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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DH refuses to measure bottles

209 replies

CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 15:57

DH refuses to measure the water and formula scoops when making bottles for our baby. The bottles have measurement lines on there. You just pour to your desired line, and sometimes pour a little out if it’s too much. But he says that’s too difficult to do. He also refuses to use the built-in level in the formula can to make the scoops exact so you know how much you’re giving her. He says, “that’s not how cooking works.” And “I just eyeball it.” He tries to eyeball the measurement, but it’s really not difficult to go ahead and use the level. Yet he refuses.

AIBU to demand he measure properly? Or am I being too fastidious?

OP posts:
diddl · 06/06/2025 18:03

I'm surprised he didn't realise that it could be dangerous.

Cherrytree86 · 06/06/2025 18:04

What a stupid lazy bastard. Sorry you’re having to deal with this Op @CharmingDryad 💐

FOJN · 06/06/2025 18:05

Needspaceforlego · 06/06/2025 17:55

Op glad he's seen sense. But why are men to stupid?

It's primarily arrogance and I wonder if there is a bit of misogyny in there too; raising babies is women's work, how hard can it be/mum is making a meal out of something simple, type of thing.

I wish people would stop conflating academic qualifications with intelligence, he's clearly educated but otherwise he's as thick as shit.

readingismycardio · 06/06/2025 18:08

I’ve never heard such a stupid thing in my life. It’s dangerous, too.

LouiseMadetheBestBroccoliPasta · 06/06/2025 18:09

OP, your H is an arrogant idiot and a terrible father. He also has misogynist views and doesn't respect you, otherwise he'd have listened to YOU, instead of forcing you to come to MN. I suggest you read this article by Zawn Villines, it is highly pertinent. Here are some snippets:

"We just have different parenting styles!" How men escape accountability for bad parenting

It’s the tool everyone weaponizes against mothers who have researched extensively to be the best possible parents they can—a weapon that instantaneously lets men off the hook, and casts blame at the feet of every mother who thinks parenting should involve more than merely reacting.

“We just have different parenting styles!”

Therapists weaponize it, too, telling mothers that they need to be on the same page with their co-parent, and suggesting that it’s somehow the mother’s responsibility to ensure this happens. At school and in extracurricular activities, educators weaponize parenting disagreements to paint mothers as hovering, anxious and incompetent, even as their foolish coparents bungle everything (in the rare event they even bother to show up).

If you’ve heard this bullshit one too many times, you’re not alone. Hundreds of readers have asked me to address this. Most of them tell me about the hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of hours they’ve spent researcher parenting, only to hear from their co-parent that this research doesn’t matter, because he has a different “opinion” (read: uninformed emotionally reactive view of parenting).

In my recent parenting survey, a striking trend emerged: Women spent exponentially more time researching parenting, partnering with experts, questioning their own behavior, pushing back on generational trauma, and more than their male partners. Women put in more effort, and spent more time with their kids—all the necessary ingredients for becoming true parenting experts.
Their male partners parent by emotion only, doing whatever feels right to them in the moment. And then, when women push back against them, they insist that the problem is “different standards.”

The hidden cultural assumptions about parenting

Patriarchy loves to pretend that parenting is easy. Because if parenting requires no special skill, then mothers are not worthy of veneration, and we can continue to treat them like they’re stupid. If parenting is easy, there’s no reason to invest in social structures that make parenting easier, nor any value in mothers’ unique contributions to the world. ...

Mothering—even mediocre mothering—is an incredibly demanding task requiring immense skill, patience, time, and resources.

But it’s in men’s interests to pretend it’s not. Because as long as men are able to convince themselves that motherhood is not skilled labor, and that mothers make no significant sacrifices to learn how to parent better, they don’t have to acknowledge the ways in which they exploit their partners. And they certainly don’t have to consider that they should step up and do some fucking work, too.

Therapists, pediatricians, and other experts fall into this trap, too. Even though they know that parenting is hard work, patriarchy works hard, too. And it’s convinced a lot of experts that what really matters is that parents are on the same page. They intuitively understand that parents should be putting in equal work. But rather than demanding equity from men, they instead pretend that things are equal, and treat both partners’ opinions as equally valid. ...

It’s not socially acceptable to announce, “Actually, I think you should do all of the hard parenting labor, and I shouldn’t have to do anything I don’t want to. I also think moms are kind of dumb, experts know nothing, and that every fleeting emotional impulse I have is unassailable, and I therefore believe I should parent however I goddamn well please, consequences be damned, without ever facing any pushback.

But that’s what most sexist men actually believe.

