As the ultimate act of intimacy and trust is deciding to have a baby with your partner, we naturally like to imagine that the experience will bring us closer.

The reality? A range of research shows these bundles of joy can also be grenades in our relationships .

Nearly seven out of ten couples have a big drop in relationship satisfaction within the first three years after the birth of their first child, according to the Gottman Institute , one of the world’s leading centres for relationship studies. New Feature

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Between sleepless nights, financial worries and shifting identities , even the most solid couples can end up sniping over who’s more exhausted, who’s doing more, or who changed the last nappy.

It’s not getting any easie

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