Prince William Reveals How ‘Daunting’ It Is to Be a First-Time Father: ‘They are So Fragile’

He is already a father-of-three, so Prince William understands just how scary it may be to handle a newborn and he just candidly voiced his thoughts on the topic during a fatherhood panel discussion.

On Thursday, February 14, the 36-year-old took part in a charity’s “Future Dads” session, a program that helps build stronger families by offering support, advice and guidance for men becoming first-time fathers. While there, the Duke of Cambridge revealed how much he can relate to new fathers and the anxiety they deal with when a child is on the way. “The fear of having a newborn baby, that’s very vulnerable and that’s what you spend most of your time worrying about, thinking what do I do?” William said. “And that’s the thing isn’t it? It’s very daunting of how tiny they are when they first arrive.”

Kate Middleton‘s husband — who is a dad to Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and Prince Louis, 9 months — also added, “They are so fragile and everything’s so tiny, their little fingers and toes, you do feel like if you move them around too much they’re going to break almost but they don’t!”

Later on, during a round-table discussion, William talked about the mental health of a new dad. “From a young age, you’re a taught to kind of like have a vision, have a plan, have a career and then all of a sudden babies come along and then suddenly you have to start thinking about a lot more,” he explained. “And I think one of the things is, ladies are a lot more giving and I think a lot more generous, whereas I think guys we kind of get into trying to get into making a success of whatever we are trying to do, we get into a rhythm and then children come along and it’s like, ‘Which way do I go now?’“

The duke added, “I always wondered how that affects new dads’ mental health. Because it’s such a change, your whole life goes one way and then suddenly you’re taught that you’ve got to adapt.” William’s latest royal outing comes just after the Duchess of Cambridge, 37, made a similar appearance at the Mental Health in Education conference in London and talked about her experiences as a mother, revealing that she was “very naive as a parent” when they welcomed first child George back in July 2013.

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