http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1642676.stm

This reports the long-term benefits for fathers who bath their babies 
- children who did not get bathed by dad were *10 times more likely* 
to have problems compared to the ones who were bathed 3-4 times a 
week.

Of course, part of this is the fact that bathing your kids is a proxy 
for involved, present, caring fatherhood, but the researchers point 
out how useful bathtime is for  this:  "The function of the father is 
to introduce the child to the social world beyond the mother, through 
assuming some of the early caregiving duties and increasingly via 
playful and joyful stimulation of the child's interest. Bath time is 
an obvious place for this stimulation in dad's busy life."

I will use this in classes when parents raise the topic of 
breastfeeding meaning 'dad can't bond' or when mothers ask how soon 
they can start expressing milk 'so my partner can bond with the baby'.

I thought it was useful that they place a number on the bathing - 3-4 
times a week is manageable for most fathers, even if they work long 
hours.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK.

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