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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Relationship advice

10 replies

Nay422 · 30/01/2018 13:07

My baby is 8 months old. She is truly wonderful. It has been over a year since her father started rejecting me because he was too tired and stressed or we'd argued. Whenever I raise it he tells me I'm welcome to leave. Problem is he owns our house so I would be homeless with my baby and our dog. Anyway this issue always leads to further arguements.

When I suggest speaking to a councillor he says he wont pay.

If I get upset and walk off crying he just ignores me until I give in and come back.

OP posts:
category12 · 30/01/2018 13:18

Not married, stay at home parent?

Nay422 · 30/01/2018 13:33

Not married year off work

OP posts:
GreenFingersWouldBeHandy · 30/01/2018 13:37

Well, he sounds like a right charmer. Do you have family/friends nearby who could help you to arrange a place of your own?

Nay422 · 30/01/2018 14:19

Thats the sad thing i have none. They have all passed away in the last 10 years. He knows this. Once he calms down hes all sorry and will try harder etc but when im upset he knows im not gonna go. He says he loves me very much and is just calling my bluff. I just want to shake him (I wouldn't) and tell him how much he's hurting me.

OP posts:
BadHatter · 30/01/2018 15:37

You guys have a new kid. He’s rightfully tired.

You see posts on here from mums who say that they sexually neglected their spouses for years after giving birth.

How do you make him feel loved and cared for when you’re not having a go at him?

Nay422 · 30/01/2018 16:01

Haha thats true although he has only ever got up in the night 3 times! But appreciate the adjustment is hard.

Yes you do raise a good point. I try to be as complimentary as I can and to support him as much as possible. I'm finding it harder to do this tho. I find I always put him first (not that he asks me to) and then get sad that he doesn't in return.

Thanks for making me realise this is my fault too sometimes I get caught up in the blame game.

OP posts:
mindutopia · 30/01/2018 16:52

Having a baby can be really hard on your relationship. I found especially that when our first was 7 to about 14 months old was the hardest. The earliest days were behind us. My dh was a bit back to having a normal life and having freedom and free time that I didn't have, and I was still exhausted and doing most of the childcare (back to work part-time from when she was 11 months) and still felt anything but normal. But it sounds like this has been going on from since before your baby was born.

It's not normal for one partner to 'reject' the other. Obviously both mums and dads can experience PND, but that doesn't sound like what's going on with him. He sounds mean and spiteful and controlling rather than depressed and overwhelmed. My dh was up helping me with every night feed since our dd was born, has a busy professional life, was doing early mornings when I went back to work (I had to leave for work at 5:45am one or two days a week so those mornings he did everything including all the night wakings so that I could sleep, got her up in the morning, etc.).

We also weren't having sex to be honest. I have bleeding in pregnancy, so we've never had sex when I was pregnant (well, we tried once and decided never again). That was basically 15 months of no sex at all as we didn't start again until I was 7 months pp the first time because we were co-sleeping and both overwhelmed, etc. I'm pregnant now and we haven't had sex since the night I conceived! But my dh isn't a jerk about it. He understands and is fine with that. He knows what I've gone through because of all the bleeding and I had a miscarriage just before this. He loves and respects me and knows it's temporary. Because he's a good loving supportive partner.

So yes, it's normal for the first year or so of being parents to be ridiculously hard. But this sounds like more than that, as it started before your baby was even born. I would be sitting down, having a serious conversation about what you need from him and how you can move forward and giving him an ultimatum for counseling. No one should be refusing counseling if the other partner genuinely requests it and feels they need to try it. My dh and I have been to counseling (not so much because of relationship problems, per se, but because of a lot of stress in the extended family that was really weighing on our relationship). I requested it and my dh was skeptical but happy to try, because again, we love and respect each other and want to support each other. If none of that works, I would seriously consider how you might make plans to have some time apart and see if that works if you truly aren't happy and can't see a path forward together. That might be the shock he really needs to get it together. Anyway, this isn't your fault! He chooses his behaviour, not you.

zozozoo · 30/01/2018 17:05

By all means try to make it work but please figure out plan b. He is only able to behave like this because you don't have one.
There are likely to be benefits available, counseling for yourself etc.

Nay422 · 30/01/2018 17:05

Thank you. I appreciate your honest and detailed response. Ill give it a few days as hes tired at the moment and then will discuss it with him. I think I also need to add hes in a bad place regarding his body having put on quite a lot of weight, I know this is part of the problem. X

OP posts:
category12 · 30/01/2018 17:33

I think it's a bit of a worry that you're in the situation where you both feel he has all the power (ie he owns the house, you've no family) and he has the nastiness to use that as a weapon against you in arguments. As per pp, you need plan B. You may never need to use it, but since he's no compunction about weaponising your dependence, you need to change the dynamic.

Plan B is having an escape fund and a support system. I hope you have access to your own money? (I'd consider going back to work sooner). A support system would be friends: nurture old friendships and take all opportunities to make friends you can. Have options available to you, check what you'd be entitled to as a lone parent and know that thousands of women go it alone all the time.

And if he would see you and the baby on the streets for disagreeing with him, then he's a pretty horrible person - he needs to stop that shit.

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