New mom needs respite, empathy

DEAR AMY >> My husband and I have a 7-month- old baby.

My husband has never been a sympathetic person.

I have always accepted this about him. However, now with the baby I find myself needing more emotional support than he can give me.

The long nights with a nursing and poorly sleeping baby have left me feeling exhausted and needing some reassurance and comfort from my husband.

Whenever I broach the subject, he tells me that he works so I can be home (I work too, but fewer hours and from home), and that he doesn’t feel bad for me because he has a long commute and that I need to get a grip (although he doesn’t use those exact words).

How can I either talk to him, or find another outlet to get the support I can’t get from him?

— new mama

DEAR NEW MAMA >> You need immediate and caring support, and other moms are often very good at offering it. Do everything possible to get together with other parents (safely) in person or online (via Facebook parenting groups, or Reddit). Other parents can observe you and your baby and give both of you lots of positive attention and love.

You also need some respite, someone who can be with your baby while you take a nap, take a walk or get a haircut. These small things are the essence of “self- care” when you have a baby at home. Obviously, the pandemic has complicated the process of bringing another individual into your household. If there is a way to safely do so for even three hours a week, you should.

Normally, I would suggest that your husband watch your baby, solo, for several hours during a weekend day ( because the best way to understand what a fulltime mom goes through is to experience a bit of it yourself), but given his extreme limitations, this might not be the wisest course.

I assume that he might be modeling attitudes and behavior he experienced in his own household growing up, and one way to talk to him about your needs might be to ask him about his own parents’ attitudes about work and family.

DEAR AMY >> My husband and I have been very happily married for more than 40 years. He signs my birthday card, “Love, John,” but that is about it for “out loud ‘I love yous.’ ”

However, he gets up every morning, boils the kettle and makes tea, bringing me a perfectly brewed cup.

I have told him and lots of other people that I consider this his “I love you.” I will settle for this for another 40 years.

DEAR L >> I am enjoying these sweet endorsements for nonverbal expressions of love.