Nct class

[Fortheloveofbaths]

Wasn't sure whether to do Nct or not but decided to so I could meet other mums in the area 😊 paid the money etc all good.

Included is a bf session which I thought would be super helpful as I've no clue really!

Anyway so far we have had 3 (out of 5) sessions rearranged or venue changed. This has made it difficult for us as I don't drive and had to meet dh after work but we have made it work and got to all the sessions. The bf session was meant to be tonight and I've just had a text to say it's cancelled (no reason given) and that hopefully they will be able to rearrange.

I'm a bit 🧐 at the wording of the message as it doesn't make it clear if it will be rearranged and when I rang the lady to ask she said she would 'try her best'. Now I understand that life happens (although I don't know the reason that it has been cancelled) but we have paid a lot of money (£250) for this course. Aibu as I know Nct is a charity?

I found kellymom.com to be really useful for breastfeeding advice. Unfortunately I found BF support in hospital to be poor and the advice from my HV was actively dangerous (my HV was spectacularly crap though, in a way that can't possibly be the norm!).

For balance, I found my NCT class waaay more helpful than the nhs one. The midwife was a bit of an arse, not very pro breastfeeding and very pro drugs in labour. She provided some really inaccurate information about breastfeeding. I’m a bit more hippy so Nct suited me. I have thought on and off about training to teach the courses and yes it is a 3/4 year course depending on whether you specialise in bf support etc.

I found the content helpful but by far the most important part was the people I met. Op, you said you have a fb group - it’s set up to facilitate that through all the feelings chat, but I get it was a bit cringe and your teacher doesn’t sound that responsive. We had a WhatsApp group and these people, while not people I expect I would’ve become friends with in another context, were the best support through the first few months. There’s something about people who are having a baby at exactly the same time as you, friends with babies only 6mo older or younger are going through totally different things.

All that said, definitely not U to ask for a partial refund.

YANBU to be annoyed! I definitely would be. And your course leader sounds dreadful. My NCT course was all practical advice - zero poems, zero small group sessions. Lots about hospital bags, sex after birth, advantages and disadvantages of different pain relief etc.

However, I agree that the best thing you get out of an NCT course is a support network of parents who all have due dates around a similar time and live near you. Advance on what to pack in your bag is nice, but it's easy enough to Google. If you have a Facebook group and the other parents seem nice, you've got the most important thing.

Do complain though. Your local NCT will definitely want to know that this facilitator is so useless.

"Your local NCT will definitely want to know that this facilitator is so useless."

Sadly, there is often a significant disconnect between the local volunteer-led branch and the head-office-led course administration. Complain to HO.

And for balance, my NCT course was excellent, and the groups I went to with my baby were life-saving, so were the reason I became a volunteer.

Haven’t read the whole thread. Yes definitely make sure they rearrange or refund!

To be honest, NCT has only been worthwhile for the Mum friends and support network. They encourage you to set up a WhatsApp group and our meet ups have really helped me this first year!

The content is crap though (imo) rose tinted classes. Doesn’t prepare you for cluster feeding or the realities of giving birth. I remember our NCT lady saying something about the baby feeding every 3 hours! So unrealistic. Breastfeeding is amazing but those first few weeks are hard and I wish they’d just been honest about that.

So basically it’s a load of crap so I’d ask for a refund if they are messing you about but make sure you get the other new parents details if you’d like to stay in touch.

YouTube is great for breastfeeding tips. The birth- have a ‘plan’ but be open minded. And remember there’s lots of pain options for you if you want it. A lot of my NCT group had traumatic births thinking they had to do it all the ‘proper’ way. I got my epidural in (and pethidine for that matter!) and had a calm and relaxing ending. Waterbirths etc. can be great but honestly, I took a lot of the NCT stuff with a pinch of salt.

Good luck and congrats!

Thanks everyone :-)

I think it seems everyone has very varied experiences! I'm glad I've got the group aspect out of it I'm just a bit disappointed I have nothing that I can say they have 'taught' me if that makes sense.

We discussed birth plans and pain relief etc but no pros/cons or things like that. It's more been about feeling empowered to question whether we need things or intervention.

My dh thinks I should ask her a list of questions (as in things I want to know) and that if I don't do that then it's partially my responsibility for not getting as much out of it. However I have pointed out that sometimes when people ask questions she says to bring it up again at a later time, or that she isn't sure. In fact she even said at the first session not to talk too much as we will run out of time.

i It's more been about feeling empowered to question whether we need things or intervention.

That was by far the biggest lesson I took away from it. There should always be time for group discussion though. Do feedback to them.

I think the sheer variability of quality is really worrying.

I had a superb practitioner. We covered:

All of the stages of labour
Physical changes
Pain relief and the benefits/downsides of each type
Labour ward vs MLU
C-sections
Positions for labouring
Childhood illnesses and when to seek help
PND warning signs
Birth video
Breastfeeding class
Nappy changing

My friend did one a few miles away which centred on candles and breathing.

Same cost but I felt prepared and she was most definitely not.

@Merryoldgoat I think I'm on the one your friend did 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Medee yes I agree we should feel empowered and that's a great lesson but part of me being empowered would have been knowing what to expect 😕 luckily I have enough resources that I can read around things and my husband is medical background so we are probably more prepared than some but I would have loved to have covered some of the stuff in the post below yours.

Oh dear!

I also agree about being empowered and that’s only possible when you understand what’s going on.

That's a real shame as ours were quite good.

Do you like your group? That's the list important thing I would say. We literally bought friends!

I consider my NCT classes to be useless at best and irresponsible at worst.

This was a while back but:

• teacher knew that I was having a c section due to complications and still maintained her rhetoric that anything but a natural birth in your mammalian place was terrible for everyone.
• the bloody cascade of intervention. She made induction into the worst possible choice and essentially all that chart needed was death as the last word to be complete given what it was implying
• I offered to come back and tell my birth story and she told me next class was cancelled. This turned out to be a lie. I met a Mum who was in that class...it would have been better had she said she just didn’t want me to talk about an ELCS positively or had someone else from our group already
• she presented the risks of naturally going to 42 weeks as being identical to labour at 36 weeks which simply isn’t true they may be percentage wise but they are different
• instead of encouraging our class to ask why they were being offered induction she simply majored on our right to refuse
• we drew lots of pictures of how awful our bodies looked and our chaps’ ideal delivery rooms and literally not one practical thing
• breast feeding class had no info on cluster feeding or realities of breast feeding. It had more messages on how hard feeding was after c section or induction seemingly designed to make us feel guilty.
• when I was struggling desperately I asked to go to an early days course and was told rudely that I’d missed mine. He was still under six months and I would have been paying for it....I would have accepted no space as a reason.

I may have been unlucky but it was total waste of money and group was crap and unsocial to boot. So didn’t even get that advantage. I still hate the organisation four years on!