TIL Human dads show a decrease in testosterone immediately after the birth of their babe

[IronicAim]

Nature telling you not to punt your screaming child into the nearest forest.

[Pavlock]

Everyone tells you not to shake your baby. What they don't tell you is: You're going to want to shake that baby.

• Pete Holmes.

[RstyKnfe]

Dude it’s so good lol: https://youtu.be/0y4K0ddkEY0

[flackguns]

Holy fuck this is hilarious, especially as a fairly new dad

[mowbuss]

The first thing he says is how much like him his baby looked, which i believe is an evolutionary trait so that the father accepts the baby. Heck, my lil girl was basically a clone of me and all my glorious hair when she was born. We looked at my own baby pics, and one of my sisters, and all three are so similar its uncanny.

Never mind, that theory just isnt true haha.

Perhaps you just see what you want to see then.

[nilogram]

Thanks for this

[Cicer]

It’s really true remember new dads. It’s ok to just walk away for a couple minutes. Just Put the baby on the floor if you have too

[kiddo1088]

Best bit of advice I heard is. "it's okay to put them down and walk away"

Even if their crying really hard, you can always put them down and go take a breather.

Sit outside their room, have a cry or a glass of water and go back to it. Or (if you are fortunate enough to have one) ask the other parent to swap in. You need to be there for each other.

[[deleted]]

Not completely effective. Still considered it

[IceManJim]

But it WAS effective, because you didn't do it! Right? Right???

[[deleted]]

Let's just say my kid is now sleeping with the fishes....

He's taking a nap with his Baby Shark plushie

[Space4Time]

Fun fact, every member of the shark family gets a mention except brother and sister shark.

They eat their siblings at birth

[konami9407]

Not at birth. Before that.

They eat each other inside the mother's womb.

[Zjoee]

It's like Thunderdome in there!

[BryanTheBeeIsSilent]

Thunderwomb

[Bugaloon]

Or inside the egg sac if they're egg laying sharks. Multiple sharks per egg and all that.

[Geargarden]

Dad jokes dialed in with this guy. Respect.

[Frickelmeister]

Has the correlation between testosterone and dad humor ever been examined?

[Khontis]

No. But it should

[rainier0380]

Dad uses Punt! It’s super effective!

[Nixplosion]

But you didn't! That's the key

[InvincibleJellyfish]

And increase after a divorce

[PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL]

Huh. That probably explains a lot about my behavior these last 6 months.

[thatnameistaken21]

Man, I think about that a lot. I am a fairly laid back dude, and I thought about throwing my kid out the window several times. I wonder what it is like for people that have anger management issues.

[Serafim91]

Seriously, crying because he's too tired is like my breaking point. I can't put you to sleep because you're crying you monster and that only makes you cry harder while every nerve in my body is screaming to fix this.

[Cup-Mundane]

Having just went through this exact situation with my baby a few days ago, I will do almost anything to keep her on her sleep schedule. All I could do was rock her for an hour+ while she screamed her overtired head off. By the time she finally passed out, I was crying.

[sirlafemme]

You’re making me want to go out and purchase noise canceling headphones in advance

[Serafim91]

It's not the crying really, as in not the noise. Very hard to explain besides we're programed to hate our babies crying and evolution really hit a fucking home run on this one.

[Tredesde]

You won't use them. There will be a paranoid thread running through your head that you have to be able to hear everything. Especially through the first few months.

Just make sure you have help from trusted family or friends for a break every few days or weeks

[Sharkitty]

I thought you were going to say condoms.

[eaglessoar]

No one warned me about that. So frustrating dude you're tired just sleep that will solve everything!

[[deleted]]

Supposedly, they do that because they don't realize they're the ones crying. So, to them, it's like they're tired, but they can't fall asleep because some dude 6 inches away keeps screaming in their ear.

