The DadPad® Neonatal

Your baby… in safe hands

The DadPad Neonatal (DPNN) provides staff on neonatal units with an essential resource to share with new dads.  It’s intended to aid better communication with, and support for, dads of babies in neonatal care, and can be used as an integral part of a neonatal unit’s Family Integrated Care (FICare) model of neonatal support.

The DPNN has been written with input from a range of experts in this field, including:

• Prof Minesh Khashu – with his clinical and practical expertise and experience as a Consultant Neonatologist and Professor of Perinatal Health;
• Julian Bose and the team at DadPad – with their collective expertise and experience in working with and producing high-quality, bespoke support materials, custom-written for dads’ specific needs;
• neonatal dads, both current and past; and
• experienced neonatal nurses.

The book has been specifically designed to be used as a ‘quick start‘ guide, covering dads’ most immediate concerns upon admission to the neonatal unit, before then changing into a more in-depth guide, providing detail on key topics of concern and interest to neonatal dads and their families.

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Why do we need this on our unit?

Clearly, for nearly all families, arriving at the neonatal unit will be a huge shock, with emotions running high.  Dad may well be experiencing a mix of:

• euphoria – at having seen his child born and becoming a dad…
• fear and anxiety – on realising that his baby needs special medical care…
• worry – about and/or on behalf of his partner…
• trauma – at having witnessed the birth develop in an unexpected way…

…and many other emotions.

Above all, his head is likely to be spinning, and yet he will more than likely be expected to take on board – on behalf of his whole, new family – lots of new and complex information.

Handing each new dad, upon arrival at the neonatal unit, his own copy of the DPNN can really help in this moment, and here’s how:

• Dad feels value and recognised in his own right – despite all the negative emotions that might be around, you’re also effectively congratulating him on having become a dad and giving him something to signify this;
• You’re also letting him know that you’ve prepared a path for him, that you appreciate how he’s going to be feeling, and you’ve purposely put something in place to help make things as easy as possible for him;
• By then using the DPNN alongside each interaction with dad by the neonatal team, the information that will be shared with dad becomes easier to process and dad will hopefully experience less worry about having to ‘remember’ it all.  The clearly-set-out and clearly-explained medical information and practical advice, with colour ‘real-life’ pictures, will all help aid his understanding and engagement.

And, of course, it can be used as an integral part of your unit’s FICare model of support for your families.

How else does it help?

One of dad’s main roles at this time is likely to be the liaison between mum/hospital and home.  When friends and family ask dad all the inevitable questions – what’s happened? what’s wrong with baby? why is baby in the neonatal unit? what treatment is baby receiving and why? etc – the DPNN will enable dad to have all the information that he needs at his fingertips.  By including spaces for dad to ‘tick’ the sections that apply to his baby – and to add notes where relevant – recalling the information that was shared with him at the hospital will be simpler.  The same, of course, applies when feeding back to mum, especially in the early hours and days when she may not be able to be on hand in the neonatal unit herself, but will still be desperate for all the news and information that she can get.

There’s also space for dad to note down any questions that he might have, so that he has them to hand when he next has the opportunity to ask them.

There are also various ways within the design of the DPNN to help build and strengthen the all-important bond and attachment between dad and child.  Firstly, information is included which encourages dad to view himself as a core member of the team around his baby, and provides knowledge on how he can get hands on with baby’s care.

Further, by designing the DPNN to also develop into a keepsake memento – with spaces for dad to include photos, records of his emotions, special memories and core milestones from baby’s time on the unit – dad is able to keep a record of such a precious and important time, which he can then share with his child at a later date.  The act of compiling the record will, in itself, also help build and strengthen his bond with baby.

Of course, as well as all the practical information, it’s important that dad recognises the emotional impact that this time will be having on both him and baby’s mum.  The DPNN therefore includes lots of information on how dad can look after himself and baby’s mum, and where to go for further support, as well as the opportunity to record and reflect upon his own feelings.

And we’ve made sure that the DPNN is both durable and wipe-clean, so that it is able to withstand frequent and regular use within the neonatal unit and beyond.

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