Husband Hides Formula So Wife Has 'No Choice' But To Breastfeed Biting Baby
Another day, another husband being a total a*shole in Reddit’s AITA
If you’ve somehow managed to not become aware of the infamous subreddit ‘Am I The Asshole‘ on Reddit during this quarantine, well, you deserve an award. For most of us, however, it’s chock full of boyfriends, husbands, and fathers being total jerks to the women in their lives. Take this husband, for instance, who began hiding his wife’s baby formula so she’s forced to breastfeed their baby who bites and leaves her nipples bloody and painful.
Breastfeeding can be a wonderful bonding experience for mother and child, no doubt. It can also be painful, exhausting, and stressful depending on the age of the baby and the supply in question. The woman writing in to AITA currently has a very bite-y 10-month-old infant, and if you’ve ever breastfed a baby with killer chomping skills, well, you already know.
“When she starts to bite, I simply tell her ‘no’ and put her down immediately,” the OP (original poster) explains. “I only started doing this recently because my breasts kind of look like a war zone- I’m bleeding and sore because of the biting and simply cannot take it anymore.”
She says she’s been pumping to avoid further biting, but even pumping is painful (raise your hand if you think pumping suuuucks, literally and figuratively). So she’s been solving the issue by pumping and mixing in formula. Apparently, her husband, who does not have lactating breasts, doesn’t support her.
“He believes that breastmilk is best and formula is the devil because it’s not ‘natural’ or something,” she says. “At this age, I’m giving her milk around 4-5 times a day, and still attempt to breastfeed once or twice a day.”
Things all came to a crux (as they always do with these a*sholes) when he told her she has “no choice” but to breastfeed and even hid the formula. “I ask him why he’s doing this, and he simply says he doesn’t think I’m not trying hard enough because I stopped simply because she’s biting me, and that a good mother wouldn’t stop doing what’s best for her child simply because she’s in pain.”
Thankfully, Reddit users delivered when it came to putting this self-righteous, prehistoric know-it-all in his place.
Basically, a good husband (and my GOD is the bar low when it comes to these Reddit threads) doesn’t gaslight his wife into thinking she’s a bad mother or failing her baby by making choices that benefit both of them just fine. Not only is hiding the baby’s formula childish, it’s downright abusive — to both the baby and his wife.
Here’s hoping she gains the validation she deserves and gives him the ass-kicking he’s got coming.
