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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

No more staying at my ex house

352 replies

Nomoresleepovers · 01/01/2022 17:01

Me and my ex share custody of our 4 1/2 year old son. His house is a 1 hour train ride away so to settle our son in I have stayed over for probably a total of 10 days? For the last 3 months to help settle our son in to sleep over by themselves. (The reason for the settling is that we had been separated for two years and our son had never spent the night alone with them plus they used to live much further away so visitation was infrequent/COVID travel restrictions are strict in our country)

The problem is that our son still breastfeeds to sleep (not great I know) but I have been working on this. At Christmas they had their first "Big Boy" sleepover and although they went to bed late and threw tantrums they did get to sleep for both the nights by midnight. I have praised my son greatly etc however because I have had family visiting who are unwell and have mental health issues and I live in a small flat I have not forced my son not to breastfeed to sleep between the 26th to now I did not offer etc (family members left 1 day ago) as it would have been detrimental to family members health.

I have taken steps to ease my Ds off breastfeeding such as wearing tight tops to bed strict bed times, warm milk before bed and now my family member has left their bed will be moved back into our room so no more co sleeping.

My ex is angry at me for not continuing the no breastfeeding and is meant to have them again soon for a sleepover but is asking me to come stay over for the 2-3 nights to "help build the child's confidence back up".

AIBU that it is better for our child to go stay without me and that my ex has to deal with it like any parent or grandparent would and it would actually help the child stop needing the comfort before bed?

I would like to say my ex isn't a bad father and does care greatly for our child but they are more of a Disney dad and expects me to do all the hard stuff.

OP posts:
christmascharade · 02/01/2022 10:07

@RedHelenB

Yabu to still bf to sleep when you know that your son is regularly sleeping elsewhere. However, I do think the child's father should have him by himself, without you there.
Again, this is nonsense.

Many mothers feed toddlers or older DC to sleep, but shares bedtime duties with a father, no problem.

The issue here is the tantrums. Blaming it on BFing us obscuring whatever the real issue is.

As people in the UK in modern times aren't used to older DC BFing, it's really common when there's an issue to jump straight to the BFing as the issue.

But BFing isn't the issue here, it's the tantrumming and the ex expected the OP to solve his parenting issues.

christmascharade · 02/01/2022 10:21

When I moved to a new area, a HV came to visit us.

DS was 18 months. She raised an eyebrow when I said I was still BFing DS, mostly as part of his bedtime routine.

She asked if I needed any help or found anything difficult. I said sometimes DS was hard to get to sleep.

At this point she pounced on the BFing, told me DS was having trouble getting to sleep because BFing was making him too full up, like eating food just before bed. (This is total bollocks by the way.)

It was striking that she didn't ask anything else before blaming BFing - no questions about where he slept (in my bed, bet she would have been horrified!), how many layers he wore, if it was noisy, what his bedtime routine consisted of, or anything else that might impact sleep.

HVs receive very little training on BFing, but still I would hope she knew that the World Health Organisation's advice is that all DC should be BF until AT LEAST two years old, and that 18 months is perfectly normal.

This is the kind of shit that natural term BFers have to put up with. Issues are ALWAYS blamed on BFing and on the mother. There is huge pressure fir mothers to stop BFing unnecessarily, from when babies are quite young.

The issues are is the trantrumming and the ex's attitude towards parenting his child. This is what the OP needs support with, not a load of people who don't understand that their aversion to BFing older DC is purely cultural and not in the best interests of the child.

FWIW, the reason my DS found it difficult to sleep was likely linked to his autism..We didn't find out he was autistic until a lot later though.

I don't know much about severe tantrumming, so I don't know what advice to offer. I know that BFing isn't going to be the root problem though.

girlmom21 · 02/01/2022 10:21

But BFing isn't the issue here, it's the tantrumming and the ex expected the OP to solve his parenting issues.

But the tantrumming is because of the OP's parenting issues.