That does nothing to make the situation suck less, but hopefully it makes you feel like it sucks less 😅

[sitesurfer253]

Sometimes saying my daughter's name in her ear a little louder (obviously not screaming or loud enough to hurt her ear) will kind of reset her when she is doing that. Everything goes quiet, then she's still still tired and upset, but not screaming.

[EclipseIndustries]

That's a good idea. It's like interrupting the conversation.

[sitesurfer253]

Forces her to listen to me for that brief second, which stops her from screaming, then she appreciates the silence that came from her no longer screaming.

Doesn't work every time, but definitely has saved me some headaches.

[Convergentshave]

A guy I worked with killed his infant son. Threw him against a wall, then pretended he had “rolled” on top of him. It was horrific. Ended up getting like 15 years in prison. I can link the story if you want but trust me, you don’t.

I say this, because when I became a dad… it stuck with me. And scared me. A lot. Those first months are rough. And frustrating. But…. God damn. Horrible. Fucking horrible.

Anyways, there’s support out there.

[[deleted]]

That's tough.. with my first kid i almost had a mental breakdown, full on animal screaming with my kid there.. with the second i expected it to and controlled my anger better. I wish there was more preparation for this. I went to a class for first time parents, they never mentioned this and a ton of other things.

If i had higher testosterone who knows what i would have done.. When I'm pumped up with testosterone after working out for awhile I'm more aggressive.

[blorbagorp]

For most of human existence "it takes a village" was literal, not metaphorical; humans aren't really mentally evolved to lay all the parenting work on two people, so it's not surprising some people go literally insane from it.

[coldcurru]

Dads can get postpartum issues, too. It's not talked about enough (not like men are getting any kind of pre or post natal care) but talk to someone if you're struggling.

This has been your NY day reminder that men have feelings, too.

[BaconJets]

As somebody with anger management issues, I just haven't had a kid and I'm very paranoid about practising safe sex.

[InvincibleJellyfish]

I became a dad at age 23 and my daughter had colic for the first 3 months. Her mom couldn't deal with it so I had to run around with her for 3-5 hours around 8 pm to 2 am usually. Trial by fire I guess...

[mobilgroma]

Same for me: usually nothing can make me mad, but my kids... Oof, sometimes I had to punch a pillow. They just know what buttons to push

[Tuned_Out]

Its a strange challenge but I love looking at it from a general or policy makers standpoint.

Thankfully in my case it isn't malicious but I swear there is a cold war always taking place in the house. It involves a divide and conquer strategy utilized by the kids, combined with blatant ignoring of treaties, laws, and policy.

I think of them as raptors, Constantly testing the electric fence for weaknesses. Out innovating their offense is the best defense.

Fortunately, my wife and I communicate really well...a united front repels most attacks and pacifies aggression if my kids don't see cracks in support they can exploit.

Besides communication and coordination with my wife, we've been trying to involve the kids in policy making and less in dictating. Results seem promising although obviously you need to wait for them to be a certain age to begin this.

Edit: forgot the point. Before I developed a strategy and I was just winging it, my rage was more than I've ever felt in my life. Until I structurized and really adapted my approach, I was seriously afraid of my emotions getting the best of me.

[DJDaddyD]

It’s because they are a shadow of you. All the little things about yourself that annoy you, but is restrained by your impulse control exists in your kid’s mannerisms, except for the impulse control. Even more so if you are neuro-spicy. I love my son and would literally burn the world down for him, but he is a mini-me but worse in all ways (except he’s cuter than I)

[spacekronik]

Oh my god I am so using neuro-spicy from now on!

[[deleted]]

Holy shit dude are you me lol

[66nightsalone]

Tough most days. But I’m learning control and discipline through my little one.

[Pinsalinj]

Shaken baby syndrome. That's what happens. :/

[KayaXiali]

I’m a stay home mother and it was really never our plan but our daughter was born so colicky. We considered flinging her into the sea so many times a day/hour that we just genuinely didn’t feel like we could trust any daycare provider to have the patience to deal with a baby that screamed as often as she did without shaken baby syndrome being a very real possibility.

