Man calls parents babysitting and tells them his WFH wife can hear baby crying. AITA?

Navigating the communication differences in a marriage can be complicated and hard. There are times when an outside opinion is needed to settle a score.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a man asked if he was wrong for doing what his wife told him, even if it made her look bad. He wrote:

"AITA for doing what my wife told me to, yet she claims I threw her under the bus?"

We have a 7-month-old baby that is watched by a nanny most days but on some days, my parents come over during the day to help out. Yesterday was a busy work morning as I essentially had to run out for a few meetings just as they arrived so I handed off the baby and gave them a quick status update. Wife is upstairs at home sitting on Zoom meetings.

I get a text mid-morning from my wife saying that she's hearing the baby fuss excessively for over 20 mins and for me to call my parents to suggest that the baby may just need a bit more food. I do just that - I call mom and say that my wife hears the baby fussing and that he's probably hungry.

Mom says that dad was already prepping a bottle and that the baby was fussing just for a few minutes since they came back inside. Mom asks why my wife didn't come downstairs to say anything or check-up if she was concerned and I just tell her that she's in a work meeting. I carry on with my meetings and carry on with my day. Nanny switched parents off later on that day per schedule.

In the evening, wife asks me what I told my parents - I told her that I conveyed what she told me. "Wife says baby is fussing, he's probably hungry, probably a good time to make a bottle, she's in a meeting and can't come down to check up." That made wife very upset, says I threw her under the bus and made her seem insensitive and inattentive. My response was simply - "But I did what you told me to..."

Needless to say, she thinks I'm an AH.

The internet swooped in with thoughts.

thea**holethrowawa wrote:

NTA: Because there was no way around telling them without saying you got the info from your wife. What did she expect you say "my baby senses are telling me my child has been crying for 20 min."

Medical_Gate_5721 wrote:

NTA.

"MOM! IM WATCHING YOU. FEED THE BABY!!!!!!"

Or

"Mom, the baby and I are psychically bonded. The baby is thinking hungry thoughts. Please feed the baby as I am unable to work with all these distracting hungry feelings. Waaaaa! Waaaaa! The baby told me to say that."

ImTheCraftyOne wrote:

NTA…you didn’t throw her under the bus at all and she is just being sensitive because she didn’t come check on the baby herself. She needs to get a grip.

amorarosa wrote:

NTA. Many years ago my brother answered the landline and it was a friend of mine. I asked him to say that I'm not home and he proceeded to tell my friend "My sister said to tell you she's not home". That was quite embarrassing. THAT was throwing me under the bus. What you did was perfectly fine. How could you have known the baby was fussing without being home? That would make no sense.

OP is NTA here at all, his wife is being unfair to him.