June 23rd, 2010 
Fathers who take paternity leave live longer, experts say.
According to their study, taking up to two months off work when a baby is born lowers a man’s risk of dying prematurely by almost 25 per cent.
Their research is based on the health and habits of men in Sweden, the first country to give new fathers paid time off work.
And the experts say encouraging men to take time off when their child is born may help to close the gender gap in longevity. At the moment, men live on average five to seven years fewer than women.
The reasons behind that are not clear, but one theory is that men who are close to their children take better care of their own health. This might mean that they eat healthier foods, drink less, visit the doctor more often or simply take fewer risks in life.
Another theory is that making time for family activities cuts stress levels, according to the journal Social Science & Medicine.
‘Strategies aimed at less gender stereotypical expectations on what a man “should do” are on the whole likely to benefit male health, and potentially reduce the gender gap in longevity, said the researchers, from Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, who studied 72,000 fathers.
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- 7 Strategies for a Successful Maternity Leave
Taking time off after having a baby can be expensive. Although the Family and Medical Leave Act requires companies with 50 or more employees to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave, most parents take less than that to avoid giving up their salaries for an extended period. Only 8 percent of companies offer employees paid leave, and women without paid leave take an average of just 6.6 weeks of maternity leave. (Those with paid leave take an average of 10.5 weeks off.)
But even amid a recession, Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio, authors of Happy at Work, Happy at Home: The Girl’s Guide to Being a Working Mom, say it’s possible to make a relatively smooth transition into a routine that includes both parenthood and a career.
Research your leave options. Even before becoming pregnant, ask other parents at your company about the maternity leave options available, and take note of whether people are able to work from home or work flexible hours. “Really be honest about how family-friendly your company is. You can see how other women experience their maternity leave and get back on. If the majority of them left, then that says something,” says Friedman.
Once you become pregnant and are ready to tell people, which is usually around the three-month mark, Friedman recommends speaking with the human resources department about leave benefits so you can start preparing. Some companies allow employees to use their sick days for maternity leave or offer short-term-disability options, while others stick with the standard three months of unpaid leave. The same advice goes for fathers. Some companies offer at least a couple of weeks of paid paternity leave.
Delegate tasks while you’re away. Some workers might fear that delegating work to other employees while they’re away will make them appear easily replaceable. But Friedman says it’s good for everyone if you make your time away as easy on your boss as possible by making sure your responsibilities will be covered. “Otherwise, you won’t be fully present on maternity leave, and you need to be,” she says. Plus, she adds, in this economy, “if you were replaceable, you already would have been replaced.”
Plan to be out of the loop completely for at least a few weeks. While it might be tempting to keep your BlackBerry nearby and respond to work-related E-mails shortly after giving birth, Friedman recommends against it. “In the first couple weeks, as you’re adjusting to a lack of sleep, you’re not really in your best frame of mind for being professionally attuned,” she says. That’s why it’s important to plan for at least two to three weeks of a “blackout” period.
Then stay in touch. Checking in at least once a week or once every two weeks can make it easier to return to work once maternity leave is over. Friedman recommends keeping track of key projects and clients, at least occasionally. “Get as many updates as you can, so people know you’re coming back and you’re up to speed,” she says.
Find good child care. While you’re on maternity leave, it’s wise to get your child-care situation sorted out. It can take six months of researching daycare facilities and interviewing nannies to find the right one, so Friedman recommends starting early. Working moms (and dads) who aren’t 100 percent comfortable with their child-care arrangements have a hard time focusing when they’re back at work.
Once you’re back at work, show that you’re still the same person. Working moms confront a lot of stereotypes, including the notion that they’d rather be at home with their children or they aren’t as on top of things as they used to be. “Meet with your boss, and make it clear you want to be there,” suggests Friedman. “Everyone is going to be looking at you really closely, consciously or unconsciously, to see if you’re the same person you were before you left to have a baby,” she says. That means you don’t want to be the person who shows off dozens of baby photos and talks about child care and your baby too frequently.
Help others. “If somebody else gets pregnant, help them through the process,” says Friedman. Supporting other women makes for a more family-friendly work environment.
- Father involvement in pregnancy could reduce infant mortality
Studies have shown fathers who are active in their children’s upbringing can significantly benefit their children’s early development, academic achievement and well being. Now, a new study by University of South Florida researchers suggests that a father’s involvement before his child is born may play an important role in preventing death during the first year of life – particularly if the infant is black.
The USF team sought to evaluate whether the absence of fathers during pregnancy contributes to racial and ethnic disparities in infant survival and health. Their findings were recently reported online in the Journal of Community Health.
“Our study suggests that lack of paternal involvement during pregnancy is an important and potentially modifiable risk factor for infant mortality,” concluded the study’s lead author Amina Alio, PhD, research assistant professor of community and family health at the USF College of Public Health. “A significant proportion of infant deaths could be prevented if fathers were to become more involved.”
The researchers examined the records of all births in Florida from 1998 to 2005 – more than 1.39 million live births. Father involvement was defined by the presence of the father’s name on the infant’s birth certificate. While this measure does not assess the extent or quality of a father’s involvement during pregnancy, other studies have established a link between paternal information on a birth record and prenatal paternal involvement.
Among the study’s findings:
- Infants with absent fathers were more likely to be born with lower birth weights, to be preterm and small for gestational age.
- Regardless of race or ethnicity, the neonatal death rate of father-absent infants was nearly four times that of their counterparts with involved fathers.
- The risk of poor birth outcomes was highest for infants born to black women whose babies’ fathers were absent during their pregnancies. Even after adjusting for socioeconomic differences, these babies were seven times more likely to die in infancy than babies born to Hispanic and white women in the same situation.
- Obstetric complications contributing to premature births, such as anemia, chronic high blood pressure, eclampsia and placental abruption, were more prevalent among women whose babies’ fathers were absent during pregnancy.
- Expectant mothers in the father-absent group tended to be younger, more educated, more likely to never have given birth, more likely to be black, and had a higher percentage of risk factors like smoking and inadequate prenatal care than mothers in the father-involved group.
Paternal support may decrease the mother’s emotional stress, which has been linked to poor pregnancy outcomes, or promote healthy prenatal behavior, Dr. Alio suggested. For instance, some studies, including USF’s, indicate that pregnant women with absent partners are more likely to report smoking during pregnancy and get inadequate prenatal care. Barriers to expectant fathers’ involvement in the lives of their pregnant partners, including issues like unemployment, relationship status, and participation in prenatal visits, must be examined to increase the role of men during pregnancy, she said.
Improving the involvement of expectant fathers holds promise for reducing costly medical treatments for the complications of premature births as well as reducing infant mortality rates, particularly in black communities, Dr. Alio said. “When fathers are involved, children thrive in school and in their development. So, it should be no surprise that when fathers are present in the lives of pregnant mothers, babies fare much better.”
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