When They Agreed To Co-Parent, This Young Dad Fully Expected Poor Sleep On The Nights He Had His Baby, But The Incessant Calls From His Ex When She Has Their Child Were An Unwelcome Surprise – TwistedSifter
2025-04-22T01:51:19Z
He’s got enough on his plate.
The first years of a child’s life can be testing for the parents.
It’s hard enough when you’re a united team, but when the relationship has broken down and you’re trying to effectively co-parent?
Well, things are only going to get harder.
But for the young father in this story, the situation is even more difficult than he expected.
Though it’s not caring for his baby that is the problem.
Read on to find out how his ex-girlfriend is pushing him to breaking point.
AITA for telling my ex to stop calling me in the middle of the night for non-emergencies with the baby? I am 19, and have a 10 month old son with my ex-girlfriend, who is 20. We broke up shortly after our son was born but have been trying to co-parent as best as we can. I have my son for three days out of the week, while my ex has him the rest of the time because I work full-time to support myself and pay child support. The issue is, my ex has been calling me almost every night, claiming there’s some sort of “emergency” with the baby.
Let’s see how these ’emergencies’ became problematic.
At first, I would answer immediately and even drive over to her place if she sounded panicked. But after a few weeks, I started noticing a pattern: none of these “emergencies” were actually serious. One time she called me at 2 a.m. because the baby was crying, and she “didn’t know what to do.” Another time, it was because she ran out of formula, even though I had bought her a bulk supply the week before. Most recently, she called me because he had a mild fever, but when I suggested she give him infant Tylenol, she said she didn’t have any and expected me to bring some over immediately.
Yikes! This started having a real impact on his life.
I’m exhausted. I wake up at 4 in the morning every day. After the last call, I told her she needed to stop calling me in the middle of the night unless it’s a real emergency. I said if she felt overwhelmed, she could call her mom or take him to the doctor, but she couldn’t keep relying on me to drop everything. She blew up at me, saying I was being selfish and that as the father, I should always be there for our son.
She accused me of not caring about her struggles as a single mom and claimed I was making her feel unsupported.
Read on to find out how he responded.
I told her I would always be there for our son in a genuine emergency, but she needs to learn how to handle the day to day stuff on her own. Now she’s being cold and distant, and some mutual friends think I was out of line for telling her to stop calling, saying I don’t understand how hard it is to raise a baby full-time. AITA?
This is a truly difficult situation for both parents.
But if the couple aren’t together, it’s not reasonable for her to expect him to drop everything to run around for her.
In a genuine emergency sure, but this is practically just grocery trips.
Let’s see what folks on Reddit thought about this.
This Redditor thought that the young mom needed some alternative support.
But others thought she might have ulterior motives.
While this person had some clear advice.
He’s got enough on his plate.
If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.
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