Ileflottante · 02/01/2022 10:31

We get it Christmascharade you’re super pro extended breastfeeding. But you saying the breastfeeding is clouding the real issue is disingenuous. The breastfeeding is the issue as this kid is violently demanding it from her mother, who consistently caves in (she allows her to feed to stop tantrums, she asks her to try to sleep and if she ‘can’t’ whips her boob out, the kid is helping herself as soon as her mother falls asleep, the kid is attempting manipulation by saying she’s a baby and therefore needs breastfeeding) and it’s because of the mother’s failure to introduce the idea of weaning that the kid is tantrumming at bedtime at her father’s. I’m not saying the father is a stand-up guy trying his best, but the mother seems to want her daughter to have a relationship with him.

The situation whereby the mother is travelling to her ex’s house to feed this primary school child to sleep and then staying over herself is utterly absurd. And at the root of it all is the failure to wean at night and consistently giving in to the kid’s increasingly violent demands for it.

Guineapigssweak · 02/01/2022 10:37

4 1/2 is far too old to be breast fed. It does not benefit the child as they eat a sensible varied diet. It must be for your benefit as you can't let go of the baby stage. If you want your child to mature and grow and learn to be independent then stop the breast feeding it's simple!

christmascharade · 02/01/2022 10:40

But the tantrumming is because of the OP's parenting issues

You know this, how?

It's possible the OP's child has SN, or there is something emotional / trauma based going on.

VERY common, also, for mothers to be blamed for their parenting when a child is exhibiting difficult behaviour, without trying to understand if there is a different cause.

I remember I got absolutely slated on here when I tried to explain how difficult I was finding parenting my toddler, and about him always running off. Lots of people very ready to tell me I was doing it all wrong / making a mountain out of a molehill. I felt like a terrible mother, I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong.

As DS was my first, I didn't have any other child to compare him to, I lacked the understanding or language to be able to communicate that he genuinely was much harder to deal with than most at that age.

When his younger sister grew into being a toddler, the differences were so huge. She would respond to standard parenting techniques for example, where he just wouldn't.

Later we discovered he's autistic. That was the real issue, not my parenting.

So many people were so quick to blame me though. It wasn't helpful.

girlmom21 · 02/01/2022 10:41

@christmascharade we know this because he settled for his dad and the tantrums weren't as bad for him - by OP's own admission.

christmascharade · 02/01/2022 10:42

@Guineapigssweak

4 1/2 is far too old to be breast fed. It does not benefit the child as they eat a sensible varied diet. It must be for your benefit as you can't let go of the baby stage. If you want your child to mature and grow and learn to be independent then stop the breast feeding it's simple!
It really must be for your benefit

We really should be playing BFing myths bingo.

Total bollocks. As someone said upthread, anyone who thinks this obviously hasn't BF a toddler.

liveforsummer · 02/01/2022 11:03

I do agree it's for OP's benefit although not in the way implied. I think it's the easy option as the alternative is and extreme reaction. It's certainly no longer in the DC's best interest when she's melting down and hurting animals or her parent when she can't immediately get it. Especially when a living situation means seeing the other prentice separately. This needs addressed now

ChargingBuck · 02/01/2022 11:15

My ex is angry at me for not continuing the no breastfeeding and is meant to have them again soon for a sleepover but is asking me to come stay over for the 2-3 nights to "help build the child's confidence back up".

Your ex can be as angry as he wants - he doesn't get to dictate.
He can also take some responsibility & build his own child's confidence up FFS. He's a parent. It's his job. Tell him so.

But ... YABU for your pronoun usage. You have already told us you have a son, so why are you referring to him as "they"? It's confusing to read, & completely unnecessary.

liveforsummer · 02/01/2022 11:19

@ChargingBuck turns out OP's dc is actually a girl

aSofaNearYou · 02/01/2022 11:19

I see his point tbh, I don't think extended breastfeeding is really realistic when the child has seperated parents.

Bagamoyo1 · 02/01/2022 11:29

Why can’t you call your son “he”?

