Are you still friends with your NCT group?

[Yellowwellies1]

And how long has it been?

My group are still in regular contact 18 months in, but I'm still sceptical we'll all become best friends for life. Maybe I have unrealistic expectations!

I’m only properly in touch with one from my group now. The kids are 6 now. There were only four of us anyway. One couple moved away when the kids were around 2, and we keep in touch sporadically through Instagram. The other couple turned out to be narcissistic weirdos so although our kids are at the same school I avoid them like the plague. But the one woman from the group I am still friends with is one of my closest friends and I feel lucky to have met her.

Yes, the original kids were 8 this year. We’ll be meeting up this weekend.

Our kids will be 16 this year.
The bulk of them are still in touch, always have been. I'm not. I never really gelled with the group, and drifted away from them after mat leave. There are a couple I run into from time to time and exchange some pleasantries.

I found NCT really wierd and all the practical things I wanted to find out about we never did. Just sitting in someone's lounge talking vaguely about birth and possible issues. She was a bit odd as well.
We had a few meet ups after having babies but I didn't really click with anyone but 1 lady who I didn't see again for years. Then suddenly one day she moved to my street. We walk and wild swim and I really get on with her. Our children are about 3 days apart in age but they have never hung out as mates.

Pretty similar to my experience. I think some of the others are still in regular touch (was over 10 years ago) but once I went back to work I slowly lost touch bar facebook

Also I was the only one not EBF and used to get comments and side eye. I didn't actually like most of them very much but I had some postnatal depression so it may have been me being super sensitive. Anyway 1 out of 5 result I am happy with my 1!

Yes 15 years on. Not ‘best friends for life’ and we’re all very different, but we have a strong bond through supporting each other through the tricky early days, and I imagine we’ll always stay in touch.

Some see more if each other than others (sports, school, where they live) and that’s fine too. Doesn’t stop us all getting along well when we meet up all together or in other combinations. Takes some planning nowadays though.

Still in contaxt virtually (& Xmas Cards) with all but one of DD1's (now 17) group and we still meet with them individually occasionally. DD1 in discussions re a-levels and now uni with some of them. Did a Prom collage of them all. Last meet up of everyone IRL was when they were 10. It's really nice.

DD2 - nope. On FB with a couple of them but we were all too busy with 2 kids and had all developed our own parenting styles before we met.

We had 5 in our group, 2 are just FB friends now and maybe meet up every 2/3 years (kids ante nearly 16 now). Other 2 are my closest friends! Kids are like cousins and we spend a lot of time together, don’t live in same place but within an hour of each other

6 years on and we meet up once a year to catch up. Not best friends and we're all quite different but we get on well.

10 years on, still in touch with 2 out of 8. One of those I would consider my bestie, we've been through so much together. It was worth every penny of the NCT money to have her in my life.

Yep, four of us meet up every month 20 years later!! They have been a great source of support over the years.

Yes-5 of them. 26 years and counting!

Not my actual antenatal group but I stayed involved with my local group as a breastfeeding counsellor and was Chair for a few years. I still meet regularly with several people I worked with on the committee. I'm in my 60s now! 😁

22 years and talk to 2 daily and 2 more regularly. Meet monthly for dinner, go on girls weekends and have supported each other through our best and worst times

Friends on FB with most of them but not actively in touch.

We met regularly for the first year. Around that one year mark we met for a lunch. I felt really excluded at that meal, which included three of them presenting one of the group with a spa day voucher for her 30th birthday that week. My 30th was also that week, they knew this. It was ignored. There was lots of petty clique behaviour, 3 or 4 of them in particular, over the next few months. In the end I stopped attending events. I think 2 of them remain very close but I don't think they are with the others.

I had a close circle from an antenatal aquafit class until most went back to work but one is now one of my closest friends.

Yes. We were 5 families initially. One dropped out after a few months. One emigrated but still visits when they are over. We remaining three meet up several times a year (kids are now 17).

Sadly no. A few of them moved away pretty quickly. One kept on going on about how rich her dad was. 2 of them were already friends and weren't interested in making new friends. One kept on trying to convert us to her religion. 2 others were lovely but we just didn't click and they already had large friend networks who happened to be already having children.
I felt really lonely and sad when I'd send messages to the group to meet up and they either didn't reply or couldn't come and then I'd head out and see groups of nct mums hanging out and having a nice time. I really wanted to just introduce myself and ask if I could be friends!
In the end I moved back to where I'm from and I've clicked instantly with a group of lovely people and I'm much happier.

4 of us out of about 10 still meet a couple of times a year. The “babies” will all be 27 this summer. Years, not months 🤣

Thanks for all the responses - such a wide range of experiences! Would be lovely for my DD to have friends she's known her whole life as she grows up, but I'm trying not to put too much pressure on it

Oh our kids aren’t friends!! 🤣

My NCT are nice, everyone's in the process of applying for primary school at the moment. Most have second babies but at different times. I don't feel close to them all but we are always just a text away for support and everyone's friendly and supportive! One of them I see in person regularly and we get on really well, 1 semi regularly and the others I only see at kids parties or at a grown up meet ups. Everyone gets on although I don't think anyone is besties or anything. They were a lifeline in those really tough early days and totally worth it.

8 years on and not a day goes by when we don’t speak, we meet monthly and go on holiday together every 1-2 years. They genuinely are my best friends and becoming a parent would not have been the wonderful experience I had without them. Children have a relationship like cousins (for now - I’m sure lots of ups and downs to come in future!)

20 years and no - I am FB friends with one but that's about it. We all spent a lot of time together for the first 6 months but started to drift after that then 2 of us moved away. I didn't bother doing NCT with my second DC.

No, I was so disappointed in mine. They were boring, humourless and and we had nothing in common.