Been told I have to continue my diploma through my maternity leave!!!!!!

[Cheekychops84]

oh my god I thought I'd be able to take a break ! But no I've been told I have till march to complete it I'm 33 weeks now and only half way through! They are even saying they will come to my home to do work when I'm on leave! I find this a bit intrusive! I so wanted to breast feed aswell but can't if I'm going to have to carry on with this I'm really disapointed! If they had told me in January when I announces my pregnancy I would have pulled out!

It sounds like you would prefer to pull out, will they not let you at this stage?

You've rightfully identified that a new baby is all consuming and that you will need to give it your undivided attention. I can only imagine how much time you will have for this person who will show up at your house when your baby is screaming upstairs and needing to be seen to! They do know you're not having a programmable baby don't they?!

There are ways to do both but it won't be easy. You've got 7 months until you need to complete it which is over half a year and in 7 weeks you're going to have a baby. Give yourself at least 6 weeks of being mummy before you even contemplate going back to your studdies and then allocate yourself x amount of hours per week. Arrange for a friend/family member to come and babysit whilst you study. Family might be better for such a young baby and as you want to breastfeed you'll need to free yourself up quite regulary. If you want to breastfeed then do it, don't let them stop you or you're likely to look back and regret it one day.

What does the work involve? If a lot of it is reading and essay writing or answering questions etc then I'd imagine that you will be able to fit in an hour or two around the baby once you have settled in together and recovered physically/emotionally from becoming a new mum. You could do work whilst the baby sleeps or is watched by a friend/family member who can bring the baby to you when the baby needs fed.

It really depends on the hours that you need to put into it, what the work entails, how much help you can get with baby and whether you'll be able to concentrate on the work.

What were you hoping to do? I assume that you wanted to put things on hold for 6 months to a year and pick it up again, is this really not an option?

I think (unless the work is difficult to do in chunks of time that you can do flexibly around your baby) that it is doable for a certain number of hours a week that'll depend on your circumstances. Its whether those hours are enough to complete the work - i.e. might not be doable if you are working on it full time at the moment.

Of course, its working out your priorities too, if you really want to concentrate on being a new mum for the next 7 months, then don't feel bad about that. Just work out the practical implications of picking up the course at a later date or having to start over.

Is there a reason why they would need to come to you? Is there work you need to demonstrate to them in person, or for them to teach in person, or do they just mean that they'll drop round course notes every now and again (if the latter you could maybe arrange for them to be posted, for you to collect them, or to get them electronically). If its to discuss your progress then maybe phone/email contact or you going in to them once a month/fortnight/at the end of a module.

Apologies if some of my suggestions wouldn't suit the type of course you are doing, I realise that there could be practical elements etc that might be difficult for you to continue. Don't decide not to breastfeed over this, you may well find you can do both or that you'd rather focus on your baby. See how it goes first.

One book I read on breastfeeding (it may have been 'The Politics of Breastfeeding' but I have read others, so it might have been one of those) the author said that there is no reason why we couldn't have a leading female politician deliver a powerful speech whilst nursing her child. We just aren't used to the idea.

Maybe the same is true of completing parts of your course?

Up to the birth fine, about six weeks after the birth may be.

But you need time to recover, establish feeding and catch up on sleep.

DD2 was a natural at BF, but I still got cracked nipples and mastitis in the first few weeks.

Later on I would have been quite happy to have fed while talking.

Is it a diploma like the old style nvq? Cos I've just finished mine and I was told I wouldn't have been allowed to carry on through ML, as you need to be 'in employment' to do it.

I'd expect to be able to take an Interruption of Studies. Might be worth asking on the employment board?
You certainly should not have to drop out just 'cos you're pregnant.
But with the sleep deprivation and baby-brainedness, I certainly couldn't complete a diploma!

Thanks so much for your help :) it's a health and social care level 3 diploma . I am currently trying to get through the literacy level 2 test and maths is not my thing so I doubt very much I will pass this tomorrow. I think after this it is a case of completing 5/6 modules which were of my own choice . I was under the impression she could email/post them to me then like u say I will try and do them weekly ( also have a 6 and 4 year old) so can't understand y she would want to come over to me ? I'd prefer she didn't ? They have said it can't b delayed as I will loose funding and if I drop out now I am liable to pay back for the course .

Just an update contacted them today and try can give me a 6-8 week Break at least until mid September ! Which I'm hoping then I can continue realistically at least big bubbies will b back at school!