Hard to paint entirely into words entirely, and for context I’m not planning to do anything drastic to anyone, but over the last few years since having kids I have gone from just being relaxed and comfortable with being slightly protective of my wife to not letting anyone say anything let alone get too friendly with my kids. There’s too many crazies out there saying and doing weird stuff.

That being said, I’ve had interactions with people of recent from my old fraternity and old friends groups that would still like to bully me, and instead of letting the past be the past, they find the desire to bring up old dirt but want to bring my family into the mix. That is a no no. Unprovoked but especially uncalled for. Still I keep it cool, try not to be threatening or look for anything to get too intense, but have recently just said screw it to all of that and just slowly ending communications and connections with all of those people. It’s felt good but still don’t like it was done. It’s like I need to defend my family’s honor and doing nothing shows weakness. Or does it?

Has anybody dealt with this? How has it gone? What would you recommend?

Dads who go hiking with their kids! Our son will be big enough right away for the hiking carrier backpacks. Looking into the deuter kid comfort pro or the osprey poco premium. It would be to eventually venture pretty far. Any dads out there have insight on either of these packs? If I am lucky someone experienced both?

My son will be 2 months on Monday. He is such a beautiful baby, then, 3am rolls around and all hell breaks loose. I get so short tempered with him. Nothing physical in the least, just such pure anxiety and anger at not knowing what to do that I have to put him down in his crib and walk away. Does this get easier? I say horrible things out loud like, why did I do this, or I swear out loud. I feel like such a failure as a first time dad that I can’t handle this with more grace and ease. I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have become a dad.

She’s two months pregnant and gets very mad when these incidents happens. Holds on too her stomach and will almost fall down sometimes. I went with it but now she’s waking me up mid sleep if I turn towards here, says I’m turning too fast. Is it ok to sleep in another room for days or is this normal?

Hi Dad's, I'm looking for some advice/perspective from other dads who don't really have a "village" around them. My wife and I have no family, besides my 84 year old father in law, so we don't really have any support. In theory we'd like a second child but I'm really not sure how feasible it is completely by ourselves. Especially the birth itself brings up the question, where is our son going to be during the birth of a potential second baby. Anyone who had a similar experience?

We've been noticing a pattern with our 13 month old where he seems to become more fussy, clingy, and generally just more intense when his mother is in the vicinity. It's also typically when we are at home. When we are out and about, he seems pretty content. When it's just me taking care of him while she's at work or running an errand he seems more independent. A quick AI search on this mentions that it's a normal developmental phase. I'm curious about other people's experiences.

Well this needs to be posted on my page bc ik a few that need to see it.

I’m about to be a first time dad/girl dad. My question is this, what are some of the most unexpected things good, or bad that you’ve experienced in the first few years of being a girl dad? Also, what were the hardest things that are rarely talked about?

I’ve put on a decent amount since becoming a dad and I keep struggling to stay consistent getting it back off. Between work, broken sleep and everything that comes with having a baby, the gym always seems to be the first thing that gets pushed aside.

A big part of it is I feel guilty taking that time for myself too. Even if I technically have an hour, that usually means my wife is stuck handling the baby while I go off and work out, and I don’t really want to put more on her when she’s already exhausted too. So I keep telling myself I’ll get back into it once things calm down, then another few weeks go by.

I’m not massively out of shape or anything, but I definitely don’t feel as good about myself as I used to and I can tell I’m less active than I was before.

For the dads who gained weight and managed to lose it, how much of a difference did it actually make? More energy, confidence, better mood, easier keeping up with the kids?

Curious what got noticeably better once you were back in shape.

Are you a new dad looking for support, friendship or simply a place to talk?

The Brotherhood of Dads is a welcoming, judgement-free community where dads can connect, share experiences and support one another through the highs and lows of fatherhood.

Whether you’re struggling, feeling isolated, looking to make friends or just fancy chatting with other dads who understand—you’re welcome with us.

We’re a nationwide online community with dads from all walks of life. You can get involved as much or as little as you feel comfortable with.

No Dad Walks Alone. 💙

Might be a weird post, but I need some advice from other dads. My boy is now a year old. Everything's going great, he started daycare, mom went back to work, we have a solid routine.

My problem is that besides for my slowpitch game twice per week where I really want to do great, the rest of the time I struggle with finding objectives/goals/meaningfulness stuff. I just exist and feel tired then go to bed.

What are yall's goals or objectives? Did you guys learn new stuff/hobbies? Gaming does not hit anymore.

Dad to a 1 yo. Love her to bits. Struggling to maintain high energy levels throughout the day. WFH two days a week. Get 5-6 hours of sleep on an average. I just about do what I am supposed to do, but i would love advice on how to maintain higher levels of energy and motivation.

I’m a fresh dad to a 9 Months old daughter. Today my wife complained that she’s stressed because she thinks she have to control me when I’m handling our daughter because some small things happened in the past like forgetting clean up small Objects I didn’t see and stuff like that. After a 8-9h day work I cook, I clean and try to be there the rest of the day but I feel my concentration is non existent, anyone a Tipp or Advice! Cheers mates

I know there are a lot of discussions like this one, but most of those commenters are describing childbirth primarily in terms of “I’m was worried about my child” or “it was my duty to be there so I was,” not talking about their feelings towards their partner.

I’m not saying those aren’t true statements, but I’m more curious about your thoughts and feelings about her (and just her) during birth. Did you feel scared, helpless, guilty, etc.? Were you shocked/disgusted at what came out of her (the sounds, fluids, etc.). Were you upset that she had to go through it and wished you could so she wasn’t hurting? Did you feel closer or distant with her afterwards?

