Bringing Baby Home, our review of empirical evidence about UK fathers and fatherhood in the first postnatal year, explores who dads are; what they do as caregivers, and what influences this; what impact they have (on children and mothers); and how services engage with them.
Jeremy Davies writes (this blog first appeared on Huffington Post UK):
OK, we get it. Maternity services: the clue’s in the name.
The problem
23% of 3-year-olds are overweight or obese (Hawkins et al, 2009), rising to one third of 11-13 year olds, one in six of whom have high blood pressure, and one in ten, high cholesterol (Brophy et al, 2012)
The Father Factor – the early years
95% of parents are in a couple relationship or describe themselves as ‘good friends’ at the time of the birth (Kiernan & Smith, 2003)
Fathers have substantial impact on pregnant women’s nutrition (Clift-Matthews, 2009)
Fathers gain weight during pregnancy, mainly due to lifestyle factors (Onepoll, 2009)
Fathers have substantial impact on whether babies are breastfed, and breastfed babies are less likely to be obese later (Armstrong et al, 2002)
Toddlers’ activity levels are linked with their father’s (but not their mother’s) BMI (Sallis et al, 1988).
The Fatherhood Institute has produced two new resources for the Institute of Health Visiting, to help their members improve the service they provide to families with young children.
An evaluation of father-inclusiveness training for health visitors and community practitioners has found significant improvements in knowledge and attitudes, and changes in practice, among course participants.
Men are not ‘biologically’ less suited to caring for children than women:
• when similarly supported, both sexes develop childcare skills at the same rate (Myers, 1982)
• through what they learn they can have similarly positive effects on their children and on family functioning (Cia et al, 2010; Melnyk et al, 2006;.