“I need my sleep” – Dad refuses to change baby’s nappy overnight

A lot of people disagreed with his reasoning.

A new father's post has received a lot of backlash online after he says he doesn't think he should have to change his child's nappies at night. He went on to say that he feels his wife should change all the nappies during the night because she is up anyway breastfeeding and he needs his sleep. Taking to Reddit, the new dad wanted to know if others agreed with him on the situation;

"My partner thinks that I should do all the night time diaper changes since she's breastfeeding. Her argument is that since she's nursing day and night, it's only fair. She says she needs time to go to the bathroom, drink water, etc, while I am changing the diaper. In her view: I am often grouchy, need to be asked multiple times to get up, and sometimes argue if he even needs to be changed."

Having breastfed both of my children I have to say that I'm on the wife's side. Breastfeeding can really zap your energy and she's absolutely right to expect little breaks so she can look after herself. I wasn't alone with siding with his wife as many Reddit users commented that he was selfish and needed to do his part;

"Your wife is exhausted, physically and due to lack of sleep. You have no excuse especially while you’re on parental leave. She does need to use the bathroom, drink water, whatever - to take care of herself, so she can take care of your son."

Another Reddit user, used the very valid argument that she didn't make the baby on her own and should not have to parent on her own;

"Parenthood is about shared responsibilities and partnership. You need to grow up and share the burden. There’s only room for one baby in your family, and it’s not you. Time to be a dad. It’s hard, but tough s*** — this is your moment to decide what kind of father, and ultimately husband, you want to be."

My favourite and most on the ball comment had to be from this person who dropped him a little newsflash that if he wanted eight full hours of sleep each night, he shouldn't have had a baby;

"Newsflash, your days of eight hours sleep are over for at least a few years. My kids are five and eight and sometimes they still wake up in the night, thankfully not often but you have to be there when they do."

I personally don't think it is too much of an ask for him to change a nappy during the night, especially when he's on parental leave and the whole point of it is to spend time with his child. Hopefully he took the comments on board and is now giving his wife more of a dig out.