[irahul]

> Is there a reason why women should take care of newborns full time? Yes, that's what is natural (meaning occurs in nature).

A lot of things happen in nature. But is there a reason a women is required to raise an offspring? Apart from breast-milk, there isn't anything a man can't do.

> Is there any reason her husband shouldn't help her? I don't really see one.

No reason at all. I am more interested in parent's comment about woman required to take care of babies. Let alone helping, I don't see a reason why a man can't raise a baby all by himself.

[param]

http://www.thelizlibrary.org/site-index/site-index-frame.htm...

This seems to have a number of references.

[Produce]

And this is the whole problem with taking a rational approach to something you know nothing about - you get the wrong answers because you are acting on the wrong information. As pointed out by param, there is a mountain of research on this subject which clearly indicates that a mother is essential to a child's development. A growing body of research shows that a present father is also very important. Nonetheless, we are adapted to the condition of the mother being present during our development, therefore it holds more weight than the father being present. Both parents being present improves things futher.