In a post on Reddit, user u/aitaskitrip shared the story, and it has received more than 19,000 upvotes and thousands of comments.

The dad explained: “My wife and I have a daughter, Chloe. Chloe has autism and developmental delays. Chloe gets very clingy to my wife when she doesn’t feel well, and she’s basically been sick since Halloween.

“One thing she does when she doesn’t feel well is refuse to sleep without my wife, so almost every night for the past month and a half, my wife and Chloe have been sleeping in the guest room.”

A study of records from 10,920 children with autism, led by Brian Lee, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Drexel University in Philadelphia, found that “children who have a first-degree relative—a sibling or parent—with a brain condition other than autism have up to 4.7 times the usual odds of having autism.”

In this case, because their daughter moves around a lot in the night, the dad wrote that his wife does not sleep well when with Chloe. To help her get some rest, he had been waking up early to care for their daughter.

“I get her dressed, do her hair, give her breakfast, and drop her off at daycare or play with her on weekends while my wife locks herself in the guest room,” explained the Redditor.

“This has been exhausting so when my friends invited me on a ski trip last weekend I obviously wanted to go. I tried to tell my wife about it but she shut it down immediately. I thought she was being unfair because at least she gets a break in the mornings and when Chloe’s at daycare.”

However, after his wife asked him not to take the four-day ski trip, the poster decided to go away anyway.

“I don’t get a break so last weekend I packed up and left the house before Chloe and my wife woke up. I sent her a text telling her where I am and when I’ll be back,” he posted. “When I got back, there was a note saying Chloe and my wife were staying with my wife’s family and that she hopes the trip was worth it.

Parenting expert and consultant Kirsty Ketley, who runs Auntie K’s Childcare Service in Surrey, England, told Newsweek: “Having a child with autism and developmental delays can be exhausting, as this dad has pointed out.

“It can be a strain on a relationship when both parents are tired and when, in this case, the child is super-clingy to one parent, it can be physically and mentally draining.”

But Ketley iterated the importance of parents sharing this load: “It is so important that parents work together as a team. This means that you find ways to compromise and that you listen to each other’s needs and wants.

“In this situation, the dad is feeling shattered and loves the idea of getting away for the weekend. However, his wife has asked him not to and, as she is also feeling tired, then he should have respected that, and they should have come up with a solution together.”

The poster explained that the only time he had heard from his wife was when she sent a text to let him know that their daughter was fine.

“My friends all say she’s overreacting and that she shouldn’t keep my kid from me,” wrote the poster. “But my mom called me and cursed me out for leaving my wife with Chloe over the weekend.”

Turning to the internet for advice, the dad received a huge response from Reddit users.

One commenter wrote: “You literally ditched your family while they were sleeping,” while another added: “You never get a break? What about all the time that isn’t the hour and a half that you take care of your daughter?”

Ketley said: “It may seem like the mom is overreacting, but she is obviously hurt and hasn’t felt her needs have been taken into account.

“She shouldn’t be stopping him from seeing his daughter, though, so that should be taken into account, and moving forward they need to make sure that both understand each other’s thresholds and when individually they may need some respite and support.”

Newsweek has reached out to u/aitaskitrip for comment. We were unable to verify the detail of this case.