Babies Are Coming!

I can't be the only member of Giant Bomb (I know Jeff, Jason and tangentially Bakalar (love your pinball!)) To have had a baby, nor can I be the only member of the forum to have one.

Our baby is due on July 24th, which is becoming a very scary fast date.

We are set up mostly in terms of essentials - in Scotland, the government sends you a "baby box" including changes of clothes, toys, books, and the box itself can be a crib if need be - but I'm wondering how gaming has been for new partners

I had a gaming room which is (rightly) being dismantled so the baby has a nursery, meaning a lot of my retro consoles - Saturn, Dreamcast, UK N64 (keeping my JP one!) Are now under the bed.

But is there any good advice, tips, expectations about what I can, should, theoretically do? What sort of games lend well to having a cute little baby on my lap?

Any advice welcome.

Congratulations. I've no personal experience but from following them on Twitter both Danny and Jason Schreier have said playing Bloodborne works well. Basically when the child is that small anything works out, but I remember Danny saying the baby helped keep him calm when the game was difficult and frustrating.

First of all: congratulations! You'll be amazed how rich and full your life feels with a baby around. Welcome to the next chapter. :) That's awesome the Scottish government helps out new parents like that!

Navigating video games and other interests may be difficult at first and take time to work out, so don't feel discouraged there. Newborns generally sleep lots, so time may be plentiful at first. Always, always check in on your partner, especially if breast feeding is happening, because it can be very frustrating. Even if things seem calm and quiet, it's likely your heads will be spinning like tops adjusting to your new life! Being on little sleep doesn't help. So make sure you take the time to keep yourselves tuned up and ready to go, and check in with how you're feeling.

Personally, I really appreciated having more bite-sized, not-too-difficult games ready to play for when I felt I had a few minutes. Roguelikes, Picross, things like that. I kept to offline games for a while so that I could pause and come running if anything was going on while I played. Depending on your living situation, headphones may be helpful too!

Mostly just enjoy the ride of being a parent! The fact that you've been thinking about what your life will be like with a baby and asking for advice is all evidence you'll be a good dad. Stay mindful like that and you'll do well! And don't forget: happy wife, happy life

Congrats dude. We're right in the thick of it ourselves, our first was born April 25th. Just know at the beginning you won't have a lot of time for yourself, that's just the reality of it, especially if you don't have any additional help. Newborns generally feed every 3 hours, and that cycle can take an hour or so getting stuff ready and helping out the mother with the feed and changing diapers and all that. Also just the most laundry I have ever done in my adult life. If you do have downtime, and you don't want to just sleep, I would suggest things that you can play in bite sized chunks, even better if you can do it with one hand while holding the baby in the other. I've personally just been playing a lot of mobile games and the occasional round of MW. But just enjoy the ride, it might feel like hell for the first couple weeks as you adjust to your new life, but it will get better from there.

Congrats on the coming little one! I played through Ni No Kuni 2 when my son was an infant. Now he's 2 (almsot 3) and we have a 10 month old. There is no longer gaming while the children are awake. As overwhelming as it seems initially, it's not so bad, and being a dad can be incredible. Though once you have two free time is a thing of the past. I now mostly play Call of Duty when I get time here and there. Anything you can put down quickly when there's a blowout/spit up/crying is a good idea. I just wouldn't pick anything that requires long play sessions for enjoyment.

This is key.

This is coming from a teacher, not a parent:

Please spend the time reading with your child. This probably sounds obvious to someone old enough to be having a kid, but I can't express how important reading with your child is. Start early. Even when they're gurgling in a crib, start reading them stories. Keep going, all the way up to like...11. I know that might seem like a long time away, but...kids grow up fast man.

Try to instill a love for the written word, and your child will do well in school. I've seen far too many kids nowadays brought on by screens. I sound like a boomer, but smartphones and tablets have kinda done such lasting damage to many young people, be it their social skills, attention spans or attainment in schools.

@sombre you've hit the double win because I am actually a High School English and Media teacher, and am married to a librarian! Don't worry, we have books!

Congrats!

@regmcfly Listen to this great podcast, it's not very active but it has some great fun stories from Vinny, Dave Snider, Will Smith and others about baby stuff, it's very entertaining and you'll probably learn something from other perspectives:

https://www.tested.com/bunch-of-dads/

@forcen: whoah! Didn't even know that exists! Thank you!

Congrats OP! My wife and I are expecting abounding baby something or other in mid December. We’re gonna have Doomers!

Congrats!

I don’t have any kids, so everything I know is hearing from my brother and others about what they learned and such from having kids.

Many moons ago, I bought my brother a Vita around the time he was having his first kid, because I loved the suspend feature and the battery. He ended up really loving the Vita and now likes his Switch. The Vita years was also before he had a console like the PS4 that can suspend games. Having at least some option to stop what you’re doing so you can take care of baby stuff or games where you don’t need a long session to get anything done seems like a big plus.

Also, hearing about this baby box as somebody who lives in the US is wild.

@clagnaught: the baby box puts many countries to shame, including our neighbours down there. Turns out in Scotland we actually care about the next gen (or that we have societal problems we need to fix)