For the people out there wondering how much time is enough time off from work to be with your newborn there isn’t enough time out there. I took a week of Paid Time Off when my son was born and because he was in the hospital I went back to work after. I then took an additional three weeks of FMLA (unpaid) to help my wife adjust to life with a newborn at home. It was definitely worth it and I really wish I could spend more time at home with both of them. I really want to be a stay at home dad but right now since the wife hasn’t been working for a while because being on bedrest I have to be the bread winner.

There are some dads out there that I asked on how much time off work they have taken off and the rough amount of time I get is usually a week or so. I think some dads just get bored and want to go to work and not be at home watching mom breastfeed the kid and feel hopeless and not being able to help for those late night feeds. My wife on the other hand tried breastfeeding but she never produced more that an ounce of milk every pump and then the baby would be even hungrier than before. So she just said “fuck this shit I’m tired , he’s hungry. Fuck this” and we went to formula and bottles. He had a hard time latching on because while in NICU she was only able to breastfeed him about two times the whole month and a half he was in there. So most likely he preferred the bottle nipple opposed to the real one. So I was able to feed him late at night and we are able to take shifts throughout the night. Most dads also said that the babies are boring at that stage, I think that’s completely false. It’s the best time for the baby to get use to your smell, your voice, your overall presence and having both parents in the moment with him puts him at ease. I loved spending the afternoons watching a movie with him asleep on my chest and being there when he wakes up from one of his naps and just opens his eyes and stares at me for minutes on end.

Now some people are different, some want to wait for when the baby shows more of a reaction when talked to, to take time off. I’m not here to say you dads out there taking a week off because a baby is boring during the first few months are wrong. Some people may not be able to afford to take a really long periods of time off work because they need a paycheck to come through and have bills to pay and not live with family like me and the wife do. If you can though I do suggest you take the full amount of time off if possible. Yeah your boss might give you a hard time but seriously being for the early stages I believe are just as important. You learn a lot of what the stay at home parent will be going through day to day. You’ll have a bigger appreciation for the little things. You learn not everything will be perfect and messes pile up around the house and you just have to get them done when you can.

Going to back to work for me will be the hardest but I got to keep reminding myself that it’s all for my little family!