So instead, they reduce the above nonsense to something much more palatable: Our standards are different! Where he has no standards, and she has done all the work to establish reasonable standards that he’ll undermine for the rest of their kids’ lives.

https://zawn.substack.com/p/we-just-have-different-parenting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

OP, your H should be deeply GRATEFUL that you are such a good and attentive parent and that you fought for your daughter's wellbeing against his arrant sexist stupidity.

Results of the parenting survey

Typical parenting practices, gender differences in parenting style, how parenthood affects parents, and so much more

https://zawn.substack.com/p/results-of-the-parenting-survey

pyjamalife · 06/06/2025 18:14

Only read OPs posts so sorry if repeating, out on a dog walk.

Why not get the little tommee tipped pots and pre measure the formula. I found it so much easier that way, then he just has to focus on the water line.

Glad he's agreed to take you baby's health seriously now.

Garibald · 06/06/2025 18:14

He's being fucking stupid and dangerous. This isn't cooking where it doesn't matter whether you use a pinch more basil. Bottles have to be measured to ensure your baby gets the right nutrition and correct ratio of water to milk. He's going to harm your baby.

Merrygoround8 · 06/06/2025 18:15

This guy is a twat

Fingernailbiter · 06/06/2025 18:15

CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 17:28

He’s admitted he was wrong. I’m going to ask him to apologize to the baby directly when we get her from daycare to tonight. So he can feel the gravity of what he did.

That would be ridiculous. I hope you’re joking.

uncomfortablydumb60 · 06/06/2025 18:15

Lawyer or not, I'm glad he's not acting for me in court.
I hope for DD's sake he has wised up now
He should be ashamed of himself.

ERthree · 06/06/2025 18:16

CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 16:33

Thanks MN for all these scathing comments. He has been an idiot. Ironically he has three graduate degrees and teaches at a law school! I’ve read the comments to him, and he’s now admitted he was wrong and promised to measure properly from now on. Win!

And there is the crux of the matter, all the gear and no idea. Might have brains but not an ounce of common sense.

CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 18:18

GingerPaste · 06/06/2025 17:35

He ‘refused’ to do it!? What an arrogant arsehole. Some people might see that as neglect.

What’s he like otherwise?

He’s an enthusiastic new dad. But he is really lacking common sense sometimes and is then stubborn about it. He is not neurodivergent in anyway, but struggles with basic things. He can’t follow directions and so says he “doesn’t believe in using directions.” I’m the assembler and fixit person in our house. But he does cook meals and take care of cats and plants. I am worried he won’t be careful enough with certain aspects of baby care. I feel I need to watch him and make sure to train him properly! Not a great feeling.

OP posts:
uncomfortablydumb60 · 06/06/2025 18:19

Apologise to the baby? I hope you're joking
you both need to educate yourselves PDQ
You have your DD's life in your hands!

CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 18:25

LouiseMadetheBestBroccoliPasta · 06/06/2025 18:09

OP, your H is an arrogant idiot and a terrible father. He also has misogynist views and doesn't respect you, otherwise he'd have listened to YOU, instead of forcing you to come to MN. I suggest you read this article by Zawn Villines, it is highly pertinent. Here are some snippets:

"We just have different parenting styles!" How men escape accountability for bad parenting

It’s the tool everyone weaponizes against mothers who have researched extensively to be the best possible parents they can—a weapon that instantaneously lets men off the hook, and casts blame at the feet of every mother who thinks parenting should involve more than merely reacting.

“We just have different parenting styles!”

Therapists weaponize it, too, telling mothers that they need to be on the same page with their co-parent, and suggesting that it’s somehow the mother’s responsibility to ensure this happens. At school and in extracurricular activities, educators weaponize parenting disagreements to paint mothers as hovering, anxious and incompetent, even as their foolish coparents bungle everything (in the rare event they even bother to show up).

If you’ve heard this bullshit one too many times, you’re not alone. Hundreds of readers have asked me to address this. Most of them tell me about the hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of hours they’ve spent researcher parenting, only to hear from their co-parent that this research doesn’t matter, because he has a different “opinion” (read: uninformed emotionally reactive view of parenting).

In my recent parenting survey, a striking trend emerged: Women spent exponentially more time researching parenting, partnering with experts, questioning their own behavior, pushing back on generational trauma, and more than their male partners. Women put in more effort, and spent more time with their kids—all the necessary ingredients for becoming true parenting experts.
Their male partners parent by emotion only, doing whatever feels right to them in the moment. And then, when women push back against them, they insist that the problem is “different standards.”

