Your relationship is the reason your baby ever arrived and is the foundation of your family, so be sure to nurture it, too.
Now that baby makes three months, your relationship has had a major shift in dynamics while you both adjust to parenthood. Spontaneous nights out and lazy lie-ins may be on hold for a while, but many people find that becoming parents brings them closer than ever before.
While your new baby will take up lots of your time and brain power, it’s important to focus on yourselves as a couple, too, as your relationship is the key to your happy family life. In the early weeks and months, your conversations need to feature your baby pretty heavily, and that can be very enjoyable and absorbing but can mean that other issues or just having fun get put aside.
Six months or so down the line after having your baby the early-days haze starts to clear, you look at your partner for the first time in what feels like ages and realize that the most meaningful conversation you’ve had for months is about who is the most tired.
Your lives have evolved and you both have different needs and priorities. Even when it’s positive, change involves some level of stress and a period of adjustment as you both get used to your new roles. If you add fatigue, hormones, and less time into the equation, it’s no surprise that many relationships have bumps at this time.
Research shows a high number of couples separate in the first year after having a baby, so you need to put in some effort to make sure this doesn’t happen to you. You may see yourself in a new way and new aspects of your personality may come out that will have an impact on how you both get along.
Some new fathers express that although they love being a parent, they feel sidelined in the early months, especially if they return to work full time. A distance can grow between couples since whoever is at home meets new people, has different topics of conversation, and there is less time to share the interests you both had. Some mothers feel isolated at home, and become frustrated with the domestic treadmill and grow envious as their partner heads off to work; and the partner going to work may well envy the stay-at-home life.
