How can I help my husband through depression?
Hi there. I want to start out and say my husband is an amazing father and an amazing husband. We were blessed with our rainbow baby (10m). He was always pretty excited about having this baby. He wasn’t here much during the later half of my pregnancy or the first 6 months of our baby’s life due to his line of work. He has been given some time off finally for paternity and I thought things were great. Unfortunately, he has confided in me that he just doesn’t like this anymore. He loves our son but the whole “dad” thing is just too much most of the time. He finds it hard to get up and be a dad. Will he? Yes absolutely. Does he help me? Yes. I find that so far when it comes to our strengths he is better with household stuff while I deal with crying baby. I typically am the one who stays up with baby, wakes up in the motn with baby, etc. Not to say he never does this, but this is just the norm usually. I feel like a part of me feels hurt and annoyed that he feels that way. But i tried to step back and look at it how I would want it to be looked at. I had PPD/PPA when our son was born. I didn’t hate being a mom, just hated life in general. He seems to just not enjoy this at all. There are good moments. We do beach trips, they will cuddle, play together, etc. But in times of those screams where nothing helps, sometimes I feel frustrated when he says stuff like “his crying triggers me i literally do not want to hear this” and i tell him to leave the room. Do I want to deal with this? No. Do I? Yes.
I think this has also affected our relationship. We still love each other and I have already talked to him about this. We just feel more like roommates. We both are hesitant to hire a sitter because money but also because we both are scared of someone not really being the best person and doing something to harm our child. That is mostly my thoughts but I know he also is hesitant considering we both agreed no daycare.
I try to encourage him to play his games, go out with friends, do stuff he loves yk? When baby is asleep we usually do our own things. Sometimes we watch stuff together. Right now he is actually out with buddies for the weekend. Super awesome. I am hoping this helps alleviate some of these stressful feelings he has been dealing with.
Anyways, I told him I believe it is depression or more specifically ppd. I am not one of those people who thinks men don’t have those feelings. I did encourage him to talk to someone but he always shuts it down. Wether he actually is going to or not, I don’t know.
In the meantime, what are some things I can do to help?
We already alternate who gets to sleep in in the mornings, he still does things he likes to do, i try to do more to take away any extra work around the baby but sometimes i get overwhelmed myself in doing so.
I just am scared he will push this off too long and it will blow up.
Does anyone have any stories of getting therapy/medical help if needed and if it was worth it? So I can read these to him and encourage him to go.
Is there anything else you think I could do to help him?
Sorry if this isn’t put the best. It is 4am and baby woke up for a split night and I decided to just bite the bullet and ask for some help in this situation.
Again, I want to clarify I am not mad at him for these feelings. He is valid in how he feels. I just want to be a supportive wife and I don’t know what other steps I can take.
TLDR: Husband is dealing with PPD. How can I help alleviate the stress of being a parent? Is therapy worth it?
Posted Sep 12, 2026, 8:21 AM UTC