How Husband Should Treat His Wife During Pregnancy?

How Husband Should Treat His Wife During Pregnancy

  • Encourage and reassure her.
  • Ask her what she needs from you.
  • Show affection. Hold hands and give hugs.
  • Help her make changes to her lifestyle.
  • Try to eat healthy foods, which can help her eat well.
  • Encourage her to take breaks and naps.
  • Some women may want less sex.
  • Take walks together.

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Contents

How should my husband behave during pregnancy?

Talk and Share – Open communication is where it’s at when it comes to partner support. You want your partner to feel like they can share whatever is on their mind, even the hard stuff. Pregnancy can bring up all kinds of emotions, it can trigger painful memories, and it can unleash feelings of self-doubt and fear.
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How does a pregnant woman affect a man?

How Husband Should Treat His Wife During Pregnancy Credit: Tom Merton Getty Images Sign up for Scientific American ’s free newsletters. ” data-newsletterpromo_article-image=”https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/4641809D-B8F1-41A3-9E5A87C21ADB2FD8_source.png” data-newsletterpromo_article-button-text=”Sign Up” data-newsletterpromo_article-button-link=”https://www.scientificamerican.com/page/newsletter-sign-up/?origincode=2018_sciam_ArticlePromo_NewsletterSignUp” name=”articleBody” itemprop=”articleBody”> Katherine E. Wynne-Edwards is a professor of biology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, who studies hormonal changes in expectant fathers and hormone-behavior interactions in other animal models. She offers the following explanation: When pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, weight gain, mood swings and bloating occur in men, the condition is called couvade, or sympathetic pregnancy. Depending on the human culture, couvade can also encompass ritualized behavior by the father during the labor and delivery of his child. Couvade has a long anecdotal history and is named from the French verb couver, which translates as ¿to hatch¿ or “to brood.” The phenomenon has received attention from biologists only quite recently, however. Estimates of the frequency of couvade are hard to obtain because of the low rate of reporting symptoms. For example, a research team led by Anne Storey of Memorial University in Newfoundland found that when wives were asked about their husband’s experiences a higher incidence of couvade was reported than when the husbands answered the same questions at the same time. Across a wide range of studies-and an equally wide range of definitions of what constitutes couvade-estimates of the frequency in modern Western populations range from under 20 percent to more than 80 percent of expectant fathers. Society and health professionals all show a lot of interest in a pregnant woman. She is encouraged to talk about any symptoms of her pregnancy, even common ones she is not experiencing. At home, the conversation can range from frustrated incapacitation as a result of her symptoms to boundless joy in anticipation of a child. Thus, it is not surprising that a large number of mental health professionals have considered a range of hypotheses-from jealousy about a man’s inability to carry a child to guilt over having caused this transformation in his partner to selfish attention seeking-as the root causes of couvade. Of course, there are other obvious origins for at least some of the symptoms. For example, if the pregnant wife does much of the shopping and cooking, her cravings, as well as the increasing food intake she needs during pregnancy, are quite likely to result in weight gain for her husband as well as associated symptoms of heartburn and indigestion. There are also studies suggesting that men who have deep empathy toward their pregnant partner and are prone to couvade symptoms end up with strong attachments to their child. If this is the case, then the symptoms might either stimulate, or result from, underlying biological processes that are involved in social attachment. In recent years animal models of social monogamy (defined as a strong social preference for a single partner), such as prairie voles, have contributed a great deal to our understanding of the neurobiology of love and attachment. Neuropeptides, including oxytocin and vasopressin, are now known to play important roles in the formation and maintenance of strong pair bonds. Mammalian parental behavior involves the formation of a strong social bond to the infant and also engages hormonally stimulated neural circuits. Parental behavior, however, currently appears to depend on sex steroid hormones and prolactin more than on oxytocin and vasopressin. In addition, there is hormonal data from nonhuman primates and naturally paternal rodents-including California mice and dwarf hamsters-that indicates a positive association between the expression of paternal behavior and increases or decreases in prolactin, estradiol, testosterone, progesterone and cortisol concentrations. For example, male mice that lack a gene for the progesterone receptor are not infanticidal toward unrelated pups and, instead, retrieve and huddle over them. Unfortunately, few experiments have established causal relationships between hormonal changes and the behavior. The situation is similar with respect to our understanding of the hormonal experiences associated with fatherhood in men. Since 2000, several studies have reported hormonal differences between expectant fathers, men in committed relationships and men who are single. There is no doubt that testosterone concentration is lower in the men in relationships, but it is unclear whether men have a decrease in testosterone after the relationship begins or whether men with lower testosterone are more likely to enter into stable relationships. Similarly, there are hormone changes associated with fatherhood. Prolactin is highest in men in the weeks just before the birth, testosterone is lowest in the days immediately after the birth, estradiol levels increase from before to after the birth, and cortisol peaks during the labor and delivery (although it remains an order of magnitude below the hormonal experience of the laboring mother). Alison Fleming of the University of Toronto and her colleagues have shown that maternal cortisol is linked to social bonding with the infant and to postpartum depression, whereas Storey has shown that paternal prolactin is positively associated with the self-reporting of couvade symptoms and powerful emotional responses to infant stimuli. Hormone changes in expectant fathers therefore involve the same hormones that are changing in an expectant mother. They are also the same hormones that are implicated in animal models of parental behavior. In addition, it is known that men are not reflecting a “muted” version of the hormonal experiences of their partner: Within couples, day-to-day hormone status is not correlated during pregnancy or after the birth. Unfortunately, these data remain correlations, and the exact role of hormones in facilitating paternal behavior or causing couvade symptoms in expectant fathers remains unknown. It is certainly tempting to look to hormones for the biological root of couvade symptoms, but caution is needed. Other events also happen around a pregnancy, especially the birth of a first child, and could independently affect hormone concentrations. Changes in sexual activity, shifts in the social priorities of the couple, time off work, or the arrival of a mother-in-law for a potentially stressful extended visit are obvious candidates. Of course, even if the stimuli causing the hormonal changes are not the result of an approaching birth the hormone changes might produce couvade symptoms and/or facilitate a father’s social bond with his child. Either way, this kind of research has quietly expanded the horizons for research on hormones in men-testosterone alone is clearly no longer the sum of the man.
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Does pregnancy affect marriage?

