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21. What can fathers do to help care for their multiple birth children? Unlike singleton births where the father may be less hands-on with his newborn, fathers of triplets or more often wish, even need to become more involved with his newborns' care immediately after delivery. Many fathers of triplets or more find themselves making decisions on behalf of the babies in the NICU while his wife recovers from a difficult pregnancy and Cesarean delivery. Fathers also serve a vital role in relaying updates to his wife when she needs more recovery time before she can visit the babies or make medical and personal decisions for her children. For most multiple birth families, the father continues to play a hands-on role in the childcare after the infants are discharged. To care for so many high-needs babies, mothers and fathers of higher-order multiples often form a very strong partnership in parenting.
Since fathers often take the lead in maintaining the notes and asking questions while his infants are in the NICU, MOST offers new fathers the booklet NICU Notebook.
Married with Multiples: What Mom Needs The Partner's Role with Multiple Births
Copyright MOST 2005 Updated 5/16/08 |