The father during the gestation, birth and three months of life of the first child

Abstract

This article discusses men and their transitions to fatherhood. Based on the statements of the parents, the objective of this study was to investigate, from the perspective of the father, the paternal involvement in the gestation, delivery and three months of the baby. The research embarked on a qualitative longitudinal path, with 30 men being fathers for the first time. Three semi-structured interview scripts were constructed, containing open questions, considering the following moments: (a) the last trimester of pregnancy; (b) one week after delivery; and (c) the baby’s third month of life. The men’s interviews were examined by means of qualitative content analysis. The results show that there is a growing movement in parental involvement when considering the three moments of data collection, indicating that men are undergoing continuous transitions, building new meanings of parenting in their day-to-day life with the baby.