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Since this is Father’s Day, I’d like to take a minute to honor the dads out there. You guys ROCK being a daddy. You’re incredible!
We appreciate your love, your support… even the weird bonding thing you do with the kids which doesn’t really make sense but totally works. (It’s Star Wars for my family. I’d happily go my entire life without watching it; but since hubby and the kids bonded over their love for Darth Vader, those movies play all too often.)
Even though sometimes they have questionable tastes in movies (lookin’ at you, hubby), dads are amazing and indispensable.
Yet it seems like we forget to mention fathers when it comes to breastfeeding. If you Google dads and breastfeeding, most of what you find will be articles telling guys why and how they should support moms as they breastfeed. No one really talks about how breastfeeding pays off for the father.
So here it is, you guys! Here’s what’s in it for the dads:
Healthier baby
It’s been shown over and over that babies who breastfeed are healthier. They get sick less often and are less likely to catch Whatsgoingaround.
This means less time spent worrying about a sick infant. There won’t be as many sleepless nights of staying up with a feverish, vomiting baby. It also means missing fewer days of work because you can’t send a contagious kid to daycare.
Another bonus to having a healthier baby is that there are fewer germs to be spread to dear old daddy!
Healthier partner in the long run
What man doesn’t dream of watching his lover age with heart disease, diabetes, maybe a little cancer thrown in for adventure? What, that’s no one’s dream?
Of course not! We all want to see those we love grow older in the pink of health.
Breastfeeding is so good for mothers! It drastically reduces their risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
For the dad, this means the love of his life will have many vibrant years to have fun and grow old with him. There’s security in that.
Lower cost
Men are uniquely designed to worry about providing for their loved ones. For thousands of years, it’s been their role to support their families, and (with few exceptions) that instinct is still strong. Even if they’re not the primary breadwinner, dads still like to see a little wiggle room in the family’s finances.
Baby formula will cost about $1000 – $1200 for the first year (based on my own experience) and that doesn’t include bottles, nipples, special filters or filtered water, bottle sterilizers, bottle warmers, etc etc.
Breastfeeding is free. Of course, there are products that make breastfeeding much easier; but even if you buy them all, you’re still probably spending less than $500.
This low cost is a relief for many parents, especially the dads who take pride in giving their wallets some breathing room.
More flexibility
When you can just pick up and go without having to worry about carrying plenty of formula, bottles, etc… you are FREE!
Who wants to have to stop whatever you’re doing to find a source of water that’s clean AND warm, unpack the gear, mix a bottle, hope you did it right, (wait, I forgot to wash my hands! gotta make a new bottle…)
With breastfeeding, all you have to do is move mom’s shirt out of the way, and there you have it. Way easy!
The best part is no cleanup – and no finding any forgotten bottles of curdled awfulness in your car.
Less stress
When everyone is pretty healthy and money is being saved, moms tend to relax a bit.
When everyone is pretty healthy, money is being saved, and mom is relaxed, dads tend to relax a bit. I can’t prove this scientifically, but that’s how it works in our house.
There’s peace in knowing:
- You’re doing all you can for your family.
- You’re not spending money you don’t have to spend.
- You have the freedom to just pick up and go without packing half the kitchen!
Your lady has bigger boobs
Yeah, I said it.
Most guys are going to appreciate the extra real estate in the bra area. Even if they’re not a “boob guy.” Men are fascinated with expanding breasts.
I’m going to chalk that up to biology. 🙂
Breastfeeding benefits dads in MANY ways!
When you consider that dads are going to have more flexibility, less stress, a healthier child, more money, and a healthier partner who happens to have bigger breasts, you can see that men gain a lot from having breastfed babies. What guy could say no to that?
Unfortunately, these benefits aren’t often laid out for our men the way they should be.
Instead of insisting they support breastfeeding mothers, it’s time we started telling them exactly WHY this is going to pay off. Let’s stop leaving dads out of the picture!
Can you think of more advantages that I come up with? Please comment and share them!
