With a newborn at home, it's easy to forget about tasks that used to seem so simple: Brushing your hair and checking the mailbox become something you'll maybe get-to once the baby is asleep.
That's why the six-week postpartum checkup has become so important for checking in on the well-being of new moms. While mommy blogger Danielle Lucia Schaffer, who recently had her fourth child, says she previously thought of this checkup as time to get the all-clear to have sex with her husband again, her doctor had other ideas: He ordered Danielle to start dating her husband again, something he thinks is especially important for families with multiple young children.
Here's how Danielle explained the doctor's unusual advice:
"Now that you have four children, you will be engulfed with living for them. I want you at the minimum — twice per month, optimally once a week — to go out with your husband with NO kids. NO baby!" Now she had me listening. I was smiling at these orders for sure. I love dating Bobby!
Danielle then went home and relayed her doctor's relatable advice to her husband. He was so on board with the idea that they made a bucket list of places to go together in the near future.
"The truth is when you come home with a newborn and you have kids at home, you put you and your spouse on the back burner," said Danielle. "Both my marriage and I deserve a little alone time."
Danielle adds that exposing your kids to a healthy marriage can give them a model to build their own relationships in the future. "Our children are being exposed to parents who are affectionate with each other, happy to be together and very much in love from a young age," she said.
See Danielle's full essay at TODAY and learn more about her family at City Girl Gone Mom.
Rebecca was the social media editor at CountryLiving.com and WomansDay.com.
