Dads Are Important

Dad, it’s never too early for you to get involved with your baby. You have an important role to play in your baby’s life. She wants to play with you and learn from you. Showing your baby that you care about her will help her. It will make taking care of her more fun for you and her mom.

Babies learn from all the adults around them. It’s good for your baby to have someone besides her mom to learn from.


Taking care of your baby is important and can be fun. Be very gentle when you play with your baby. Use a calm voice.

If you do these things for your baby, she will reward you with smiles, happy sounds and love. She will smile when she sees you, and she will reach for you when she wants to play. The bond you make now with your child will last a lifetime.

You and your baby’s mom can learn more about how to care for your baby. Look in the Yellow Pages of your phone book. There may be a “community service” section near the front of the book. Look under “support groups” for parenting help.

Here are some things you can do with your baby:

• You can hold her.
• You can talk to her.
• You can sing to her.
• You can show her toys.
• You can bathe her and dress her.
• You can comfort her when she’s fussy.
• You can help teach her how to talk.
• You can take her to child care.
• You can take her to health checkups.
• You can help feed the baby. If your baby’s mom is breastfeeding she can pump some of her milk into bottles, and you can give this breast milk to your baby. As your baby learns to eat solid food, you can feed her with a spoon.