To think one's NCT group is a necessary evil?

[analytica]

Honestly, I need them but why?!?! Example of a recent conversation:

Me: how are you both?
Person 1: fine thanks just waiting for bedtime
Person 2: yeah good, you? How was your weekend etc etc
Person 3: we're good. Switched to some formula during the day and now his poo stinks.
Person 4: great! Went to work today for the first time! Weird getting on the tube with a baby etc etc

Person 3 just always talks about her son's bloody nappies. Can we not just have a nice conversation without resorting to talk of shite instantly? There's also a bit of formula snobbery going on too which is annoying.

I don't think the people responding are actually reading that I'm talking about all the chat about nappies only

I never bothered with it but I was lucky enough to have a lot of friends who were also pregnant at the same time as me so I had a ready-made support group. From what I hear they seem to be very hit and miss. It does feel a bit contrived... The chances of getting on with a random group of people when the only thing you know you have in common is that you're expecting a baby must be quite Slim. But some people do strike lucky so obviously sometimes it works!

What I’m getting at is that friendships and conversations go both ways. If you’re how you are coming across on here IRL and WhatsApp, she probably doesn’t consider you a friend and is just spouting banal chatter to effectively mark her place in the conversation so she doesn’t look as if she never replies.

My 'baby' is 39 and I still see people I met through NCT. Can't remember the last time we talked about nappies!

OP, any person in my social circle who solely conversed on the theme of her child's arse would soon start to wind me up. See, I read it

Maybe a jokey comment in person, if you know her well enough? "Janet, Timmy is lovely but I can't hear any more about his poo. I know more about his bowels than I do about my husband's. I don't want to know these things!!"

If you don't know her well enough to have a laugh together then do NOT try this.

@ContessaGoesMarchingDOWNTOHELL Love your suggestion - will try!

Loved my NCT group - still friends with several and holiday with one family 17 years later. They saved my sanity and provided me with much needed support when I'd moved somewhere new and didn't know anyone - let alone other parents.

ideally say it in front of at least one other person and make it as light-hearted and silly as you can, so the one you're saying it to can see that it's not intended as a vicious dig and you've got a witness if she decided to interpret it that way post-hoc

Another approach is to wait until she is engaged in a conversation with another mum about poo and then announce to the room that you're declaring a moratorium on poo because you don't want your life to be about the products of baby bowels. If you generalise the message a bit then she might not take it personally.

Good luck!