‘I refuse to change my son’s nappies at night – I need my eight hours sleep’

A dad has come under fire after arguing he shouldn’t have to get up to change his five-week-old son’s nappy through the night as his wife is already up feeding him

 

A new dad is being ridiculed online after confessing he believes his wife should change all of his newborn son’s nappies through the night – despite the fact they’re both on parental leave.

Taking to Reddit, the dad explained that he and his wife welcomed their first child just five weeks ago and he has been exclusively breastfed since birth.

Of course, this means that his wife is solely responsible for feeding their little one, and he says she’s up three to four times a night, feeding for up to 40 minutes at a time – which we can all agree is exhausting just to think about.

During the night time feeds, the man has also been getting up so he can change the baby’s nappies, giving the mum time to refresh and rehydrate following the feeds. Sounds fair, right? Well, not according to this man, who believes his exhausted wife may as well change all the nappies through the night, as well as doing all the feeds, as she’s already up.

“My partner thinks that I should do all the night time diaper changes since she’s breastfeeding. Her argument is that since she’s nursing day and night, it’s only fair,” the man explained on Reddit’s Am I The A**hole forum.

“She says she needs time to go to the bathroom, drink water, etc, while I am changing the diaper. In her view: I am often grouchy, need to be asked multiple times to get up, and sometimes argue if he even needs to be changed.”

The man went on to say that while he is also on parental leave at the moment, when he goes back to work in construction, he will “need a full eight hours’ sleep.” Don’t we all?

“She will be on leave for the next 18 months. We go to bed at 9pm, and I get up with our dogs at 6 am and she’s up with the baby an hour or two later,” he added.

Turning to Reddit, the man questioned whether people thought he or his wife was in the wrong over the matter, and it’s fair to say he took a bit of a beating.

“Your wife is exhausted, physically and due to lack of sleep. You have no excuse especially while you’re on parental leave. She does need to use the bathroom, drink water, whatever – to take care of herself, so she can take care of your son,” one Reddit user commented.

“Parenthood is about shared responsibilities and partnership. You need to grow up and share the burden. There’s only room for one baby in your family, and it’s not you. Time to be a dad. It’s hard, but tough s*** — this is your moment to decide what kind of father, and ultimately husband, you want to be.”

Meanwhile, another added: “Newsflash, your days of eight hours sleep are over for at least a few years. My kids are five and eight and sometimes they still wake up in the night, thankfully not often but you have to be there when they do.

“Your ‘need’ for eight hours sleep is bulls***. I was a fitness instructor teaching early morning classes and doing PT sessions on virtually no sleep at all during the dreaded sleep regression phases, but I got on with it because I had to, and you will too.

“You really need to rethink your outlook on being a parent as if you don’t your baby mum is gonna hate you.”