Bagamoyo1 · 02/01/2022 11:34

@Bagamoyo1

Why can’t you call your son “he”?
I’ve just seen that your child is a girl. But if you’re pretending it’s a boy, why not say “he”? Very strange.
christmascharade · 02/01/2022 11:41

@aSofaNearYou

I see his point tbh, I don't think extended breastfeeding is really realistic when the child has seperated parents.
Yet again, plenty of families do extended BFing but both parents put the DC to bed. Toddlers can understand that dads don't have breasts, so can't BF them.

Being separated is not a reason to stop BFing.

toddybell · 02/01/2022 11:51

Oh ffs, it's he, him and his?! You've clearly said it's your son so not sure why the pronoun confusion.

Tell your ex to fuck off and he can have the child once you've both finished BF or put an end to BF and your ex can deal with the fallout at his.

aSofaNearYou · 02/01/2022 12:00

*Yet again, plenty of families do extended BFing but both parents put the DC to bed. Toddlers can understand that dads don't have breasts, so can't BF them.

Being separated is not a reason to stop BFing.*

I don't agree with you, that's the thing about opinions. If you have a child who needs to go to stay with their other parent, I don't honestly believe it is practical to extend breastfeeding to this extent. The parental relationship takes priority to me.

christmascharade · 02/01/2022 12:09

@aSofaNearYou

*Yet again, plenty of families do extended BFing but both parents put the DC to bed. Toddlers can understand that dads don't have breasts, so can't BF them.

Being separated is not a reason to stop BFing.*

I don't agree with you, that's the thing about opinions. If you have a child who needs to go to stay with their other parent, I don't honestly believe it is practical to extend breastfeeding to this extent. The parental relationship takes priority to me.

What are you on about?

IME, most DC who do extended BFing have no problem with understanding that their father can so put them to bed but can't BF.

Where they do have issues it's often to do with familiarity - they're used to their mum putting then to bed and not their dad. This is often an issue where one parent had done the majority of parenting after separating, regardless of whether they BF or not.

The way to deal with this is for the dad to find what works for them, through trial and error, exactly the same as mums do.

aSofaNearYou · 02/01/2022 12:22

@christmascharade Look you've made your position on this thread very clear, but you don't own it.

When a child has seperated parents steps need to be taken to ensure they are able to cope with spending time away from both of them, so that they can have a positive and healthy relationship with them both separately. In my opinion. Yours is different, but there's no need to say "what are you on about", it's obvious what I'm on about, and as many agree with me as agree with you.

Mickarooni · 02/01/2022 12:24

@christmascharade

You mentioned judgement about an 18 month old which is quite bizarre of the HV, that’s still very young. This scenario is a much older child!

AliceA2021 · 02/01/2022 12:31

It is difficult for him to step up to being a parent when child has a tantrum at bedtime if no breast to feed on. It appeared that you were weaning him off BF but then went back.

Your son has learnt behaviours eg he tantrums and he gets what he wants, in this case BF. A 4.5 year old child violently grabbing to get BF is not normal at all.

douliket · 02/01/2022 12:33

I'm sorry but a child that old, getting violent to grab the breast of his mother to feed does not sound one bit healthy or okay.
This is why babies are breast or bottle fed and children of that age eat and drink independently. You are definitely being unreasonable here.

DropYourSword · 02/01/2022 12:34

@Nomoresleepovers

I have dyslexia and my child's actually a girl. I just didn't want my ex stalking me again and using this thread to threaten me or something
This makes so much more sense now. I was wondering why all the “they” “their” “themselves” references!
douliket · 02/01/2022 12:39

Also, how did you possibly think this would be healthy to bf a child to this age. Weaning a baby is tough but straightforward and the baby has no memory. Your son is going through an awful traumatic time,becoming
Violent and aggressive, all of which he will now have memories of. You have made it a whole lot more difficulty for this child,a baby can be distracted easier but at his age you have made it a lot more difficult.

OnaBegonia · 02/01/2022 12:41

they scream, cry shout, kick punch slam doors , hurt the cats destroy the room, try to leave the flat
This is extreme, do not allow them to hurt your pets, think maybe more going on than stopping BF, does your child get their way over everything?

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