Bridging the skills gap with DH

[songbird54]

My DH is the most doting father and DS adores him! But DH has been on a jolly conference a couple of times lately and has been very busy at work, so they've not spent as much time together as usual.

DS is 14 weeks old and changing lots at the moment, so lots of things about our daily routine are different to how they were 4 weeks ago. Yesterday was our first proper day off as a family for a few weeks and DH was a bit frustrated that he is suddenly a bit out of touch with the toys DS likes, and small things like DS not going down unless I put him to bed, new patterns of activity in the mornings etc.

I'm thinking this must happen lots with many dads being out at work for long hours etc, any tips for how to bring them up to speed without lots of incessant nagging/rows over doing things wrong??

Let him do it his way - the baby is 14 weeks - does it matter if it's not done to your exacting standards

Just leave him to it and let him find his own way - which may well be different from yours. Don't nag or start rows, assuming he is not a complete numpty or arsehole, he'll figure out what works and what doesn't and DS won't spontaneously combust if Dad gets something wrong :) He has to make mistakes just like you probably have too. If you can relax about the fact you might have slightly different approaches now, it's going to be much easier in the long run, and it's not a bad thing for you to approach issues in differing ways as it's a good model that there's not one right way to do anything.

at 14 weeks how much preference for toys is your DS really going to have and how "wrong" can he get it? I agree with pp -step back a bit, let him have his time with the child. If he asks, you can say oh well he seems to like going down at x, or whatever. My SIL has this as her DH is away for months at a time and she can be a bit of a control freak so she has to force herself to literally go out of the room to let them get reacquainted each time without her getting involved, especially when things like weaning / cruising happen.

My DH just asks me what's changed? I run down her usual routine, but chatting over our day each night covers a lot too.