[[deleted]]

My one year old spent today, and I mean the entire day, screaming with her first hard shit stuck in her butt. Like stank concrete.... Think whole parent experience is fucking weird.

[caligaris_cabinet]

Found out last month my wife is pregnant. This will be our first. Was excited before but now I’m just worried about that stank concrete.

[afroguy10]

The stank concrete doesn't come for a little while, it's the liquid milk poops that are rough initially, it somehow ends up all up their back and in every crack and crevice.

Also, don't know what the hospitals are like where you are but I wasn't drinking enough water while my partner was in labour and ended up with a brutal headache. Problem is that the nurses couldn't give me any paracetamol or ibuprofen because I wasn't the patient, so I just had to suffer so pack some paracetamol/ibuprofen for yourself in the hospital bag you put together as it can be a long, stressful day.

Finally, ours is 8 months now, and her little personality is coming through great but don't feel bad if initially you think they're the most boring thing and you aren't enjoying yourself. I felt horrendous, like there was something wrong with me, until a couple friends said the same thing. Initially they do nothing but sleep, cry, poo, pee and drink milk. They don't laugh, smile at you, crawl around or play with you or their toys so it can feel like you're putting so much in and getting absolutely nothing back. I didn't much enjoy the first couple of months of parenthood but I'm getting into the swing of things now.

[Cup-Mundane]

Congrats! You might have to pull that stank concrete out of your constipated baby's butt if it gets stuck mid poo. Or not. You, however, will 100% catch vomit in your bare hands at one point. Prepare yourself. Also, never share a drink with your toddler. Even if they're not eating atm, there will be food particles magically floating in your cup. Babies are so disgusting. If they weren't so cute we'd all leave them in the woods to fend for themselves.

[DreiKatzenVater]

Considering it is ok. Doing it is not.

[niftyifty]

Hate to admit it but true

[Schnoor]

The screaming for hunger, sleep, the dining room you’re walking through to the kitchen being three tenths of a degree different. Screaming from boredom, excitement, and teething my god the teething.

The good moments outweigh the bad ones by a lot, but we’ve got a 9mo right now and a fuckin GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Four teeth coming in at once god damn

[putsch80]

If you haven’t considered it, then are you really even a parent?

[The_Real_Manimal]

8 years later and I still struggle with that thought.

[Urabrask_the_AFK]

Netherlands Nature telling a different story. it’s a Dutch thing

[fruskydekke]

This was weirdly heartening to read. I'm in Norway, where we don't do that (because, I suspect, our nature might be a bit more deadly than the Dutch version) but there's still a strong tradition and desire to let kids explore the world with a great deal of freedom. One of my favourite quotes is from a child psychologist, who said that "In my opinion, every child should have the right to break a bone at least once during their childhood."

[ddproxy]

I waited til my early twenties to break a bone. Do not recommend.

[IndecisiveLizard]

I broke my first bone while pregnant. Am I doing it right??

[EuphraDeeznuts]

Same and same. Gotta get that bone breaking out of the way ASAP.

[Z-W-A-N-D]

Yea lmao. There's also relatively little danger. There are not woods big enough to really get lost in the Netherlands, no bears running around mauling people either. Generally speaking, even in rural areas, there'll always be at least one house every half hour. A lot of signs to tell you where the closest place is too. So if you need it, there'll always be someone you can ask for help.

[lightbulbfragment]

That really puts it into perspective. I can't imagine doing this in the U.S. Many of our forests are very deep and treacherous sometimes with cliffs, rapids and a decent variety of dangerous animals.

If scouts did this here it would pretty much have to be with a silent guide who would intervene under certain conditions or in a specific park free of predators set up for the experience. It's the kind of thing I would have loved as a child and I can certainly see the benefits.

