We’re delighted to say that our newest book, You’re Going To Be a Dad is now LIVE!
Its been a journey of many many months, over 50 dad interviews, and several rounds of edits, proofing and much more. In this piece we wanted to let you in behind the scenes, exploring our motivations in writing it and why we hope it’ll make a difference to dads up and down the country.
Why dads need a different type of pregnancy book
The pandemic affected us and our families all in different ways. For us, it became clear through our community that dads-to-be were experiencing very different pregnancies with their partners than at any time before.
Whether it was a lack of access to scans, absence from significant parts of the delivery or a lack of access to family and wider physical support, the impact of Covid at both a physical and mental level was an important trigger for us to start to look at what kind of solution dads really needed.
When we explored more pregnancy books for dads, what became clear, and surprising, was just how many books were still treating dads as anything but the equal parents they want to be. Too many were still saying things like ‘just don’t forget to put the beers away’ and covering very surface level information only in about 100-200 pages.
What makes this book different?
From the past 5 years of writing on DaddiLife, we know that dad’s go through a huge amount of challenges and tensions themselves. And whether that’s initial nerves and anxiety, their own personal fears throughout the pregnancy, or the post-partum struggles once the baby is here, there are a number of roller coaster moments that really matter for dads. And we know dads don’t always voice those concerns, as they want to be the best partner they can be and sometimes feel staying silent is better all-round.
This book is about breaking through those challenges, and providing solutions not just from one dad’s perspective, but multiple dads, from multiple backgrounds and family set ups that mean that ultimately mother, baby and father can go on this journey together.
There’s three things we’ve been really focussed on making sure happens in this book
As Matt from Bunch of Dad’s put it:
This book is great for dad's not knowing what is going on, or the best way to help their significant other. Some dads don’t have parents to teach them or help them in the process of becoming parents.
Our hopes for the book
It conveys the real ups and downs of the pregnancy journey from a dad's perspective, and just as importantly provides the real and diverse range of solutions at every step of the way. This book breaks free of the stereotypical writing that tends to pigeon hole a father's role, and is fresh and innovative representation of how modern day fatherhood can be so much more than a one sizes fits all
Sean O'sullivan
The Royal College of Midwives
Dad’s want to be equal parents, and this book treats them that way - giving them the information they want across the science, the emotional ups and downs, and a sense of togetherness with other dads. More than anything we hope it’s a useful book that dads can benefit from, and that sets up the type of dad they want to be.
I wanted to give a special thanks to Jonathan and Keith in the DaddiLife team for their editing, Em and Jon for their amazing graphics and illustrations, to all the dad’s who’ve been part of the interviewing and offering such incredibly diverse insights.
You can get your copy from Amazon here.
