Pregnant- should I begin to budget/save for baby classes?

[Onth3fence]

My sister and her friends seemed to go to loads of classes, 3 a week or more. I think she found them to be really positive experiences and got her out the house. I have just heard though that it’s £70/80 for a 6 week block!

If you did 3 a week, that’s easily £200 a month just on that which seems a lot!

How many did you go to/would you recommend?

I've cut down to one sensory class a week. I was doing 3 classes a week when DS was around 4 months old because I thought that's what you're supposed to do with babies.
I found it nothing but stressful trying to time classes around nap & feeding times.
I've dropped to one a week, which I look forward to & if I have to miss a week because DS is having an off day it's not the end of the world.
There were some weeks where his naps times fell on all the class start times so we couldn't go & id already paid in advance.
It's not worth the stress!
I'd much rather go for a nice walk with DS at my own leisure or meet a friend than plan an entire day around baby classes.

I go to 2 baby/toddler groups a week. Its great. My son loves them

I only went to baby massage at the local children's centre. The lady was kind and told us we were doing a good job (I needed someone to tell me that). The others I tried, I found quite dull, lots of small talk about babies sleeping and feeding. Even baby yoga, which I had high expectations of, was awful! So we would meet up with friends, go for walks, watch box sets, visit family, go shopping, out for lunch etc either just me and DD or with friends.

Hell no! No antenatal, no sing and rhyme etc. We did a bit of soft play now and then. Also went to stuff at surestart children's centres and craft at the library. Didn't pay a penny!

I went to the free NHS classes which cover ever you need to know.

I did some, I was without any family and had no friends locally who were at home so felt definitely lonely.

There weren't a lot of baby playgroups for non-crawlers so I didn't really want to wait for 6-8 months without talking to someone else than DH in the evening.

I did a NCT class for 6 weeks where I met some mums and we spent basically our maternity leave together afterwords, meeting for coffees and chats. That class was £5/each and was about early baby stages, so kind of the next step from antenatal ones. I am still in contact with one mum 17 years later.

Over the year I think we did 2 or 3 others, some at the same time, some only for a couple of weeks like baby massage.

Another big fat zero. The world is full of available resources to learn anything you need to. It never crossed my mind to actually pay for classes, and my daughter, who recently had her first, didn't take classes, either.

I took my toddler granddaughter to a local church stay and play type morning. There were loads of toys, all lovely and clean. Everyone made me feel really welcome although none of them had ever seen me before. There was some free play first, then refreshments, then songs and a story. It was run by a group of mature ladies from the church who provided delicious home made cake for grown ups and biscuits and fruit for the children. I'm not sure of the exact cost but well under a fiver, money well spent. Had I lived locally I'd have happily gone every week

I love them and go to a lot at the moment as I’m in May leave but I only pay.for two a week and then go to two free ones. Have a look at what’s on in your area, our children’s centre puts on free ones and there free and very cheap (£1) ones at the community centres and churches.

I think that actively saving for 'nice things' to do each week is a good idea, though - whether that turns out to be formal classes, a gym with a creche so you can have time to swim/workout/sit in a steam room and wash and dry your hair without an infant attached to you, a private physio session because your back is aching after carrying a bump and child around, a trip to a nice place for a walk in the sunshine with a buggy and then a large iced coffee, or a one off 'that dress is lovely/shampoo smells great' will be up to you.

It's very easy to focus entirely on the baby and buying clothes and nappies and feeling you shouldn't be spending on yourself at all, but if you've got this money tucked away for entirely pleasurable spends, it can make it easier to prioritise your wellbeing.

Maybe even set up a separate online account for it so it's clear psychologically that this money is for you and not standard household expenditure?

I did 3 a week and some times more. Some were run by churches so £1/2/3 others were blocks of £30/60 for baby sensory or music

I had babies years ago when there were free classes at surestart centres, even then it's not really worth going when they are tiny, it's more for the Mums to socialise which never really interested me.
The only thing I liked was baby yoga but that was a one off free class. I did a couple of swim tot sessions but found getting changed on my own with a baby tricky.
Feel free to try them all out but they are absolutely not compulsory. When they are mobile, playgroups are good for their socialising and some new toys to play with.

I take my daughter to 1 class a week at the moment, but she's 3 now and does preschool too. We did go to 2 classes a week which cost £6.50 per class and £7.25 per class so that's £39 and £43.50 for 6 week slots.

I like doing planned classes with her but there will be loads of stay & play groups which cost like £1/2 and then there's the library, they'll likely do a storytime/music time which will be free.

I think it's worth going to stuff to meet other parents, I also think for toddlers it does teach them a lot about being involved in an organised activity and it also widens their social circle which is just nice. It's lovely watching the other kids grow up too.

I took ds to several mother and baby groups every week which cost maybe £3 or £5 each, and we did some baby and toddler music classes which cost maybe £10 each but that was all in terms of structured sessions.

Before DD started preschool we did either a class or a stay&play group or something at the library every morning Monday-Friday between the ages of around 18 months and before she started preschool at 3

My DS is 4 months and we do one class a week. I did a few taster sessions which are either free or reduced price and then decided on my favourite. My little boy loves it and it gives some routines to our Monday.

I would be worried about doing too many.

If you are pregnant I would recommend doing a NCT and/or Pregnancy yoga as I met a few other mums through this and meet up regularly for coffee or walks.

I did loads. I needed some structure, to get out a d ideal to adults, but very rarely paid very much for them. Baby Swimming was PAYG at the local baths; story time at the library; mums&baby group in the church hall. We also had a aSurestart centre back in the day, which was a godsend.

I would definitely start trying to save heavily, even if you don't spend it on baby classes. Maternity leave always causes a hit on the savings and you may need the money for childcare.