The hidden cultural assumptions about parenting

Patriarchy loves to pretend that parenting is easy. Because if parenting requires no special skill, then mothers are not worthy of veneration, and we can continue to treat them like they’re stupid. If parenting is easy, there’s no reason to invest in social structures that make parenting easier, nor any value in mothers’ unique contributions to the world. ...

Mothering—even mediocre mothering—is an incredibly demanding task requiring immense skill, patience, time, and resources.

But it’s in men’s interests to pretend it’s not. Because as long as men are able to convince themselves that motherhood is not skilled labor, and that mothers make no significant sacrifices to learn how to parent better, they don’t have to acknowledge the ways in which they exploit their partners. And they certainly don’t have to consider that they should step up and do some fucking work, too.

Therapists, pediatricians, and other experts fall into this trap, too. Even though they know that parenting is hard work, patriarchy works hard, too. And it’s convinced a lot of experts that what really matters is that parents are on the same page. They intuitively understand that parents should be putting in equal work. But rather than demanding equity from men, they instead pretend that things are equal, and treat both partners’ opinions as equally valid. ...

It’s not socially acceptable to announce, “Actually, I think you should do all of the hard parenting labor, and I shouldn’t have to do anything I don’t want to. I also think moms are kind of dumb, experts know nothing, and that every fleeting emotional impulse I have is unassailable, and I therefore believe I should parent however I goddamn well please, consequences be damned, without ever facing any pushback.

But that’s what most sexist men actually believe.

So instead, they reduce the above nonsense to something much more palatable: Our standards are different! Where he has no standards, and she has done all the work to establish reasonable standards that he’ll undermine for the rest of their kids’ lives.

https://zawn.substack.com/p/we-just-have-different-parenting?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

OP, your H should be deeply GRATEFUL that you are such a good and attentive parent and that you fought for your daughter's wellbeing against his arrant sexist stupidity.

Thanks for this. It’s a struggle to negotiate the new dynamics in our relationship now that we’re parents. I’m also reading “How not to hate your husband after kids.” It’s helpful. I recommend it.

OP posts:
CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 18:27

Fingernailbiter · 06/06/2025 18:15

That would be ridiculous. I hope you’re joking.

Edited

Why is it ridiculous to have him apologize to the baby? I want him to look at his precious baby and admit he put her health at risk so he truly feels it and learns from this mistake.

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 06/06/2025 18:29

CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 16:18

The baby was primarily breastfed for the first four months, with formula top ups. Now she’s formula fed. Thank you for all these comments.

Is it too late to get the HV to speak to him in words of one syllable?

marmaladeandpeanutbutter · 06/06/2025 18:32

My brother was fed double scoops of formula as a baby by my silly headed mother, who thought she was helping him. He lost weight dangerously and ended up in hospital.

Nanny0gg · 06/06/2025 18:32

CharmingDryad · 06/06/2025 18:27

Why is it ridiculous to have him apologize to the baby? I want him to look at his precious baby and admit he put her health at risk so he truly feels it and learns from this mistake.

Because it's pretty meaningless as she won't have a clue

Performative parenting doesn't help either

MikeRafone · 06/06/2025 18:34

Tell him it’s not how science works and to stop being irresponsible

Orangemintcream · 06/06/2025 18:37

Weaponised incompetence. What a cunt.

LouiseMadetheBestBroccoliPasta · 06/06/2025 18:39

I've read it. I found the presentation of the H as well meaning but haplessly bumbling quite annoying and perpetuating the idea that men can't parent well and women have to run around trying to teach men to parent. And some of the things that guy did were pretty bad.

I get that that the book is meant to be digestible for men too - god forbid they feel 'attacked' - but tbh I thought it was just encouraging women to work even harder and to stay in marriages with men who shouldn't be married and shouldn't have children.

I hope in your case that your H has learned some humilty and that he starts researching for himself how he can be a better parent to his daughter.

Babyboomtastic · 06/06/2025 18:39

For 95% of people this would be stupid.

For a very small number their 'eyeballing it's will be shockingly accurate and then it's less of a big deal.

If I am the sort of person who can measure out (for example) 100g of flour by sight, and it's always within a few grams, then that's fine.

I wouldn't personally feel comfortable taking the risk he was in that magical few percent though.

TonTonMacoute · 06/06/2025 18:39

Youve chosen the wrong man to breed with!

Pebbles16 · 06/06/2025 18:40

TomatoSandwiches · 06/06/2025 16:00

He's a fucking idiot.

THIS

TwinklySquid · 06/06/2025 18:42

He needs to measure correctly. It’s important. Get him to read the instructions out loud to you.

Do you do cooking for the household? I’d start doing weaponised incompetence back by adding too much salt or spice because you are doing it by eye.

Same for washing his clothes. Don’t put enough powder in.

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