I have 3 kids. I made mistakes after the first 2 but am doing things differently now. First of all...CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT EJ??? Sorry, but I'm a DOOL fan, too! You've got to make YOU a priority. That means not blaming your baby for not being able to get your work out in. Here's what I'm doing that has really been working...

Do you strengthening during DOOL. First segment, sit ups. As many as you can until you have to stop. Rest and do it again until commercial break. During the first commercial break, sit-ups. 2nd segment, run in place or do jumping jacks (don't FF). See? You can make a list of all the exercises you can do in your living room. Just do one during each segment. If you think doing the whole segment is too long, alternate when they switch scenes. I do deep squats or lunges when Hope's on 'cause I love her legs. I squeeze a ball between my elbows when Chloe's on 'cause she's got great...well, you know. I also do leg lifts, etc. You can look online for lots of great ideas that don't require time, equipment or money. Plus, if you have to go take care of your baby, you can pause it until later. It doesn't really matter if you do it all at once or just whenever you get to watch. Does that make sense?

Also, find a friend in your neighborhood who will walk with you. Put the baby in the stroller if you can't get your DH to watch the baby. I started walking at 8:30 around the creek in our neighborhood. One friend joined me and when I'd mention it to another friend, they were interested, too. Now we have 5 or 6 ladies walking every night. We started a Yahoo group so that we can know who's going that day and know who to look for. They expect me to be there. If I'm not, they'll call to see how I'm doing. It's accountability and it's great to get out and talk to other grown-ups.

I hope that helps. Like I said I have 3 kids so I don't have a lot of time or $ to invest. It's working for me.

Mel, the main reason why my milk started drying up was I wasn't getting enough calories.

DS had colic when he was little, and my dietitian told me what I could and could not have....well, the "could" list was small and finding food that I could eat that was convenient (who wants to cook a lot with a newborn) was rather difficult...so I would just stop eating during the day (a bite here and there of something) and eat when DH got home from work.

Not too long after that, my milk started drying up. I pumped my brains out - with nothing to show.

Unfortunately, he was only able to nurse for about 5 months. Now that I know more about breast feeding, I hope I will be able to do so longer with the next baby.

Good luck with the fenugreek and pumping.

OMG I KNOW! HOW DARE HE SLEEP WITH NICOLE! I'm so mad about it. Plus I have a soapcelebrity crush on EJ.

Yes, it really does, and it's a great idea. It's a good place and time to get my strengthening exercises done. I've been doing an hour or more of cardio every day since I had a bit of a mind-makeover and decided I'm doing this for real this time, and doing strengthening 3-4 times a week. Doing it during DOOL is a great idea (especially the idea behind doing certain exercises during certain character's scenes because of their great assets; it's actually motivating. Squat! I will have Hope's legs! Squat! I will have Nicole's butt! etc) Since you mentioned squats (something I have trouble doing for some reason) I was wondering how do you get geared up to do them, what position do you take to do them... I am uncoordinated with them and not sure I do them right.

Lately I've been getting my friend to walk with me, my motivation is fitness, hers is the hot older man down the street, so it pays off for both of us. I might look into starting a yahoo group for this neighborhood if I find enough interested people, that's a really good idea.

The way you described eating when your son was a newborn with colic sounds very similar to how I had been eating. Not really eating much during the day, then cooking a big dinner (by then I entered binge city but probably still didn't take in enough calories.) Plus ds never was able to latch on so I had to pump to give him b-m in a bottle and it was my responsibility to keep up with the tedious pumping. Which wasn't always possible, that rented thing is not portable despite what the makers claim. Sorry to hear about only being able to nurse for 5 months, I understand the disappointment. I could just stop trying to pump altogether and continue giving him the formula I'm having to give him, but I can't bear to give it up. Hope the fenugreek will help although I'm just about nearly dried up.

if you decided to keep at it (nursing and pumping, that is) try eating oatmeal, it's supposed to help increase your production. when i was nursing, i would eat a bowl of oatmeal every morning drizzled with flax oil (also good when nursing) I would also make oatmeal bars (there was a recipe on the back of the cannister one time that used dried cranberries - i'm sure i still have it if you're interested. i don't think it's completely sbd compliant but could be modified)

Sure, I would love to know the recipe, I could always modify it as you said.

alright, here it is then. there are definitely a few things that would need tweaking and i've never tried tweaking it but they were always a hit here at my house when i made them. my ex loved them and healthy food wasn't always high on his list (confession - i haven't baked with sugar substitutes so someone else may be the expert on converting the sugar requirements) but - if you try it and it works for you, let me know. if i get time i'll try to make them myself)
***DISCLAIMER*** i have not ever tried this recipe modded to fit sbd. So I have no idea how well it will work. (but if you're looking for a way to increase your oatmeal intake - good for lowering cholesterol and for nursing mothers - it's worth a shot.)

chewy fruit and oatmeal bars:
*3/4 c brown sugar. (i prefer to use stevia over splenda, but whatever sugar substitute you choose should be fine i would think)
*1/2 cup sugar (once again, would need to play with sweeteners. agave, splenda, whatever works for you)
*8 oz plain low fat or fat free yogurt
*2 egg whites lightly beaten
*2 T canola oil
*2 T fat free milk
*2 tsp vanilla
*1 1/2 c flour (could use whole wheat flour or some variety of whole grain flour i'm sure.)
*1 tsp baking soda
*1 tsp cinnamon
*1/2 tsp salt
*3 C oatmeal, uncooked
*1 c dried fruit diced (i liked cranberries but could use whatever you prefer.) (preferably the type w/o sugar. i know i can get unsweetened dried fruit at the natural foods store here)

combine sugars (sugar substitute in this case), yogurt, egg whites, oil, milk and vanilla. in another bowl combine flour, baking soda cinnamon and salt. mix well. add to yogurt mixture. stir in oats and fruit. spread into an ungreased 9x13 pan. bake at 350 degrees for 28-32 minutes or until light golden brown.

Mmm, that sounds delicious! And I love stevia, definitely could use that. I can definitely tweak the recipe a bit to use for Phase 2. Thanks for the recipe!!!