Women's desire to have sex after giving birth has long been studied by researchers, but a new study explores how new dads adjust their sexual behavior after having a baby.

According to LiveScience, a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that having a child impacts the sexual desire of the mother as well as her partner. Research attributes low sex drive in partners during the weeks and months immediately following their baby's birth to things like stress, lack of time, and the baby's sleeping habits. Surprisingly, physiological factors like vaginal bleeding and breastfeeding were not as important in assessing sexual desire in new parents.

"People typically presume that hormonal changes or, more controversially, 'messy vaginas'...explain birth mothers' lack of sexuality, and that co-parents can't wait to be sexual," said study researcher Sari van Anders, an assistant professor of psychology and women's studies at the University of Michigan. "Our present research demonstrates that co-parents also experience variations in sexuality that relate to the very real social and relational changes that occur with having a baby."

Partners of 114 postpartum women completed an online questionnaire about their sex habits and feelings about sex during the three months immediately after their partner giving birth. More common than physical factors, emotional factors became of paramount importance in gauging sexual desire.

This study was preliminary, but will likely spark more research on how both mothers and their partners view sexuality after childbirth.

"Our results point to the need to look at a broader set of postpartum sexual experiences than just decreased desire or infrequent sex," said van Anders.

For more information on postpartum sex, visit the Mayo Clinic.