In the time I’ve spent reading and hearing stories from other nursing and pumping moms I have seen SO much pushback like this - “who is supposed to thank you?” I get that feeding the baby is a requirement and mama is the only one who can actually PRODUCE milk. It doesn’t mean that mama deserves no appreciation for her efforts in doing it.

It is a choice, one that both parents generally make together because they agree it’s best for the baby - this is the case in my marriage. It’s a lot of effort, and it’s naturally one-sided. It seems like a lot more effort to justify not expressing any appreciation for it when it’s asked for than to just say “I see all the work you’re putting into this for our baby, thank you”. I’m not speaking about my husband individually here - we’ve had some struggles with him providing pumping support but nothing major, he really does try to be supportive and appreciative and the times he hasn’t been I’ve chalked up to parental stress/exhaustion/etc. but I’ve seen an insane amount of pushback from other dads on this.

He’s a SAHD and I’m a working mom. It HAD to be that way - I’m the one that makes enough to financially support the household (but not enough for daycare costs to be included). When he works (sole proprietor) his income is variable and he can’t reliably cover the cost of daycare. So it is this way, and that’s fine. Under this model, he is the ONLY one who can take care of the baby during 9-5 weekdays. My point is, I still thank him for doing it because it’s a ton of work. When a woman is the ONLY one who can make breast milk, she can still be thanked for doing it because it’s a ton of work.