Husband Withdraws Sex and Affection After Wife’s Low Libido

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My wife and I have known each other for 8 years and we have a 5 year old daughter.

Ever since our daughter was born my wife stopped feeling interested in sex. She’s gotten her hormones checked at my request, but it seems that she’s honestly just fine not wanting it more than once a month.

Even during that one time we have sex, she’s had to have a perfect day, had to have me take some chores she owns off her plate, give her a nice dinner and tend to her, lots of flirting throughout the day, and lots of non-sexual affection for even a chance that sex occurs and sometimes it doesn’t happen. I try not to show it, but I am worn out trying to put her in a good mood and trying to be perfect just for a chance to have her want sex with me too.

I don’t think this is sustainable or realistic for me. I feel like I am not doing it for the right reasons. I don’t want to perform affection that doesn’t feel real for me. I want to hold and hug my wife and make her life easy because I love her, not because I want something out of her. And over the past few years, I’ve been doing it with other motives. I also want her to choose to want sex with me, not go along with it because I shouldered so much responsibility in making sure she felt “head space” or it wouldn’t happen. I would like to see, if we take sex off the table and performing affection off the table, what the baseline level of real intimacy between us is.

I get that responsive desire is real and for some people it’s not easy to initiate and go for it, but I’d like to not have to negotiate for sexual desire and understand aspects of responsive desire a bit more responsibly. What I mean when I say this is: I’d like to not always be “in charge” of ensuring she’s had a good day enough to want sex. I’d like it happening naturally. For example, she’s had a good day without my intervention, I initiate affection because that specific expression of affection makes ME feel good too- good enough to want to share with her, and THAT in turn makes her want sex with me. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t want to do it FOR her alone, or for her sake alone.

I expressed this to her and she’s taken it completely wrong. Because to her, she hears no cutesy names throughout the day multiple times a day, no massages twice a week, no breakfast in bed, no princess treatment by making her life easy, no indulging her moods needlessly.

I keep saying that just because I don’t want to PERFORM affection does NOT mean it won’t exist or that I’d stop doing special things for her. I just wanna do it for the right reasons and if I feel like it too. Isn’t it more special that way if it’s real for me too?

She disagrees. I keep telling her that what we have right now, me trying to manage all of it for her is not healthy. I want to love her in ways that feel authentic to me too, and yes, even if it means I stop certain acts of affection *on demand*, I will. But that is a GOOD thing in the long run.

I don’t think it’s responsible of her to base all her responsive desire on what I have to do to earn that desire. I don’t want to “earn” it. I want it freely given to me by her choice