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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be furious with DP for nearly suffocating our baby?

90 replies

AlmondAmy · 23/03/2015 13:42

Our baby is 3 months old. We also have a 2 yo who's being assessed for ASD and is up anywhere up to 20 times a night. Our 7 yo sleep walks/talks and has night terrors 4/5 times per week. DP sleeps through all the goings on in the night and wakes up completely oblivious asking if the kids and I slept well.

On Saturday he fell asleep at 9pm, despite not having got up til 10am and slept until 8 yesterday morning. Itook the older two for a bath at 7 last night and when I came down to get something ten mins later he was asleep holding the baby and she wasaasleep with her face squashed into the pillows. Last week I came in just in time to stop her rolling off him when he fell asleep at 8pm.

He has no health problems and would quite happily/easily stay awake if sex was on the agenda so falling asleep with the baby - when he has no reason to be tired - makes me furious. His response last night was to apologise and say he'll give me the baby to take with me to bath the others if he feels tired next time...!

OP posts:
AlmondAmy · 23/03/2015 23:13

I still see to the 2 yo if I'm ill. I put her to bed while 7cm dilated in labour with the baby and got up with her that night too as I had a home birth. If DP goes to her she screams the house down, throws herself around so much she hurts herself, poos herself and is sick. Twenty times per night is worst case and usually once a week or so. Most nights it's 4-5 times and she re-settles within 5 minutes, whereas if DP tried I don't think she would - or it'd certainly take much longer and wake the others. I actually am not that tired. As long as I get 3-4 hours I feel fine.

Yes I co-sleep and breastfeed with baby not on pillow or in my covers. I co-slept with the others too and am aware of how to do it safely. When he's rolling around and waking baby I consider going to the sofa with her so we can get a better sleep but then think it's ridiculous that we should have to leave the bed and he gets to stay in it when he's getting over double the amount of sleep I am.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 23/03/2015 23:17

Is he still waking the entire house up to go to the gym?

Your partner is a prize dicksmack.

What will it take for you to see that he is not only that but also fucking dangerous?

AlmondAmy · 23/03/2015 23:25

He's still going expat, yes.
If we were to separate, he'd be unsupervised with the children - that is not a good option.

OP posts:
Joyfulldeathsquad · 23/03/2015 23:34

Amy - things need to change. What are you getting out of this?

funambulist · 23/03/2015 23:39

Amy you absolutely mustn't sleep with the baby on the sofa. It's really, really dangerous. And I'm not saying that as someone who is against co-sleeping. I co-slept with all of mine, as they were terrible sleepers and it was the only way I could get enough sleep to function.

HopefulHamster · 23/03/2015 23:42

I co-sleep, but I would never do it on a sofa. Nice firm bed with no bedding or pillows around, mum inbetween dad and baby, fine. Sofa no.

Rest of situation sounds dire. Sorry, OP :(

TheWintersmith · 23/03/2015 23:47

hed be unsupervised with the children

Doubt it. From what you've said on here, you wouldn't see the fucker for dust.
Parenting his own kids? Doing the actual work of parenting? Fat chance.

Northernlurker · 23/03/2015 23:48

He wouldn't have to be unsupervised with the kids. The baby is too young and the 2 yr old clearly won't tolerate that. He will need to see them but you wouldn't have to leave him alone certainly at the moment. TBH though - that's the biggest sign yet he needs to go. A man who can't be trusted with his kids shouldn't be living in the same house as them.

AnotherStitchInTime · 24/03/2015 00:06

Stop leaving the baby in the bed with him, you have been lucky this far. He should stay awake yes, but the risk of him not is too great.

I had a bedside crib for my youngest that converted to a regular crib too, might be an idea to get one to put baby in if you are not in the bed.

I have 3 kids 5 and under.

When ds was little I did bath time on my own by putting ds in his bouncy chair in the doorway of our tiny bathroom while I bathed the others. I also sometimes slept on the sofa with ds in the bouncy chair so I could get sleep after dd2 or dd1 came into our bed in the night and hogged the space. That might work as a temporary option for you.

It is not however the ideal long term solution. DH will only step up if you demand it and leave him to it. Your dd will adjust if you transition slowly to him taking over more care. He should be dealing with the eldest ones night wakings at the very least.

My DH now does nights with all 3 of mine because I work some nights. He is a deep sleeper and didn't have to do nights with my first two or ds until he was 10 months old. He had a steep learning curve, but says now he sleeps lighter on nights that I am not there because he has to.

Something has to give and it shouldn't be you, your health or sanity.

houseofnerds · 24/03/2015 04:38

You need to get your 2yo used to him in the daytime and at weekends, and then she will be fine with him at night. (Yes, two out of three of mine have additional needs) sometimes you have to go through the hard times to make it better all round in the longer term. It might seem easier now for you to do everything for her, but for both your sakes, you need to get her used to him (and ultimately other people) Far healthier for both of you.

He sounds as though he has a nasty head of ostrich syndrome, and has buried his head well in the sand. I assume he has been getting worse since your 2 yo was born, and probably diagnosed, and you have sheltered him from the realities of parenting both multiple children and especially kids with additional needs.

Time for all of you to readjust. It's not uncommon (it's boringly ordinary) but you are letting him get away with it. How many of her appointments does he go to? How much of her care does he do? It's great to know that you can cope and manage everything, but, it's a really easy habit to get into, to do everything and then be exhausted. (And for fathers who are on the fringes, become more disenfranchised and check out completely, because they are not required as a parent) - you know, going to the gym and having a life and everything, while the martyrdom continues apace with mum)

Tim for him to step up, or you will all go the same way as the rest of the statistics, with relationships not surviving having a child with a disability.

Make him do it. I suspect by your insistence that you can't leave, that you have no real desire to. So make him step up. Or pick up the baby and disappear for the weekend and let him cope with the others. Preferably at least once a month, so he actually gets used to sole care. Then when the baby is old enough, leave him with the three of them.

paxtecum · 24/03/2015 06:13

I think I would consider sleeping in the same room as the 2 year old and the baby.
DH can sod off and sleep wherever.

Would that work.
Could the 2 year old be calmed from a bed a next to her, rather than having to get up and go into her room.

Ineedacleaningfairy · 24/03/2015 07:32

It sounds like a really hard situation, it must be very frustrating that your dp is unable to look after either of your small children.

I think you just need to send him to the 2 year old when she wakes, yes it will be horrible but a distressed toddler is a better option than a dead baby, she wouldn't be alone she wouldn't be with a stranger she would be with her father and eventually they would learn to get through it together and it would probably be a positive thing for both the child and the father.

What were your plans if the homebirth didn't work? What if you or your breastfed baby need to have a stay in hospital and your unable to do all the wake ups/baths?

MiaowTheCat · 24/03/2015 10:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheSingingMonkey · 24/03/2015 13:08

Why won't the GP refer Miaow?

Naty1 · 24/03/2015 17:41

Miow- would losing weight help him with the apnea?
5am to go to the gym when he has a 3m old baby, he clearly isnt expending energy on the kids. I cant imagine many dads would have energy for that

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