Question

What role and responsibility does a father has in a pregnancy. Should there be concerns about teratogens for the father as well? For example, consider second-hand smoking.

Answer 1

The roles and responsibilities of father during pregnancy:

Be emotionally prepared: It is very important for fathers and for mothers to be emotionally ready when they are going to have a baby. It is important that the father reads about all the information about babies, pregnancy promlems, post delivery scenarios, so that the father is ready for everything that might come his way. The father should make sure that he accompanies his wife for all her doctor appointments, buying things for babies, deciding upon the name of the baby etc. The more involved the father will be in the process better it would be to accept the change.  

Work in coordination: Having a baby is a good time to re-evaluate the division of labour in the household when the baby comes. The husband should take initiative in helping his wife with all the yoga classes, pregnancy appointments etc. The husband should talk to their wives about how things will change and discuss about how the husband and wife coordinate together to meet those expectations.

Explore the work policies: The husband should explore the work policies for paternity leaves. how long will be the paternity leave? Are there any other benefits that the office provides to fathers who are going to have a child? what are the policies regarding pre natal visits.

Keep your family healthy: It's important that the husband takes a good care of his wife and would be child. He should cook healthy meals for his wife and encourage wife to go for walks, exercise etc as per doctor's recommandation.

Teratogens like alcohol, second hand smoking etc for the fathers is not a big concern considering that the father does not have a blood connection with pregnancy so any chemical or medication that is in his blood will not effect the developing baby. Substances that the father gets exposed to while the mother is pregnant may be present in his blood or semen in small amout but sexual intercourse during pregnancy does not rise any birth defects in the child.