From about four months the baby becomes recognisably a person and the daily grind eases. What tends to get harder is everything around it — the relationship, the money, your friendships and your sense of who you are. That shift is the normal shape of the first year, not a sign something's gone wrong.
DadPrep editorial · Updated 29 July 2026
What changes
Sleep improves, then breaks again around four months, then improves again. This is developmental, not a failure of your routine.
Solids start somewhere around six months on most current guidance — messy, slow, and not really about nutrition at first.
The baby starts preferring people. Being one of the preferred ones is earned through hours, not biology.
What gets harder
Relationship satisfaction commonly drops in the first years after a baby — the widely cited Gottman figure is around two thirds of couples. See the roommate phase.
Boundaries with family come to a head once the newborn shield wears off. See in-laws and boundaries.
Going back to work brings a guilt most dads don't expect and don't talk about.
Arron — a good friend of mine — wrote the one he wishes someone had given him: Things I Wish I Knew Before You Were Born. 59 pages, twelve stages, from the positive test to the first birthday. Birth-plan checklist, swaddle guide, choking-response steps, babywearing positions — plus the honest chapters most books skip: your head, your relationship, your in-laws, and looking after yourself.
How this link works.Things I Wish I Knew Before You Were Born is Arron's book, not ours, and the link goes straight to his own checkout page. There is no commission arrangement in place yet, so DadPrep earns nothing if you buy it today. We recommend it because it's the one we'd hand a mate. If that ever changes this sentence changes with it, and either way the price you pay is $37.
The 59-page guide for first-time dads · $37 This book is Arron's, not ours. DadPrep earns nothing from it today — there is no commission arrangement in place yet.
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