Sharing the load of a newborn should bring partners closer, but sometimes it exposes deep differences in how they show up for each other.

One new mother tried to support her partner in every way she could, but the moment she asked for the same in return, it was clear he wasn’t keen on returning the favor.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA to ask my boyfriend to see to our newborn when he cries?

We have a 7-week-old. My partner works 40 hours a week. I stay at home during the week and will start going back to work on the weekends.

Despite all of her responsibilities with the newborn, she still makes an effort to prioritize her partner.

I ensure every day he comes home to a clean house, clean clothes, and dinner cooked for him. I know he’s tired from work, so I try to ensure he doesn’t have much to do when he gets home so he can relax a little.

When it comes to dinner, if our newborn is fussing, I will make his dinner first and give it to him so he can eat, and afterward we switch.

But soon, she began to realize that he was never willing to return the favor.

Tonight, our newborn was sleeping, so we had dinner together. He started fussing during dinner, so I tended to him to try and settle him quickly. This kept happening until he seemed to settle.

My boyfriend had finished eating, and our little one started fussing again. I hadn’t finished my dinner.

He sat there and didn’t bat an eyelid and turned to me and said, “Let him cry.”

She pushes back against his laziness.

I said, “No, as he’s telling us he needs something. Can you see to him so I can finish my dinner?”

Because I said that, my partner got angry and said, “He isn’t going to die if you leave him to cry,” because he clearly didn’t want to see to him.

She begins to feel more unsatisfied than ever about the division of responsibilities in the household.

For me saying that, it was like I said something terrible, and now he’s angry at me. I’d do anything to help him out — why can’t he do the same for me?

AITA for asking him to see to our newborn in this situation?

“Let him cry” is definitely not what she wanted to hear in that moment.

What did Reddit make of all this?

This is absolutely not what a balanced partnership looks like.

This father should be more than happy to help out his exhausted partner.

This guy has a long road ahead to being a halfway competent father.

Co-parenting requires a boatload of trust, and as of now, her boyfriend hasn’t earned it.

This new mom wanted a little support in a tough moment, but instead found herself questioning whether her boyfriend even cared about her at all.

True love means sharing the burden with your partner, not just watching from the sidelines.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.