Your relationship with your partner – Pregnancy will bring about big changes to your relationship, especially if this is your first baby. Some people cope with these changes easily, while others find it harder. It’s quite common for couples to have arguments every now and then during pregnancy.

Talk to each other about how you feel about being pregnant and what’s to come — the positives and negatives. Try to talk in a way that explains your views rather than blames your partner. Talk about your hopes and dreams for your family and what rituals and traditions are important. Talk about your individual parenting styles. If your styles turn out to be different, you might need to work on solving problems together with negotiation and compromise. Be open and honest about your sexual needs,

There are also practical ways you can help to manage the impact of pregnancy on your relationship:

Go to antenatal classes together. Consider getting some help with managing your money if you’re worried about the cost of having a baby. Talk about practicalities, such as how you’ll make time for yourself and time for your partner and how you’ll share household tasks now and after the baby is born.

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Does pregnant woman get angry easily?

Difficult or complicated reactions to pregnancy – If your partner is pregnant, you might feel some stress, worry, pressure, frustration or confusion, This can happen for several reasons. For example, you could be juggling preparations for your baby’s arrival, money, work demands and more.

Or you might feel unprepared for caring for a newborn. It’s also natural to feel worried about losing time for yourself and your partner. Pregnancy can lead to stronger emotions too, These might include fear, anger, anxiety and depression, You could be experiencing these emotions for the first time. Or things that usually don’t upset you now do – for example, pressure at work.

Feelings like frustration and anger are common. What matters is how you respond to them.
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Why am I so angry at my partner during pregnancy?

Is It Normal to Feel Angry During Pregnancy? – Some women experience irritability and even anger during pregnancy. Hormone changes are one reason for these mood swings. Just like some women experience irritability just before their period arrives every month, these same women may struggle with feelings of frustration and anger during pregnancy.

Additionally, when you aren’t feeling well, your ability to stay calm and collected is lower. As a result, pregnancy fatigue and physical discomfort is a big contributor to pregnancy anger. Keeping your temper under control when you feel constantly tired is challenging. Then, there are some women who may have feelings of resentment during pregnancy because of their life situation.

Maybe their finances aren’t where they want them to be, maybe they are facing stress on the job, or maybe they didn’t truly want to be pregnant. Perhaps their partner pressured them into having another baby when they weren’t ready, or maybe the pregnancy wasn’t planned.

  • While occasional feelings of frustration are normal, it’s important not to ignore anger if it’s frequent or interfering with your ability to cope with daily life.
  • Some research has found that anger during pregnancy may impact the unborn child.
  • One study found that prenatal anger was associated with reduced fetal growth rate.

Also, if your anger is rooted in not wanting the pregnancy, getting therapy before the baby arrives is essential. Otherwise, early bonding between you and your infant may be negatively impacted. Bonding between a mother and child isn’t just about emotional health, but also affects the child’s physical well-being.
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Why is my wife so emotional during pregnancy?

First trimester – Every woman is different, so some women may have crying spells throughout their entire pregnancy, whereas others only cry during the first trimester, First trimester crying isn’t unusual, considering this is when a change in hormone secretion takes place.
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Do couples argue more during pregnancy?

Your relationship with your partner – Pregnancy will bring about big changes to your relationship, especially if this is your first baby. Some people cope with these changes easily, while others find it harder. It’s quite common for couples to have arguments every now and then during pregnancy.

Talk to each other about how you feel about being pregnant and what’s to come — the positives and negatives. Try to talk in a way that explains your views rather than blames your partner. Talk about your hopes and dreams for your family and what rituals and traditions are important. Talk about your individual parenting styles. If your styles turn out to be different, you might need to work on solving problems together with negotiation and compromise. Be open and honest about your sexual needs,

There are also practical ways you can help to manage the impact of pregnancy on your relationship:

Go to antenatal classes together. Consider getting some help with managing your money if you’re worried about the cost of having a baby. Talk about practicalities, such as how you’ll make time for yourself and time for your partner and how you’ll share household tasks now and after the baby is born.

View complete answer