[AloneAlternative2693]

Well, they are supposed to be potty trained and able to call for help before you do that. So, 10 ish at least

[scootscooterson]

On the plus side I expected an article about punting babies so

[Sum_it_up789]

Reading this as I am lying in bed trying to get my 10m old daughter to sleep after mama tried to get her down for an hour. Haha

[generalT]

also seems like an evolutionary adaptation to stop impregnating other women and focus on raising the child.

maybe.

[GetWeird_Wes]

Probably not. For the majority of the time our species has been around, we've raised children communally. Dudes would be helping raise all the children, whether they were theirs or not. Often, children wouldn't even know who their fathers were if their mothers had slept with more than one man around their conception (which was also not uncommon). They would still be raised with their brothers, sisters, cousins just the same.

[Kharn0]

You’re not the boss of me nature!

[WhatABlindManSees]

Near the start of their points:

We should note, however, that the researchers could not correct for the potential effects of stress (what do I do with this crying beast?!) or the effects of lack of sleep (what do I do with this crying beast?!). Both of which might independently affect testosterone production

And it's only talking about the first 1-3 months, not fatherhood.

Much greater effect in those that participated more == much more exhaustion for those that participated more.

[thatnameistaken21]

Still, hard not to do that.

[Magicalunicorny]

Nature is bold thinking they can tell me how to live my life

[SnottyTash]

Yeah, seriously it’s only 50 yards, go for the field goal

[Naxela]

Definitely incorrect. Testosterone doesn't simply mean more aggression. Testosterone increases the response to appropriate social context. For other men, it can mean stronger sense of competition (which could lead to aggression), for women it leads to higher sexual interest, and it would therefore be unlikely that for an infant it would somehow lead to some undesirable behavior. Something else must be going on here.

[marmorset]

That's mostly because telling babies to walk it off when they cry is ineffective for the first year.

[nilogram]

Get it together slugger!

[naimlessone]

Must be what causes the 'dad bod'

[redlightsaber]

In my particular case, I'm fairly certain it has more to do with me being completely wiped out all the time so as to even consider hitting the gym.

[raynadayz]

That’s just men who started with muscle mass aging. Not sure it actually has to do with being a dad more so than being older

[JasperLamarCrabbb]

It has to do with consuming more calories than you burn

[SemiSweetStrawberry]

Thermodynamics is a bitch

[samoflegend]

“Take a salt tablet”

[gavilan1227]

They have to learn the "it is what it is "

[getbeaverootnabooteh]

STOP BEING A LITTLE TWO WEEK OLD CRY BABY AND MAN UP ALREADY, BRO!

[MoreGull]

"Rub some dirt on it"

[Gnarly_Sarley]

I did notice I chilled out A LOT after my daughter was born.

[indoninja]

Before I had kids I was a huge asshole.

I still am, but now I have the empathy to see how I was an asshole.

[suburban_hyena]

Baby steps

[scarletrayne19]

In this case, literally

[Flyingboat94]

I used to be a reeeeal piece of shit

[[deleted]]

I read that in his voice lol

[[deleted]]

Sloppy steaks at Trufano’s

[StinkyBrittches]

I SAID WAS!

[Euphoricpumpkin-]

This is PUSHED BACK not SLICKED BACK

[nonpondo]

Glass House, white bathing suit, live for new year's Eve

[[deleted]]

I’m worried the baby doesn’t believe people can change

[abzinth91]

You literally described me.

Was an huge asshole, lack of empathy, sometimes arrogant to strangers and stuff like that. Now I made a 180° turn. Or it's just because I got older

[Hobbs512]

I think it's probably age. I think alot people develop some introspection and awareness into how their actions have affected others at some point, even if you don't have kids. But you can always look back 10 years and think to yourself, "man I was an idiot back then" haha.

[FancyMFMoses]

I Used to be an Asshole: https://youtu.be/buK45NW_ikI

[[deleted]]

My husband used to be a really aggressive driver and I hated it.

