Warning: This post is NSFW.
There’s nothing like having a baby to slow down your sex life. Whether it is the sleep deprivation, the breastfeeding or just the lack of time; most couples go through an adjustment phase when it comes to intimacy in those early months, and even years, of raising tiny humans.
One very upset mum currently in that adjustment phase, published a deeply personal post to an online parenting group, after discovering her partner had been masturbating while she was asleep. The breastfeeding mum of a one-year-old, explained that while she often felt too tired for sex, she had tried to instigate it with her partner who also said that he was ‘too tired’. His confession of secret midnight masturbation sessions therefore, really hurt her self-esteem.
As soon as her post went live, the responses started coming in and while most were ambivalent, telling the mum that it was ’100% normal’, a few were helpful and a few unkind, getting one particularly unsympathetic mum, kicked out of the group.
Mamamia spoke directly to the mum, who wanted to remain anonymous, to see how she felt after sharing her honest thoughts on post-baby couple-sex dilemmas.
“After reading hundreds of comments from other mums, the overwhelming majority reassured me that his actions were completely normal. I understand that men in relationships masturbate privately for many reasons, and perhaps it increases after having a baby, as like me, many of the women spoke of being ‘too knackered’, ‘too busy’ or ‘too sore’ for sex.