised and healthy.

Bathing & Grooming: Aside from daily baths, you need to pay attention to other parts of your baby’s body to practice good hygiene. This includes trimming your baby’s nail, and cleaning your baby’s gum, teeth, and nose.

Sleeping: After putting your baby to sleep, check from time to time if he or she is sleeping in a safe or comfortable position. During newborns’ first few months, they tend to wake every couple of hours to feed.

Playing: Playing not only improves your bond with your baby, more importantly, it encourages your baby’s physical and mental developments. Offer interesting objects for your newborn to look at or touch.

Cleaning: Keeping your baby’s items and surroundings clean minimizes your baby’s exposure to harmful germs. Some of the cleaning tasks include sanitising milk bottles and other baby items, washing your baby’s clothing, and keeping the house clean.

Errands: Keep track of your baby product inventory like diapers, milk powder, bath supplies, and arrange grocery trips from time to time so that you’ll always have them ready.

Tips On Sharing Parenting Roles With Your Spouse

1. Discuss & Understand Expectations

It is likely that you and your husband have your own expectations on how and what responsibilities should be shared. For example, how often do you clean your baby’s room? Or who will be in charge of the baby’s laundry after work? Furthermore, you may have different parenting styles. Discussing these expectations and preferences can avoid a lot of unnecessary stress and misunderstandings.

2. Be Consistent With Your Words & Actions

Do you use a pacifier whenever your baby starts crying? When your child is not well-behaved, do both of you give the same reaction? Being consistent is highly crucial to children’s well-being, as they learn by internalizing, practicing, and repeating. When you are consistent with your words and actions, your child will feel more safe and secure as they know what to expect. Not to mention it is a great way to show support for your spouse’s efforts in parenting.

3. Make Use of Technology

Other than using your mobile phones to take lots of baby photos, make it work for both of you by using mobile apps that keep track of bottle feeds and sleep schedules. Furthermore, phone reminders are great for creating a consistent family routine, as well as to help you remember important tasks such as doctor’s appointment or getting baby supplies. If you are looking to save more time and money on getting mom and baby products, try online shopping platforms like MumChecked that rewards you with gift cards as you leave reviews or shop, while saving you a trip to the supermarket.

4. Emphasize on Teamwork

One of the most important elements of a happy marriage and household is teamwork. Make sure the both of you are constantly working together as a team in the house. Depending on what works best for you, you may either share responsibilities by having one person focus on one task (e.g.: one person solely in charge of cooking), or doing tasks together (e.g.: cleaning the house together). No matter your arrangement, as long you have a common goal in mind, you and your spouse will feel supported and motivated.

5. Be Each Other’s Cheerleaders

Last but not least, always remember to encourage your spouse along the way. Appreciate each other’s strengths and give compliments when one of you makes an effort. Moreover, give each other room to be imperfect, so that both of you will have the motivation to improve and keep going. Even when disagreements happen, treat each other with patience and respect, and trust that he wants the best for your child as much as you do.

You May Also Read this : Newborn Baby Tips: Dos & Don’ts as Parents

A Final Note

We hope these tips have given you and your spouse a better idea on how to navigate your new life as parents. Welcoming a new member into your family is a big change, not to mention you need time to properly recover from your labour. Hence, it’s always good to have an experienced helping hand, such as a confinement nanny to support and guide you during the first month. To engage with a professional nanny Singapore parents trust, head over to PEM Confinement Nanny Agency’s website to learn more!

Author

  • PEM Confinement Nanny Agency

    We are a group of frontliners and support team members who are passionate about sharing our knowledge and experience in confinement care. Representing the largest confinement nanny agency in Singapore which has served over 250,000 mothers in over 30 years, we are all about sharing useful and insightful information based on our experience to help new parents navigate this exciting chapter of their life better.