Part of having a newborn baby is taking them to the pediatrician to ensure they’re growing up happily and healthily.
Many doctors have recommendations for how the baby should be fed, held, and cared for in addition to strict safety rules to prevent serious harm to the infant’s health.
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Some parents follow everything the pediatrician says like it’s the law, while others are more apprehensive about abiding by healthcare guidelines. Certain parental choices can impact the overall wellbeing of the baby.
Many couples discuss parenting before trying for a baby.
Prospective and aspiring parents have their own ideas about potential parenting styles and goals they believe to be important for their children.
For couples, it’s key for both partners to be on the same page when it comes to raising a child together or serious conflict can quickly develop, possibly putting any children at risk.
Some parents don’t believe that traditional medicine is always right.
There has been an age old debate over whether traditional Western medicine and medical practice is best, or if alternative methods can be just as, or even more effective.
Some parents believe that doctors don’t always have the best advice compared to what they think is best for their child.
One husband was very concerned over what his wife was feeding their 2-month-old.
The deeply concerned husband took to Reddit’s popular r/AmITheAsshole thread to plead his case over some troubling parenting decisions coming from his wife.
“My wife and I have a 2 month old daughter,” he explained. “For the past month she’s been feeding our baby mashed potatoes, applesauce, sweet tea, assorted fruit juices and other things.”
This is not what the pediatrician told them to do.
This husband was upset because the pediatrician specifically told them to stick to formula until their daughter was around 4 to 6 months old, but his wife didn’t care.
As he said, he defended her actions by insisting “she knows best for our child and our doctor isn’t the parent.”
Their daughter has been extremely constipated at night.
“Our daughter is always constipated and screams for hours at night that my wife says is ‘colic,'” the frustrated dad explained .
Although he’s asked his wife numerous times to quit feeding their daughter table food, he knows his little girl is only getting fed one or two bottles of formula while he’s at work.
His wife wasn’t going to change her ways anytime soon.
One morning as he was about to head to work, he decided to feed his daughter some formula. While feeding her, his wife was cooking some eggs and oatmeal when she apparently tried to put a stop to the formula.
This wasn’t a demand that he could bring himself to follow.
As the man said, “[My wife] told me not to fill her up with that and she wanted her to eat her oatmeal first,” the man recalled. “I fed her the bottle anyway after a huge argument.”
Their next appointment with the pediatrician was the last straw for this concerned dad.
During that appointment, the man’s wife lied to the doctor and said the baby was sick from colic, and that she had only been fed formula.
Her husband was rightfully furious and decided it was time to tell the doctor that his wife was lying.
“The doctor strongly recommended her to stop and that she was causing stomach upset and more than likely the reason for all her stomach issues,” he explained.
Things went from bad to worse.
After the appointment, he expected his wife to feel guilty about everything. Instead, she was angry with him for “ratting her out” to the doctor when she has the right to do what she wants and that he made her look like a bad parent.
And the argument only escalated from there.
“I tell her what a selfish little [expletive] she was being and now she wants me to go stay with my parents until she forgives me and asks me to come home.”
At the end of his post, the man asked Reddit one question: is he the asshole in this situation?
The Reddit jury is basically unanimous.
The Reddit commenters were in resounding agreement that the wife was not only the true asshole here, but is also a lying and abusive parent.
One person wrote, “What your wife is doing to your daughter can cause long term damage to her digestive system. Not giving her formula can also contribute to her [losing] weight and not growing. I would suggest you talk to your pediatrician away from your wife for her to get a full picture. Its abuse.”
Another person suggested that the wife’s ultimatum was a blessing in disguise.
As they said , “I would take your wife up on staying with your parents. Take the baby too because your wife is being reckless and dangerous with her. She’s not fit to parent her and this is abuse. Full stop. If she’ll lie to a doctor what is she lying to you about?”
Let us know what you think of this messy situation in the comments and what you think this dad should do to protect his daughter.
h/t: Reddit
