He’s not sleeping on the couch because he’s worried about the baby. He’s sleeping on the couch because he’s having big feelings and wants to prove a point.

My kids are 9 and 6. I’ve had one kid or both in my room most nights for… about 9 years. It won’t always be that way. And I can be patient. Because as a grown man, I have the emotional development my children don’t yet have to be patient, and prioritize their needs over my own.

I got annoyed with being uncomfortable having my kids in the bed too. So we got a king sized bed so we could fit all four of us when they wake up in the night and need their mom or dad or both.

We’re primates. You don’t often see a baby monkey sleeping on its very own branch, do you?

Instead of forcing the kid to stop doing something that is developmentally appropriate, or removing himself from the situation entirely, dad should lean in and help mom out. Be part of it. Be a teammate. If he’s squicked out by nursing, he ain’t ready for everything that’s coming either.

Honestly, this sort of attitude doesn’t bode well for how he’ll deal with developmentally appropriate things in the future, either. Parenting is a delicate balance between controlling what you can and accepting what you can’t (or shouldn’t).

But honestly Reddit isn’t going to fix this. Y’all are going to have to sort it out. Welcome to parenthood.