R E L AT I O N S H I P S
Expect these fights with
your partner once the
baby arrives
H
aving a baby is a completely new experience
for parents. And, as they eagerly welcome this
change in their lives, it comes with the challenge
of maintaining their relationships with each other. There
are many chances of both parents having different ideas
on nurturing the baby and these will differ even as the
baby grows up. So get ready for these arguments once
you become parents. To make sure that you sail smooth
in your marriage, here are a few things that you must
keep in your mind.
Sharing responsibilities
With the arrival of a baby, comes a ton of work that you
both have to do. Division of labour is most obvious at this
time and problems start when there is unequal division
of work. It depends on how you want to do it; the traditional way where the mother contributes more to home
and the baby, while the father is focused on his work, or
whether you both want to get back to work at the earliest. Whatever the case, both of you need to understand
that it has to be a mutually acceptable solution. Lots of
planning needs to be done in advance and responsibilities have to be taken seriously.
There will be differences in the way you handle your child
If the child falls down, the instant response is to pick it
up to make it feel safe and stop it from crying, but your
partner may have approach it differently. Your beau may
want to just brush it off saying, "Get up now, you will be
okay." At such times, remember each one reacts differently. While one of you is more caring, the other might
take a firm stand in such a situation. Both of you have to
give each other the freedom to express yourself freely
since both think independently.
Taking illness seriously
In most cases, even when it is just a common cold and
cough, one partner will want to wait and see while the
other will be on tenterhooks, eager to pick up the phone
and take the next available appointment with the paediatrician. In such situations, a balanced and well-thought
approach helps, so while you should never ignore an
intuition regarding your child's health as a parent, don't
go overboard by going around taking second and third
opinions from various doctors if it isn't serious.
Sex becomes a distant memory
According to experts it takes almost a year for the couple to get back to having an active sex life after a baby.
While men are eager to resume it as soon as they can,
for women it takes a lot more time after delivery. Since
both are sharing responsibilities, are deprived of sleep,
lack energy, being intimate physically gets difficult. At
such times, your partner needs to understand the discomfort and handle the situation very sensitively. The
best way is to communicate with each other with patience and handle it all with a sense of humour. Both
should be willing to understand each other and probably
find new ways of expressing physical affection until both
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