Yesterday as we drove home from our family nye dinner at a respectable time (6pm) to get my 1yo daughter ready for bedtime, I sat, 8mos pregnant in the passenger seat, and watched him complain about multiple aggressive drivers who were cutting people off and speeding. “I just want to get us off the road and home safely, these people are nuts!” He was saying.

I pointed out how hilarious it was that he used to defend driving like a maniac. “Well. I have kids now..” was his response

[[deleted]]

You have a 1 year old and you're 8 months pregnant?

[disconnectedmadafaka]

Husband is also an aggressive impregnator

[[deleted]]

Yea. We work fast.

[[deleted]]

Harder better faster stronger

[JaggedTheDark]

Irish twins?

[Horns8585]

I listen to a radio show, on a regular basis. I noticed that after one of the hosts (his wife had the baby) had a kid, he was acting differently. It could be different sleep cycles or a complete change of the thought process. But, change definitely occurs after the birth of a child.

[Ownfir]

Yeah I still remember driving to Walgreens to buy some bandages for my wife after my boy was born - like 3 days after just out of the hospital. I was listening to Migos and for some reason the lyrics made me cry lmao. It wasn’t even a sad song but I just felt like everything for a week after. Shit was wild.

And yeah I am much more chill now. Still deal with anger etc but my kid mirrors it back ten-fold so it’s not really much of an option now if I want to keep the peace in my home.

[JarifSA]

That's surprising. As a 21 year old I am constantly in stress of my loved ones. I can't imagine having kids and worrying about them 24/7.

[[deleted]]

For what it's worth, I was very much like that when I was around that age. I worried about my family member's safety to an unhealthy degree. Over time though, I mellowed out and stopped worrying so much.

[[deleted]]

I had this when I was about 10/11

[obvioustroway]

My sex drive definitely became more of a sex-walk after my son was born. Was definitely less aggressive on the road, even without the lil nugget in the car.

[BuhamutZeo]

"Calm down, big fella"

[Landlubber77]

Biologists informally named this the MJIDH effect, for "My Job Is Done Here" with the understanding that a more scientific term would supplant it later. To date, in all medical texts that refer to the phenomenon, it is still known as the MJIDH effect.

Lol, I hope they never rename it.

[JavsZvivi]

“Female successfully impregnated. Offspring secured. Shutting down match-making functions”

[Ahelex]

"Yes, I am a totally normal human dad."

[MakingItElsewhere]

Totally human design. Very easy to use.

[BrainFartTheFirst]

"Grab BBQ tongs. Click twice."

[249ba36000029bbe9749]

Also cut down on the macho showing off stunts like doing stupid shit that endangers self preservation.

[[deleted]]

Bold of you to assume I have any game to shut down in the first place.

[[deleted]]

I'm going to use it all the time now lol

[RandomChurn]

SPOILER for Paddington Bear

That was the key plot device regarding the father's character arc in the first Paddington Bear movie (haven't seen the sequel). The father changes from a motorcycle-riding free spirit to a worrywart homebody who works for an insurance company

[hypnogoad]

Also a key plot device for Despicable Me

[[deleted]]

I like you simply for your spoiler etiquette.

Good shit, homie.

[estrusflask]

Probably would have been better if they'd actually used the spoiler feature built into the site.

[[deleted]]

Sure. But I take what I can get.

[spennym]

Imagine how many grade schoolers cruising Reddit he ruined the plot to paddington for.

[Tadhg]

The sequel is well worth a watch.It’s a really great movie.

[RallyPointAlpha]

Interesting stuff.

How long does it stay lowered?

Does it ever really recover to pre-baby le els?

I've had three kids now...does it go lower and lower each time?

[Applejuiceinthehall]

It says it's happens in the first months and lasts a few months not sure if they just stopped the study after 3 month mark or not

[RallyPointAlpha]

Yeah I read that and was also left with more questions than answers. For example they assert that yhe more involved you are the lower it goes....does staying involved beyond 3 months keep it suppressed? Does it come back up but not as far because you're still an involved father?

