Pregnant Woman Slammed for Ignoring Partner's Severe Food Aversions

A pregnant woman was slammed online after revealing that she ignored her partner's severe sensory aversion to bananas by making him peel and cut them for her when she was having a craving.

The anonymous woman, known as u/Ok-Transition1878, posted about the incident in Reddit's popular "Am I The A**hole" forum where it received nearly 7,000 upvotes and 4,500 comments. The post can be found here.

Sensory Aversions

Sensory processing disorders are common in children and adults who have attention deficit disorders, with many reporting aversions to particular foods. Processing disorders lead individuals to "overreact" to particular stimuli and affect their five senses, according to VeryWellHealth.

Individuals facing food aversions often experience gagging, coughing, or choking during mealtime if particular foods are present.

Research shows that individuals with ADHD may process various senses differently. Some causes for food aversions include:

• Hypersensitivity of chemoreceptors, which primarily affects smell and taste buds
• Hypersensitivity of mechanoreceptors, which affect sensation and pressure
• Genetics
• Potential allergy

'AITA?'

In the post titled "AITA for having a craving of something that makes my partner sick?" the 25-year-old woman said she recently found out she is pregnant with her partner Lyle's baby.

She said she and Lyle, 26, live together and have been dating for three years.

"Lyle has ADHD, which he refuses to get treatment or medication for," the post read. "He's pretty normal about 85% of the time, so I haven't really pushed it. One thing that really affects him though is sensory problems."

The woman said that although Lyle has many sensory aversions, his biggest one is the taste and smell of bananas. She said sometimes when he is near someone eating a banana he will claim he smells it and that he will get sick.

"If we don't move, he will start gagging, make himself throw up, and I've seen him start shaking too," the post read. "This has happened in public before and it's extremely embarrassing."

'Grow Up'

Recently, the woman said she was tired and hormonal and craving a banana, which she normally doesn't bring near Lyle but her cravings were just "too strong to resist."

The woman called Lyle, who was grabbing groceries after work and asked him to grab her bananas but he "begged" her not to eat them in the house.

"I just got fed up and told him no, that I was carrying around his child, and the least he could do about it since he's not the one having to nurture the damn thing in his stomach was get me a banana," the post read.

She added that she read online that banana cravings are the baby's way of "telling" her it has a potassium deficiency and that she refused to "deprive" it of nutrients.

"He argued back and forth asking me to go eat it outside at least, and out of frustration I just started crying, which made me feel embarrassed," the post read. "He finally gave in to calm me down and brought it home. I'll admit, I was still really mad and upset from our argument on the phone when he came home."

She said that she couldn't "face getting up" to get a banana from the kitchen so she asked Lyle to peel and cut the banana and give it to her.

"I really didn't think that was a big deal, but he blew up at me and told me that I 'knew' it made him 'sick' to even smell or touch," the post read. "I told him that plenty of people have foods they don't like, and he either needs to grow up or seek help for his illness because he's acting like a child and his problem with bananas is completely abnormal."

The woman said Lyle left the house after they argued back and forth and told her he was "tired" of her "bulls**t."

"I get his issues are a sensitive topic for him, and when I was talking to my friend about it, she said she had an autistic sister and what I did was a bit messed up," the post read. "So Reddit, AITA?"

'Lyle', aka Kyle

Nearly 4,500 users commented on the post, many criticizing the woman for forcing her partner to feel uncomfortable for the sake of her pregnancy cravings.

In one comment with more than 17,000 upvotes, a user claiming to be the woman's partner attempted to set the story straight.

"Hey guys, its Kyle here, Jessica's boyfriend," the comment read. "Yes, she literally changed my name from 'Kyle' to 'Lyle' and thought that was good enough. One of her friends sent me this and I want to set the record straight because I am beyond pissed off."

In the comment, Kyle said he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and that it took him until college to adapt to how his brain worked rather than "slap a medication over it and try to pretend I'm neurotypical."

"This medication bs started almost immediately after we found out Jess was pregnant like a month ago," the comment read. "It wasn't approached like 'hey Kyle, I notice xyz that seems to be hard for you, I think you need help with that.' I was instead first asked if my ADHD was going to 'spread to the baby.'"

Kyle said he goes to therapy to manage his sensory aversions including the feeling of paper towels, but is unable to deal with bananas.

"People who aren't ND [neurodivergent] and don't deal with sensory aversions don't understand that it is literally physically painful in many cases, and genuinely makes me sick," the comment read. "Jess has told me many times how embarrassed she is by it and how it affects her, and her solution is exposure therapy. What she doesn't realize is that's essentially the same thing as torture to me."

He also added that he is tired of people referring to ADHD as an "issue" rather than just his brain working a little differently.

"I'm so tired of the ableist bulls**t that's come from nowhere," he said.

'You're The Asshole'

Other commenters slammed the woman for putting Kyle in that situation.

"I was with you until you made him peel and cut it for you knowing how he reacts to it. You're an ah for that," one user commented. "Just peel and eat the damn thing, and I'm guessing you're not far enough along that you can't grab the banana and toss it afterwards yourself. YTA."

"Cravings and pregnancy don't give you the right to treat your partner like s**t," another commented. "If you think he's such a child and exaggerating his sensory issues, why did you choose to have a child with him in the first place?"

But the OP replied to the user's comment, saying, "The child wasn't planned he just got me pregnant."

"Get over your f**king self. As an ADHD adult that has ADHD children, people like you are the worst," another commented. "Sensory issues are very real and you telling him to grow up is pathetic. Heaven for bid that your unborn child also has ADHD because you know it is hereditary. Also who cares that he's unmedicated. Being on meds does not help with sensory issues."

"I hope you don't expect mercy when you hit the part of the pregnancy where you're avoiding foods, or trying to get your kid to eat, because I wouldn't be forgetting this any time soon if I were him," another commented.

"Throughout your post, you belittle his behavior around bananas and reduce him to being childish," another user wrote. "And you made him pick up bananas and then asked him to prepare it for you, knowing fully how he responds? Being pregnant isn't a pass to ignore your partner's boundaries. Prep the banana yourself and go eat it away from him—it's not that hard."

Newsweek reached out to u/Ok-Transition1878 for comment.

Other Viral Posts

In other viral Reddit posts, a woman was criticized for booking her son a two-week "paternity vacation" after his wife delivered their baby and another woman was slammed for spending more money on her granddaughter than her grandson.

In another post, a woman was supported for telling her husband that his mother is pregnant.