Austin Area Birthing Center dads learn lots of father baby bonding techniques in our Baby Love for Dads Class, but that hour of infant massage, communal support and expert advice goes by quickly, with a lot of information to retain. Fathers sometimes develop bonds with their baby more slowly than mothers do, and that’s okay! In order to help our dads show their babies just how much they love them, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite father baby bonding techniques right here, so you can consult the expert midwives of Austin Area Birthing Center at any time!

Skin-To-Skin Contact

One of the primary methods of bonding between mothers and babies is breastfeeding. While that bond is unique to mothers and babies, dads can still enjoy that kind of closeness by holding their babies close, skin-to-skin. Dads and their babies experience a rise in oxytocin while cuddling the same way that moms and babies do! Cuddling your warm, soft baby is a great way to show love and build those paternal feelings inside yourself.

Participate in Daily Activities

Use chores as an opportunity to spend one-on-one time with your baby. Dress your baby in the morning, feed him or her whenever you have to bottle feed, bathe your baby, change your baby – basically take any chance you can to care for your infant! Do these things mindfully, rather than checking them off the list. One of the best ways to feel like a dad is to act like a dad!

Read to Your Baby

Pediatricians recommend that you read aloud to your infant every day. Reading aloud helps your child develop language skills and creates a lifelong love of learning. You can read with your child more formally – using picture books to teach the names of different objects, or simply hold your child while you read something of more interest to you. Both exercises expose your baby to new words and normalize reading as a good activity.

Cuddle Up During Breastfeeding

You don’t want to steal mom’s special time with your baby, but you can share in the breastfeeding experience by cuddling mom and baby while your baby feeds. Keep your face close to mom’s so that your baby can see both of you!

Make Funny Faces With Your Baby

Infants don’t have a lot of options for entertainment. They’re not very mobile and pretty much have to look at whatever you put in front of their faces, which is why it’s a good thing that babies start recognizing faces minutes after they pop out of the womb! By making faces at your baby, you teach him or her who you are and begin the basics of socialization. Your baby will try to imitate your faces which helps both of you bond!

 

Many of the classes and services we offer at Austin Area Birthing Center are directed toward moms – we are, after all, “midwife led, mom focused,” but that doesn’t mean that we neglect dads! Moms may do most of the heavy lifting during pregnancy, but parenthood is a big transition for dads too. Dads are invited to several of our classes, including Breastfeeding, New Trends Childbirth, Newborn Care, Cloth Diapering, and Birth in Nutshell – but we actually have a special class specifically for dads! Baby Love for Dads teaches dads baby massage, relaxation techniques and new dad tips!

Baby Massage for Dads

We’ve talked about the benefits of baby massage before, but in case you need a reminder, infant massage helps relax your baby by stimulating hormones, aids in your baby’s digestion and helps you and your baby bond through physical touch.

Male Pattern Bonding

Baby Love for dads isn’t just about dad/baby bonding, it also provides new dads with a supporting group of other men who know exactly what they’re going through. Baby Love for Dads offers dads the same community support that we’ve been cultivating for moms for more than 25 years.

New Dad Tips

You’d think that after being on Earth for so long, Humans would have fatherhood figured out by now, but every dad’s situation is unique and everyone needs a little help sometimes. Baby Love for Dads will teach you important fatherhood techniques that we’ve picked up from years of training and decades of caring for babies. It’s also a safe space to ask questions that you may have or express fears and doubts. Baby Love for Dads is all about helping you be a better dad!

Meet Delora

Baby Love for Dads is taught by DeLora Frederickson with help from one of our AABC dads. DeLora is a yoga instructor, sleep coach and all-around parenting pro. DeLora will help you navigate your new world of fatherhood and provide guidance on creating harmony between you, your partner, your new baby and your other children.

Baby Love for Dads class is held once a month at our south location. Check the calendar to see when the next class is coming up!

Whether you’re leaving our birthing center or leaving your house with the newest addition to your family, you’ll have to put your child in a car seat before you can get headed on your way. You want your child to be as safe as possible, which means ensuring that your car seat is installed correctly. So what are the top boxes to check off before you start off on any journeys with your new precious passenger? Read on!

Car Seats Aren’t One Size Fits All

You hear it all the time because it’s true – kids grow up FAST. And just as you’ll be getting new diapers, new food, and new clothes almost every time you turn around and look at your child, you’ll need to do the same with car seats. Different heights, weights, and stages of development all have different needs to accommodate during transit, and it’s something you’ve got to pay attention to while you’re watching your child grow. Keeping track of the way their bodies are changing isn’t just for the sake of great memories and cute growth charts on the kitchen wall – it’s a car seat safety must!

Hand-Me-Downs May Let You Down

We’re constantly learning new things about how to make life safer for babies, and what was common practice in the past may actually be dangerous. We pride ourselves on highly knowledgeable midwives and specialists within our walls, but in other area of baby-care, like car seats, the research and development phases are still very much ongoing. That means that the car seats of 15, 10, and even five years ago don’t reflect what we currently know about car seat safety. If you have a genuine need to get thrifty with your seat purchases, consider buying front-to-back convertible models that will accommodate your child’s growth, or travel systems that allow for taking the seat from your car and turning it into a stroller.

Security vs Blankets

We understand wanting to keep your child as close to you as possible. That’s why it’s standard practice for us to keep baby in the same room with you for their first cleaning, footprinting, and feeding. But since you can’t drive with them next to you, or even facing you in the rear-view in the beginning stages of their little lives, we understand the instinct to make sure they’re as padded and protected as possible while they’re out of your hands. Fact of the matter is – when it comes to keeping your child safest on car trips, the focus needs to be less on padding their seat and more on strapping it in. Cold weather and swaddling-fixed fussiness might lead you to want to wrap your child a little more heavily before you buckle them in – but this actually reduces the effectiveness of the seat’s protection in case of emergency! Stick to sticking those blankets on top of your properly buckled baby instead. Focus more on making sure the straps of the seat are properly situated in your car. The best thing about having kids in this day and age is that if you’re feeling a little lost with the diagrams that come with your seats, you can double check yourself with YouTube tutorials, or check out the Safe Riders’ program to make sure you’ve gotten the job done right.

Snooze Cruising

Nothing puts a baby to sleep like a car ride. Something about the combo of the road’s white noise and the smooth gliding sensation shuts down their busy little brains like nothing else. And when you tiptoe back into the house with them in hand, it can honestly seem a shame to risk their rest (and that sweet sleeping face!) by picking them up and putting them properly to bed. But there’s a lot to be said for leaving car seats in the car – staying in an upright position for extended periods can lead to airway restrictions, flat spots in a developing skull, and gastrointestinal distress in your infant. Now don’t panic, during the hours and hours of an interstate road-trip, there’s no better place for a baby to be. Just be sure to make a habit of leaving their seat with the other seats in the vehicle when you get out. And if you’re really worried about waking the sleeping beauty in your arms, we’ve got you covered with our own specially crafted sleepy time playlist.

We know you want your baby to be as safe as possible – so do we! Our relaxing and secure facilities aren’t just for show, everything from our techniques to our water birth tub-tiling is made with comfort, safety, and wellness in mind for you and your child. We may not be able to design the rest of the world that way, but we can definitely be sure of letting you know how to get things (and small people!) properly in place once you leave.

Important Links: 

Car Seat Installation

The Safe Riders Traffic Safety Program provides helpful information about child passenger safety and helps install car seats safely. Contact the program at 800-252-8255 for more information.