He said, "This woman has a curse on her, or something. Every son I give her is dead by morning, it seems." So you wonder if Judah ever meant to give his son Shelah to his daughter-in-law, Tamar. It seems like he was lying through his teeth here; and that he was just trying to get rid of her. He thought, "In the intervening time (between now and the time when Shelah is able to have a wife) maybe somebody else will come along and take Tamar. Then, that will be a problem off my hands." Well, it did not work out that way.
This begins to tell you a few things about Judah. When it says that Judah was "comforted," it is probably a way of saying that he went and had a real good time with his friend Hirah the Adullamite. They were probably out carousing and drinking.
