With all due respect, this shouldn't be about the father's feelings or your feelings towards one another. The goal is to respect one another and to get along in a mature manner for the sake of the child. Resolve your feelings through counseling if necessary so you'll have a better idea of what a suitable relationship should look like for next time. Meanwhile, if you want your child to respect the two of you, you need to provide the best care possible for her and that means being flexible and overlooking the past. Make the goal of making a better tomorrow for all of you. This includes living near one another so you can cover for each other when emergency care is necessary. If you are having problems with a father who acts like a child, perhaps you could try to create a contract together stating your responsibilities as parents. Apart from that, live your life with the goal of keeping your child safe and building on her strengths, and I do believe it's good to listen to the father's input re your boyfriends because he may sense something you don't. And if you are dating, I advise you never to leave your child alone with any man other than her father. That's what he's there for. Hope this helps.