For many first time parents, it can be a struggle to get used to waking up in the middle of the night to tend to little ones who may need changing, feeding or rocking.
However, one dad has found himself in his wife's bad books after he refuses to wake up in the middle of the night as he insists his job requires a good sleep schedule, the Chronicle Live reports.
The man who claims to be a professional athlete took to Reddit to explain the situation but was met with some criticism from online users who claimed he should try and come to a 'compromise' with his wife. The author also insisted he discussed his night time requests with his wife prior to having a child and that she had agreed to take care of their children at night.
However the new mum's patience is beginning to wear thin and she has asked her husband to help out more with their three-month-old child but he is still refusing. He wrote on the online forum: "My wife Katie and I had our first baby together about three months ago. I'm an athlete and Katie's a stay-at-home mum.
"Sleep is very important for me because of my sport. I can't be waking up multiple times throughout the night and be sleep deprived. Katie and I talked about this before trying for a kid, and I told her that I can't compromise my sleep for anything short of an emergency.
"I specifically mentioned that I wouldn't be waking up during the night to help with the baby, but we could hire a night nurse to help out. Things had been going smoothly until a few days ago when Katie was being cold and distant. I asked if something was wrong, and she said everything was fine.
"She was quiet for a while, then finally mentioned that it's extremely unfair that I'm not helping her at all with the baby during the night. I acknowledged that she has been working hard and not getting much sleep, but we also previously agreed to this arrangement.
"Katie has refused to hire a night nurse to help because she doesn't trust someone new to watch our baby alone during the night. I suggested that she could have a family member help, but she didn't want to burden them. So we've been at an impasse.
"She still doesn't want to hire help, and I'm still not waking up during the night." The man also stated that he pays for a cleaner and also has a meal delivery service that takes care of most of their food needs so his wife devotes all her time to being a full time mum.
Commenters were largely on the man's side, as they agreed that if most of the housework is being taken care of by their cleaner, then his wife should be able to commit to waking up in the night to look after their baby. However, others argued that the man should find a compromise with his wife where he can slightly adjust his sleep pattern to wake up earlier to be with his child while still getting the same hours of sleep in.
One person said: "Maybe you can give a little? Is there a night of the week you can let the wife sleep? Maybe have whoever the night nanny would be over for some day nanny stuff to build trust?
"You shouldn't compromise your profession, especially athletic ones that have health/injury risks that would also compromise your future earnings, but maybe this is a sign your wife just needs more help than she thought and you gotta adapt somehow."
The father posted in an update that the couple had agreed to hire a night nanny as well as having his sister come over a couple of nights a week to enable the new mum to get a good night's sleep He said: "I talked to Katie about hiring a night nurse to temporarily help her out during the day, and she agreed and seemed happy about the idea.
"That way she can get familiar with the new nurse and feel more comfortable about transitioning to a full-night type of arrangement. She also apologised for lashing out at me and explained that she was mostly too embarrassed to ask her family for more help when she already has hired help as a stay-at-home mum.
"So we agreed to ask my sister since they have a really good relationship. My sister has offered to come by 1 or 2 nights per week to watch our son until Katie's comfortable having the night nurse be full-time and alone.
"That way Katie immediately gets at least some uninterrupted sleep too for now."
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