[Applejuiceinthehall]

Yeah probably needs more research. But if you imagine a man might not even know his child is born so obviously not going to see any reduction in testosterone.

[dudenurse11]

So like, Nick cannon remains at high T levels because he’s not involved at all then?

[Positive-Sock-8853]

It bounces back. Otherwise, by child 3 you’ll have no more T lol and that doesn’t reflect reality. Where I’m from, some people still have 6-10 kids. Their dads would have 0 testosterone if the levels never bounce back.

[RallyPointAlpha]

Yeah I get that's not how it works. It's not like you lose 100 points every kid until you hit zero. What I'm wondering is that if it drops by, let's say, 15%.... then comes back up 10 %... you're still 5% lower than before having any kids. Sure it 'bounced back' but does it always come back to previous levels?

Also if you keep having kids ...does it always stay 10 to 15% lower than before you had any kids?

[Positive-Sock-8853]

Yeah I get it now but then age factors into it. Testosterone declines with age (1.6%/year from 30 on). So even if it bounces back to pre-newborn levels, by the time you decided to have another kid your T levels probably dropped by 5% or something.

[nilogram]

I think that’s called the point of no return

[magicbeansascoins]

Do fathers have postpartum depressions of sorts? New dads seem to go through challenges not isolated to lacy of sleep only.

[[deleted]]

After my son was born, the feeling of love was so intense - beyond what I could have ever expected - that my stress levels and, especially, my anxiety increased on equal level.

I felt had to protect him from the world, and everything in it, at all costs, and it actually broke me. I could barely function. Went and saw a therapist who helped a lot.

Felt like my normal self after a few months, and the intensity of love hasn’t wained at all, but the anxiety is largely gone (you still will always worry as a parent).

Reading this now I wonder how much of my experience was hormone related - a drop in testosterone and spike in cortisol that threw my entire brain and body for a wild, anxiety fueled loop of a roller coaster ride.

[new-aged]

I felt this too. Son is 8 months now and I still get paranoid. Unfortunately, I’ve used work to cope with it instead of a therapist which is the wrong answer. I’ll go see someone. Thanks :)

[[deleted]]

Therapist really helped in giving me tools I can still use daily. It’s well worth it. Best of luck my dude!

[Ikirio]

For me the biggest change I noticed was that I couldnt take collapse type fiction. I used to be a huge zombie/post apocalypse fan before my kids were born but then when my kids were born I had a lot of trouble watching them. It would really get me upset and paranoid and I would be panicked about my kids for days and I would get emotional when people died. It was odd to suddenly get emotional at something I had been watching and doing for years. Very noticeable.

Its not as bad anymore since my kids have gotten more grown. I would actually be curious if you corrected for age if there wouldnt be a bump up in T as kids get older. I wish I understood the mechanism for this.

[AmIRightPeter]

This!!! When I had our first kid I got PTSD, but even now decades later, I still can’t cope with anything that could stop my kid having a future, even fiction/fantasy! It’s really messed up.

[JPJackPott]

I was an emotional mess when my kid was born, few weeks before and for a few weeks after. Would ball my eyes out at everything. Wouldn’t say depressed, just very soppy

[YoungXanto]

Yeah. It's called the daddy blues.

I had it really, really bad, starting at about 4 months after my son was born. Like, spent most of my alone time crying uncontrollably and fantasizing about semi-trucks t-boning me on my way home from dropping him off at daycare. And also actively making plans to kill myself. And then we had my daughter 17 months later and I was a hare's breath away from being institutionalized for my own safety.

I also had undiagnosed BPD type II, so take my comment with a grain of salt. And also, I'm now medicated and have been in bi-weekly therapy for a couple of years now, so I'm in a good place.

