Man Asks If He Was Wrong For Telling 'Inconsiderate' Neighbors To Make Their Baby Stop Crying
Sounds like he's the inconsiderate one.
Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock A man confessed that he “snapped” at his neighbor after he heard her infant crying “all day.”
The man claims that ever since his neighbors brought their newborn home, his life has been inconvenienced, and branded his neighbors as “inconsiderate.”
The man is now wondering if he is wrong for telling his neighbors to make their baby stop crying.
Posting his story on the subreddit, "r/AmItheA–-hole" (AITA), the man asked other Redditors if he overstepped by showing up at his neighbor’s doorstep demanding that they keep their baby quiet and be considerate of other neighbors.
The man began his post by sharing that his neighbors, Annie and Bill, are a couple in their 30s who just brought their baby home after he spent three months in the NICU.
RELATED: Woman's Response To Crying Baby In Restaurant Ruining Her Date Night Sparks Debate
He claims that his wife is “friendly” with Annie.
“We can't have children so whenever we have a neighbor with a baby my wife makes friends with them,” he explained.
Additionally, the man’s mother lives with him and his wife since she is medically fragile and can no longer live independently.
“My mum has complained several times that she can hear the baby crying, especially at night,” the man revealed. “My wife says the baby has bad reflux, and they are trying to deal with it.”
The man claims that he can usually hear the baby screaming “all day” and that it's “awful listening to the poor thing cry for so long.”
Due to the duration of the baby’s crying, the man believes that Annie and Bill are not tending to him as quickly as they should be.
RELATED: Woman Fears For Daughter’s Safety After Neighbor Installs Ring Camera To Peer Into Her Windows
The man’s wife informed him that in addition to the baby’s reflux, he not like to be bathed and often screams.
Still, the man is aggravated by the constant noise and is concerned for his mother.
“Baby is always crying and it's frustrating, especially when mum needs peace and quiet to recover from surgery,” he wrote.
The man claims that the baby’s crying is not the only thing he’s had to deal with since he came home.
“There is no longer any room on our street during the day as we have on-street parking,” he shared. “There had always been at least one empty bay outside our house but now it is always occupied by either someone from their families visiting or one of the healthcare professionals involved in the baby's care.”
The man reveals this is making it more difficult to get his mother to her doctor's appointments since she cannot walk down the street to her car and getting her in the car takes an additional ten minutes due to her mobility issues.
The past weekend, the man writes that he “reached a breaking point” upon returning home to find his mother “in tears.”
“She said the baby had been screaming all day long,” the man wrote. “It was still crying when I came home.”
RELATED: Mom Shares ‘Congratulations’ Note From Neighbor Telling Her To ‘Shut Up’ Her Baby
The man decided to go to Bill and Annie’s and ask them to quiet their baby down.
When he arrived at their doorstep, he claimed that he saw Annie through the windows sitting on the steps, not attempting to calm the baby down.
“When she came to the door, she apologized and said she had been trying to calm the baby down, but the new medication was taking made him constipated, and he was straining to poo.”
Annie told the man that her husband was out getting an emergency prescription for the baby to relieve his pain.
However, the man says he “snapped” at her since he caught her on the steps doing nothing to soothe the baby.
“[I] told her that they need to be more considerate of others and if she didn't quieten the baby then I would log a noise complaint with the police,” he wrote.
With that, an upset Annie slammed the door in his face.
Later, she informed the man’s wife of what he said to her.
“Now my wife is angry with me as I was making life difficult for a young couple with a sick baby and is giving me the silent treatment,” the man wrote.
“I feel like I may be in the wrong because of how my wife has reacted, but at the same time, the baby is always crying and I think they need to be more considerate of their neighbors.”
Redditors slammed the man for how he handled the situation and encouraged him to have compassion for his neighbors.
“Thank God you can't have kids. Your lack of empathy and inability to sympathize is outrageous. Real babies aren't like dogs or dolls,” one user pointed out.
“Young babies cry because they can’t communicate any other way. This is an infant with health issues and your aggression toward your neighbors is completely rude,” another user shared.
“What do you think filing a noise complaint is going to accomplish? The police will come and arrest the parents? The infant? Use your brain and have some sympathy.”
"I can only imagine how mentally taxing it already is to see your child sick so early in their life, and then on top of that, they’re inconsolable,” another user suggested.
“It’s insane to think the mother isn’t trying. She was probably sitting on the stairs to try and avoid having a complete mental breakdown.”
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.