NEED TO KNOW
- A woman who gave birth less than two weeks ago says her husband isn’t helping out — and his family won’t leave her alone
- In a Reddit post, she writes that her in-laws come over “every weekend”
- Her husband, meanwhile, “sleeps in until 11 am so I’m taking care of the baby the majority of the time. When he holds her, he’s always on the phone with her watching TikTok,” she writes
A woman who is 12 days postpartum with her first child says she is “having a hard time” with her husband and his family, who are “not helping” with the new baby.
In a post shared to Reddit, the woman writes that her in-laws “showed up right after I gave birth.”
While the majority of his family arrived while she was “still bleeding with a catheter in,” the others arrived “the second we got to the postpartum room.”
“I again was sitting in my diaper and gown still hooked up to an IV while they footballed my baby around. They showed up everyday we were there and spent hours there,” she writes.
Now that the couple has gone home, her in-laws continue to make visits “every weekend.”
The post continues: “Today my husband’s family came over again, this time it was his aunt and her husband plus his cousin and her husband plus two kids. After two hours I was exhausted and trying to hint for everyone to go. My husband is more concerned about playing host than helping or looking out for me.”
“My husband sleeps in until 11 am so I’m taking care of the baby the majority of the time. When he holds her, he’s always on the phone with her watching TikTok,” she adds.
After a recent family visit, the woman “started sobbing,” and told her husband she “can not do long visits right now.”
“He got very defensive and brought up that my parents flew in for a few days after I delivered and spent a lot of time with us,” she writes. “I said that my parents cooked meals, cleaned, did grocery shops, did our laundry and were actually helpful. On the other hand, I had to clean up after his family and their kids left messes all over our apartment today. His cousin[‘s] kids are nice but they took over the TV and were blasting kids shows for hours and just running around yelling.”
She continues: “I’m extremely frustrated and feeling very unsupported by my husband. How would you handle this? I feel like my needs are being completely ignored here. I need support so I can take care of the baby, he doesn’t seem to get that.”
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Fellow Reddit users are taking to the comments section to voice their support for the poster, with one writing: “Ok you absolutely need to take control of your postpartum. Have your husband tell his family you’re taking time off from visitors so you can rest and reconnect. Lock your doors, hold firm.”
Adds another commenter: “Why is your husband sleeping until 11am? You need to start there, I think.”
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