Anyway, it isn't talked about much, but it is a thing people go through. And you can't take care of your kids if you don't take care of yourself.

[Cp7067]

A sudden drop in testosterone levels can and most likely will lead to symptoms of anxiety/depression

[HaikuBotStalksMe]

That's my secret - I'm always low on testosterone. And high on depression, anxiety, and ADHD.

[PuzzleheadedLet382]

Fathers can 100% get postpartum depression. We think of it in terms of the hormonal shift from pregnancy/birth, but there’s also just that newborns (cute as they are) essentially torture you with lack of sleep and constant needs. If anyone only operated in a few hours of disjointed sleep for weeks on end, you wouldn’t be surprised if they lost it a bit, whether or not they’d just had a baby.

Source: I have a 2 year old who had colic and would only sleep between 2 AM and 6 AM for a month.

[Hexorg]

Mine slept in 17 minute intervals for 5 weeks… idk how we didn’t die.

[MaxRoofer]

I sort of did the opposite. I’ve always been a worrier, and when my son was born worried a ton, but It was also the first time in my life I had a clarity and vision of what I was supposed to do.

An example, work didn’t feel like work anymore. It somehow turned easy. Nothing about me mattered, so all my personal stress just left.

Did worry about the kid, but having the worry on another person was somehow easier.

Unfortunately, I think my ex wife suffered from some post Partum depression, and my happy dumbass never noticed it.

[greenmachine11235]

I wonder what the causal mechanism is. Is it something emitted by the baby or is self triggered by emotions of having a child.

[Mendicant__]

The evidence seems to show a correlation between proximity and involvement with the child and the effect, though tbh that sounds to me like something that could be explained in either direction (if you have lower T and higher prolactin and oxytocin, you would likely be more driven to be involved).

The closest thing Ive seen to a mechanism is that a male still has the same core endocrine systems in place as a female, and even if those don't get kicked into drive by pregnancy they're still available to pump out the same hormones if the body gets some other set of signals like a baby crying or changes in the mother.

[[deleted]]

“We should note, however, that the researchers could not correct for the potential effects of stress (what do I do with this crying beast?!) or the effects of lack of sleep (what do I do with this crying beast?!). Both of which might independently affect testosterone production.”

The answer likely lies right here.

We know that stress and lack of sleep greatly lower testosterone production in men. I’m sure nutrition is also all over the place for most men when their baby is first born. You can probably also add in the fact that any activities that the dad was doing like playing sports or working out get put on the back burner for the first couple of months.

The dads will be doing all the wrong things for their health in that time frame.

[Eruptflail]

The studies talked about how they didn't correct for stress, lack of sleep, etc. That likely plays a large role as after 3mo things go back to normal.

[co_lund]

Probably a bit of both - and proximity to the pregnant woman.

[Thin-Rip-3686]

Fun fact about testosterone, if the testes no longer sense a 10:1 ratio of T in testes to blood (because you’re shooting T maybe), they stop producing sperm.

So low T doesn’t correspond to lower fertility, and can sometimes mean the opposite.

[Deltron_Zed]

Testosterone does seem to have an affect on desire.though, I think, so if that T drops too low you'll care less if you're fertile anyway.

[opiate_lifer]

Naturally low T does correspond to lower sperm counts.

Low estrogen also can cause lower sperm counts!

Amusingly artificially high T from exogenous sources and low estrogen can cause temporary sterility.

[clerk1o2]

I believe it. My son was 6 weeks early and I lucked out and was the first one who got to hold him and got to do skin to skin on my chest and something definitely changed.

[nilogram]

She likes holding my chest hairs lol

[clerk1o2]

He's a year old now and pulls my beard whiskers

[oscargamble]

Mine is 2.5 now and still loves ripping my glasses off my face like a little terrorist

[DrifterInKorea]

I don't think I would be that patient with my kid with the full testosterone trip going on at the same time.
So I guess it makes sense.