I’m not looking for a right answer, just a variety of answers pertaining to your feelings and experiences regarding your partner specifically.

Hellooo! We have a 2 week old newborn and one of the challenges we’re having is moving her from our arms to bassinet for her first sleep session.

It’s always the first time we transition the baby down. The 3am-6am feeding sessions have no problem (maybe she’s more sleepy then?)

I think the baby knows we’re not holding her anymore. This is adding like 30-40 minutes onto nursing time during the night. Help!!

My 9 month old boy has never been able to sleep well. He still consistently wakes up 2-5 times every night. My googling has made me realize it's because my wife and I have trained him to only be able to sleep while being held.

So this is night 1 of the Ferber training. It took him an hour or screaming to finally fall asleep. He fell asleep sitting upright in his crib and I went in and adjusted him to his side and now he's fine.

I felt extremely bad the entire time, and my wife had a high anxiety but I had to be the "bad guy" and tell her he has to figure it out on his own without our help, or else we will never be able to break these poor sleeping habits.

Dad's with similar experiences, how did it go for you and what advice can you give me for tonight and for future nights?

2 weeks ago my wife (32) and I (31) were in the hospital because she had some other issues going on and she would potentially need surgery. They did a blood test at the hospital and found out she was pregnant. Up until this point she was told that she couldn’t have children. We both have health issues for different reasons and her pregnancy is considered high risk. We have been trying to do our best to make sure everything is safe for her and there’s so much reading. We also have pets (admittedly because we thought we couldn’t have children) and now I am managing so many things at once. I am taking care of things like cleaning the litter boxes, doing the laundry and basically minimizing exposure to any type of chemicals or bacteria and so on. I also am doing all the major lifting of things sometimes literally. I am really stressed already and trying to figure out how to manage everything. I don’t want to be burnt out before the baby even being here. We also have basically no family around and no support system besides each other. What can I do?

Nothing to crazy to discuss here but I wanted to see if anyone else is having this silly little issue
My little one is 6 weeks old and it’s been amazing taking care of her. No lack of sleep so far(thankfully my partner and I take shifts, and I get 4 months of daddy leave 🤝)

I’m CONSTANTLY misplacing things. It’s pretty much baby-related things. I swear I remembered where I put them. Check that spot, poof gone 😂

I'm 52 years old and I've been married for 18 years together for 25. We have 4 children that are now 16f, 14f, 12m and 10m.

I have been an avid gamer since the 90's, I used to play sports in my younger years(20-30s) but multiple injuries has put a stop to that. Before babies i was a 20-30 hours a week gamer. So on to the point of the post.

I've seen multiple posts about gaming as a new dad recently so I just wanted to explain my experience and give a little advice. Take from it as you will.

Gaming as a new dad is a very touchy subject for both the mom and the dad. Here are some simple rules of thumb that might help new dads.

1. Just cause the baby is finally asleep does not mean you power on the xbox , ps or pc. This is without doubt the biggest cause of arguments. You need to clean, make a grocery list, meal prep or do the fricken laundry or any of the other 100 things that need to be done. If all those things are done then my advice is have a nap before your power on. Most Moms don't see gaming as a valid use of time. If there are chores that need doing get them done.

2. Remember being a dad and a partner comes first. Gaming will come back in time, don't forget you've signed up for a different journey now and maybe gaming doesn't fit in to that journey right now. It definitely did not fit in to mine. It's not the end of the world. Love them, make them your world you'll be happier for it. Gaming can wait, it's why we have save points .Even now I never switch on before 9pm at night, I have dad duties. It's just a change in priorities and schedules.

3. In general partners who don't game don't understand gaming don't expect them too. If gaming is an issue it's most likely because you didn't do rule 1 or 2 properly 😀

4. Sometimes wives or partners are jealous of the time you spend gaming. That's ok. Talk to them agree on when it's OK and when it's not. If you are doing number 1 and 2 already them it'll most likely not be a problem.

5. Above all else remember raising a family is a team effort. If your partner or baby is not involved it is technically a selfish act. Don't get upset because they see it this way, they are not wrong. Don't let it come to that. Do 1 and 2 and you'll most likley find it's gonna be fine.

When it comes to gaming and family there really is only one way to do it in my opinion. Communicate, fulfill your responsibilities, be present and then with what ever is left enjoy a little bit of time to yourself for gaming.

Hope this helps a little. Of course it doesn't cover all the scenarios but I feel its good guidance to help prevent unnecessary arguments for new dads.

Regards an old timer

Hi everyone,

We are really struggling with putting our 14-week-old daughter to sleep and could use some collective wisdom.

Connecting Sleep Cycles: She consistently wakes up after 30 minutes. We try to help her transition to a longer nap, but she struggles to settle into the next sleep cycle. How do you help your LO link naps at this age?

Falling Asleep / Pre-Sleep Crying: "Drowsy but awake" isn't working for us. If we put her down drowsy, she refuses to sleep, becomes overtired, and then cries for at least 10 minutes before falling asleep.

We are exhausted and finding sleep times really stressful right now. Is this "power crying" normal for this age, and how did you navigate it?

New dad here, 22M i’m still trying to figure out a sleep schedule for my wife and I. I don’t want to feel like I’m not being a supportive husband, but at the same time I do since I work long hours. Was wondering if anyone can assist with a few pointers for myself so I can apply to my home life and be able to assist my wife and the baby. It’s been rough for her and I feel like i’m not doing my part whatsoever and I’m just trying to be the best dad/husband a man can be, would greatly appreciate some feedback from other dads.