Family planning usually brings up big questions—money, timing, careers, and emotional readiness. But one woman says the biggest obstacle to having another child with her husband isn’t finances or work schedules. It’s his bathroom habits.
The unusual complaint, shared on Reddit, quickly grabbed attention because it blends something awkward with something serious: parenting responsibility.
In her post, the 36-year-old woman explained that she and her husband, also 36, have been together for 11 years and married for seven. They share a 3-year-old child and both work full time. But she says the daily parenting workload has become deeply unbalanced—and a surprising routine is a big reason why.
According to her, her husband disappears into the bathroom three times a day, often for about an hour each time.
The timing, she says, is the real problem.
He goes in the morning during their toddler’s wake-up routine, breakfast, and preschool drop-off time. Then again after lunch. And finally in the evening during bath time and bedtime, which she describes as the most demanding parts of the day.
Because of that pattern, she says she ends up handling nearly everything alone.
She wakes their child, gets him ready for school, and usually handles bath and bedtime as well. Her husband sometimes helps by driving their child to preschool, but only after she has already done the preparation.
The situation has left her carrying resentment, especially after their first baby.
Now that their son is older, the topic of a second child has come up. Their son even asks for a baby sister because many of his friends have siblings.
But the mom says she can’t imagine adding another child under the current circumstances.
When she asked her husband how they would manage a newborn if he still spends hours in the bathroom during the busiest parenting windows, his response didn’t reassure her. According to the post, he suggested that his parents could help take care of the baby.
The problem? His parents live two hours away.
For her, the answer felt dismissive rather than practical.
She also said she encouraged him to talk to a doctor about the frequency and length of his bathroom trips. He reportedly told her he had already done so and was told it was normal. He does have severe hemorrhoids, which can make bowel movements painful, and he also showers after each session because he says he feels unclean.
Still, she believes the timing could be adjusted—especially since he apparently changes it when they have plans outside the house.
The bathroom issue is only one part of a larger frustration she says she has with his lack of initiative and involvement at home. After waiting two years to revisit the conversation about having another baby, she said his reaction left her feeling hurt and disappointed.
The story quickly caught attention online because of how oddly specific—and oddly relatable—it felt.
Many readers focused less on the bathroom issue itself and more on what it might represent about responsibility and parenting dynamics.
Some commenters joked about the situation, with one person calling it “weaponized shitting,” while others argued the husband might simply be hiding in the bathroom to avoid childcare duties.
Others debated whether the long sessions could actually be contributing to his hemorrhoids rather than helping them.
Several readers said the real issue wasn’t digestion at all, but the imbalance in parenting.
And for many people following the thread, the woman’s hesitation about having another child made perfect sense.
As one commenter bluntly put it, if someone already feels like they’re parenting alone, adding another baby isn’t likely to fix the problem.
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