You won’t smell of milk all the time, so it is easier for you to put the baby to sleep. Try memorizing like 10 songs that you like and will be able to sing over and over again. The baby will figure out, that it is time to sleep when you sing these.

Learn how to exercise/strach baby. You don’t want to do this with a newborn. But there won’t be a lot of time after birth to look this up. Be gentile. It’s good for the baby and makes them fart and shit, easing stomach pain.

Look up baby first aid videos just in case. It is very different than adult first aid.

First off, not every baby is the same. They all are genetically unique and a blend of the parents. Behavior at a birth is 99.9% genetic instincts and runs in families. Hormonal changes often make a new mothers memories fuzzy for a few months after birth. If your dad was not active in the your early life, the family history is often lost. So take any advice on infant behavior as recommendation that may or may not be true. For example both of my boys hated being swaddled from day one. They wanted to move and stretch.

Babies often start out giving micro-expressions and sounds before they start hollering. These are subtle little clues that if you can figure them out are a lifesaver. If you don’t figure them out in a few weeks, they learn to go directly to hollering at top volume because mommy and daddy are dumb and a poor baby has to survive. The amount of times my wife and I got amazed looks “How did you know that’s what they needed?” was an ongoing joke with us.

As a Dad, hold the baby all the time you can. This is especially true for the first year. If you tip back in a recliner, you can use a gaming controller while holding the kid as they sleep. As they get older they get a little grabby and you’ll be stuck watching movies etc for a few years. Aka why I went straight from a PS2 to PS4. You’ll be exhausting yourself playing with them all the time anyways.

Buy an exercise ball and a foam roller.

Post pardum is real and can have tremendous lasting impacts on mental health. It’s easy and natural for all of the attention to be on the baby, but it’s critical to keep an eye out for each other here too. If you or your spouse are getting overwhelmed, get some help, and consider therapy quickly.

We used an app called Huckleberry to track sleep. Our son would nap every couple hours consistently, but as you get closer to 3 naps a day it helps to see how long they’ve been awake/asleep to keep the routine easy.

Good luck mate. It’s all worth it when you get that first on purpose smile. :)

Others have covered the more serious stuff, so I’ll say this; nappy (diaper) frills around the leg holes go on the outside. Also, if in doubt which way a t-shirt or jumper goes, the label inside is usually on the baby’s left.

Your partner went through all of the gestation and labor herself; the least you can do is be the person who changes the diapers.

Men don’t always immediately bond with their newborn progeny. It’s ok, don’t feel guilty if you’re not head-over-heels in love with your baby for the first year or two.

If you’re ever feeling frustrated caring for your newborn, take a break. They will be fine if you leave them crying in their crib so that you can take a walk or do whatever you need to decompress and compose yourself.

Most pacifiers have bottle nipple mates. If your baby prefers one specific bottle or pacifier, buy the mate.

Most importantly, sleep deprivation and stress can cause significant mental health issues, specifically anxiety and depression. Your feelings are valid. If you’re having a hard time, ask for help.

If your wife isn’t breastfeeding get several different brands of bottles. Your kid may have trouble with one kind but no others.
Get a 5Kg sack of potatoes or rice and practice holding it like a baby for at least 10-15 min several times a day. Get those baby holding muscles building now, just remember you want endurance not actual strength.
A white noise generator is good for when they are fussy and can calm them down.

Babies are little people just like us. They have bad days, and good days. Also try to relax, and enjoy it as much as you can. You are not perfect and you shouldn’t try to be. Just focus on the love you have for them and give them plenty of snuggles. Congrats!

Ibprofin will get you through teething. The kid doesn’t have to suffer.

Take as much paternal leave you can financially band legally. The child bonds with the mom naturally but you bond with it as a father almost as much once you stay with them for a couple of months while mom is away working and not destroying her career. I took the maximum of one year allowed here in Korea without gettin into trouble at work. I don’t feel it had any impact on my career, but it was a time I will never forget as one of the best times I had in my life.

From the top of the head: all the stuff you will have to buy, you will, but speaking of diapers, if japanese Merries are sold where you live, that’s the shit. Everything else leaks, leaves rash, looks uncomfortable, etc, and you don’t want to buy a pack of everything to try out.
And speaking of things you can’t buy, one good setup thing. If your wife is going to breastfeed, she would have to get the baby, and then put it back at night. We just removed one side of the baby bed, i fixed it at even height with our bed, and put it right to the side of ours so then my wife could just drag the baby closer and feed without completely waking up. And when done, the kid is already almost where it has to be. This improved our life quality with both kids.

Hey, same boat dull man, who built this thing anyways?

I used an app to track sleep and feeding. With multi user support. I started with it after our messages was just “he’d sleeping” / he napped at 10 / he woke up now

Just being transparent about these schedules while the other one is at work or whatever was really good

Obviously something you’d wanna do after the tint baby period. We kept it going u till he started kindergarten, then we couldn’t track that anymore

Don’t make rules that punish you. Example, the parents and kid aren’t leaving the table until the kid eats their veggies.