🗓️ The major milestones of expectant and new fatherhood

What to keep handy

• Your own calendar, loaded with all the medical appointments (don't just rely on your partner's phone).
• A dedicated folder (physical or digital) with essential paperwork: pregnancy certificates, birth records, employer notices.
• A go-to contacts list: hospital/maternity unit, midwife, family doctor, health insurance.

Step by step

1. 1. During pregnancy

   Choose a maternity provider, ask about classes, plan transport and review leave eligibility and notice requirements early. A packed bag by week 36 is a planning suggestion, not a legal deadline.

2. 2. After birth

   Register the birth through the state/territory Births, Deaths and Marriages registry; myGov says registration is required within 60 days. Registration is free, while a certificate costs money. Check that registry’s naming rules and official baby-name statistics, and arrange Medicare enrolment separately.

3. 3. Follow-up

   Book newborn and postpartum care before discharge using the local schedule; do not assume the first infant visit is at one month or all first vaccinations are at two months.

4. 4. Leave

   For births/adoptions from 1 July 2025, eligible families can receive up to 120 Parental Leave Pay days (24 five-day weeks); from 1 July 2026 this increases to 130 days (26 weeks), with 20 days reserved for a partner when partnered at claim. This is not 26 weeks of paid leave for each parent. Services Australia payment eligibility and Fair Work unpaid job-protected leave are separate.

Same topic

• 🎒 Packing the nappy bag for an outing
• 🚗 Installing a car seat correctly
• 🌍 Out and about with baby: handling the outside world
• 🎁 The baby registry