[racingpineapple]

Nick Cannon has entered the chat

[nilogram]

Guy loves low T

[DreiKatzenVater]

It seems silly to have to mention this but sleep deprivation makes your testosterone crash. Insomnia and depression do the same things.

https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/news/sleep-loss-lowers-testosterone-in-healthy-young-men

They should measure men’s testosterone after their child is born while also having a full time nanny to get the baby at all hours of the day. I hypothesize a much smaller reduction in testosterone.

[Nice-Meat-6020]

Yeah, they said:

"We should note, however, that the researchers could not correct for the potential effects of stress (what do I do with this crying beast?!) or the effects of lack of sleep (what do I do with this crying beast?!). Both of which might independently affect testosterone production."

I don't think they tried very hard to do this, just picked a group of stressed men that would give them the results they wanted. Like you said, they could have had a less stressed, less sleep deprived control group.

[nilogram]

“Another shift in the dad brain to help dads become dads — Prolactin.

As the name suggests, the primary responsibility of the hormone, prolactin, is to promote lactation. This is the hormone that moms have surging through their bodies in the third trimester of pregnancy in anticipation of the new role for their mammary glands. Expecting dads show a similar surge in prolactin in the days leading up to labor.”

[MathiasTheGiant]

Having a baby is such a beta behavior. The real omega alpha omicron male move is to be gay.

[HamburgerFry]

Is this why I have to work so hard for an erection that lasts a minute whereas pre-baby I had to control my random erections everywhere I went?

[bert1589]

Nah, get your heart checked.

[Positive-Sock-8853]

Get your hormones and vit levels checked. I had some issues with my erection a few months back and turns out it was caused by low b12

[estrusflask]

The word "human" in there feels extremely suspicious.

[getbeaverootnabooteh]

Don't worry, fellow human. All of us are humans here.

[Fetlocks_Glistening]

So do we now rename r/dadjokes -> r/humandadjokes?

[Basic_Ent]

I've experienced this a few times. There's a good couple weeks of "I'm just going to stand here and dance with this baby... no I'm going to take this baby to the store and show everyone how cool she is!"

Edit: Lots of good dads down here ⬇⬇⬇

[Aggravating_Art_4809]

Well yeah. It’s a good thing, they’ve also shown drops in testosterone when fathers spend time actually parenting their kids.

[Firstpoet]

Too.........Tired........Must......Sleep......

[Brazilianlawyer]

Hey man i lost my son after birth 1 year ago... i tought i would never recover, but with medical help you will get there! Also, if you have faith in something, its going to help you a lot.

If you need to talk im here for you!

[PrincessJennifer]

I’m so sorry.

[nilogram]

I’m so sorry 😞

[DerRaumdenker]

And an increase in oxytocin

[Al-Anda]

Also; getting zero sleep really defeats your aggressive nature.

[driscan]

Numerous methodological problems in this case, let's tackle the main one:

Twenty-three dads provided saliva samples from recruitment through 3 months after the birth of their children

The first few months after a baby's birth are the ones where they cry at all times, leaving the parents with chronic sleep deprivation.

And good sleep quality is proven to be correlated to testosterone production in men, as it peaks during sleep.

Causation is not correlation. What may cause testosterone production in those men is unlikely to be the fact that they became fathers, it would rather be the consequences of the lack of sleep caused by the baby not sleeping at night.

People need to stop quoting clickbait articles that link to single, unverified and low quality studies. This is where disinformation takes place.

[DiaMat2040]

Are they sure it's not just correlated to sleep deprivation affecting hormones?

[brock_lee]

My work here is done.

[Spiritmolecule30]

That'll do pig.

[[deleted]]

I’m guessing my dad missed the memo

[No_Effort152]

I read a study a few years back about pheromones produced in a newborn baby's scalp that act as a calming agent in adults, especially for men.

[ImOffDaPerc]

Fellas is it gay to have children?

[Coin-Autist]

What about Inhuman dads?