Asking for Help

My baby is a few weeks old, and I am totally overwhelmed. How can I get my husband to pitch in?

Our Mommy MD Guide’s reply: Communicating what you need is critical, and communicating that with one’s partner is a bit of an art. It’s hard to ask for help, but you have to learn to do that as a mom. I’ve learned to keep a positive attitude, and when I ask my husband for help, I try to do it gently, but directly. We girls say a lot of things, but sometimes with men, it’s better to be direct and to the point.

It also helps to be supportive of my husband. I like to say, “You’re great at this, can you help me? I think sometimes husbands get scared, and that’s when they escape to watch TV. You have to involve them and make them feel good about helping.

—Gabriella Cardone, MD, a mom of five-, three-, and one-year-old daughters and a pediatric emergency physician at Texas Children’s Hospital, in Houston, TX