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dad is careless and stubborn

2 replies

Sadpanda78 · 03/11/2018 00:42

my two girls were born 12 weeks early and spent last 4 month's since they were born in premature unit. they both have chronic lung disease. twin one has been home just over a week and on oxygen support 24 hours a day. and my partner is making my life so difficult. he works hard and long hours but doesn't help with night feeds or changes. if I ask for him to fetch me her medicians and milk while I change nappy he just brings the stuff and dumps it on the side and throws himself back into bed. he moans anytime I ask him to pass me a nappy or dummy if I get an actual response from him at all. he props her up on the sofa and just leaves her, pulls her clothes to lift her up when she has been lying on his chest so her clothes are tight round her neck and her head isnt supported. I left her in the moses basket on the floor in the living room while I went to get her night feed ready and when I came back he was asleep and the basket hood had fallen down and was covering her face. I have asked calmly, tried explaining why the things he does is wrong / dangerous, that they make me fee extreamly anxious (I'm suffering from really bad anxiety and have suffered from depression since the birth. I've tried shouting and telling him but he just seems to be even more stubborn or just blanks me. is there a parenting class for new dad's I could have him go to or anyone suggest ways to get through to him? are all new dad's this bad or just him?? he's not stupid and loves and adores the girls so I don't understand why hes doing this. it's like the more I tell him the more he does it. like what I'm saying is rubbish so no point in taking any notice. I just don't know what else I can do to get it in his head. I feel I can't leave him alone with her now as she's not safe and he is so careless with her. sorry for long post!

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
AdultHumanFemale · 03/11/2018 01:42

Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful twin girls Flowers
Caring for just one healthy baby is exhausting, and I can only imagine what you are going through, mothering your babies. Well done.
I think what you are describing is much more common than people let on, sadly. I think that the reality of becoming a dad for the first time is really shocking for some men, even more so if there has been a traumatic delivery. And while mothers (aware I am wildly generalising) just have to get right in there straight away, irrespective of how shit they feel, truly learning overnight the meaning of selfless service, some men flounder in the time after birth, for all sorts of reasons, and fail to 'show up' as the fathers and partners the new circumstances require them to be. They may or may not be aware of what is behind it, but selfishness, a reluctance to place the needs of others ahead of their own for a sustained period, a misplaced sense of entitlement, jealousy, an inability to work through exhaustion, insecurity, not knowing how to handle that they don't know how to do it, not wanting to ask for support, resentment of a change of spousal priorities, to name a few, seem to be common factors.
I see you have tried to approach your DP in a variety of ways with little success. I think you are unlikely to see a change until either
a) he has some kind of epiphany to relieve him of this character flaw, and which switches him on to a more intrinsic sense of motivation to do right by you and his children, or
b) things start to get a bit easier in a few months and it stops being too strenuous or difficult to participate more fully in parenting
I am not sure a parenting class will bring about the change you hope for and jolly well deserve, it runs deeper than that; he needs to appreciate the complete inequality of the set-up he is forcing on you, understand that the normal limitations of physical capability also apply to you, and that going to work everyday is a walk in the park compared to caring for just one baby around the clock with minimal assistance, let alone multiples or a poorly baby. Mothers with partners like these are forced into an impossible situation where they have to carry on caring as you can't just go on strike, and so are left carrying a huge emotional, physical, logistical and psychological load. And it is so much more difficult to do when one's spouse is unkind, critical or dismissive to boot.
I have known so many male partners, apparently competent, intelligent and committed, become first class pricks when their babies are born, even if they like to keep up appearances to friends and family, and their long suffering wives and girlfriends don't want to blow their cover Sad My own DP took a while to get his head around the stark realities of parenthood, and although he got there in the end, I can never unsee the deliberately useless incompetence of his early days months of fatherhood, and I have definitely lost some respect for him as a result.
I wish you all the best, and lots of courage and strength.

MyShinyWhiteTeeth · 03/11/2018 02:36

Does he fake being a better dad when others are around? I noticed my ex being a bit like this when it was just us but putting on an attentive father and partner in front of others.

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