Am I being unreasonable to think that £250 is too expensive for an antenatal class?

[galaxymummy]

Hi what do you think the right price for an antenatal class is?
What are the advantages of doing active birth v spa v NCT?

I've only gone to the free one provided by the NHS and that was enough. Even missed one class and sent the bloke on his own, because I was ill.

250 quid is A LOT of money for us, so didn't ever consider any private classes when the NHS ones are free and really good.

This is a difficult question. The NCT classes vary in price depending on area. I think £250 must be top end. They do also offer reductions for those on low incomes although these are not much taken up as far as I know.

They are a charity so they do not make a profit and where there is a surplus made it is plowed back into training new teachers, postnatal leaders and breastfeeding counsellors and all their other work.

The teachers get paid buttons too so they money does not go there! The training is bloody rigerous so they have to be very motivated (and not by money!). Not all teachers currently teaching have gone through this training though....before this elicits loads of posts about individual teachers being crap and/or loons.

So £250 is not a rip off but if someone feels it is better spent on a spa day then all power to them!

Hi Widow,
How many people were in your NHS class? and how long was it? Did you make any friends?

Hi galaxymummy, we paid to go to NCT classes and they were worth their weight in gold in terms of the friends we made. That was the number one reason for us joining, as we had friends who had done NCT before, some who are still in touch ten or even twenty years on.

We see much less of each other now, as we're all back at work, but emails are exchanged at least weekly and I try and catch up with them (with or without the kids!) at least once a month.

Hi rolled
Why dont they elbow crap and loony ones?

Hi Sponge,
Do you think the content of course is sort of vaguely unimportant and gives you a chance to meet and make friends??

Mine was born so early that I didn´t make it to any classes!
Made friends at toddler groups, HV clinics.

It is worth remembering that you don't have to do the NCT antenatal classes - you can still take advantage of all the other support and information that it offers - like coffee mornings, breastfeeding counsellors, postnatal support and special experiences register.

NCT membership is a lot less than £250 (which I do agree is a huge amount to pay for antenatal classes). For me, the biggest thing I got from the NCT was the friendships I made, and to be honest, my closest friends aren't people I met at my antenatal class - they're people I met at coffee mornings, and when I'd joined the local NCT committee.

If your NHS classes are good, and if you are the sort of person who asks questions, reads books and searches for the answers to your questions, then you might well find that you don't get much extra benefit from NCT classes than you would from NCT membership/involvement with your local NCT plus NHS classes.

I debated doing the NCT classes for a couple of months, asked work collegues who said it was well worth it and so I signed up.

However, I had to pull out as DP thought far too much money (around £175) and would be better spent on a pushchair or something.

It is only the cost that stopped me. If it had been £92 (minus membership) or something then I could have justified it to him..

I'm still waiting for dates for the NHS ones...

galaxy mummy - the NHS classes were 3 blocks of 2 hours each, one of them with a physio (almost got thrown out of it, when breaking into hysterical giggles because the bloke pointed out that the picture of all the men kneeling proudly next to their pregnant partners who were on their hands and knees reminded him a bit of Crufts)
The first class covered all the things to look out for, how it starts etc. The last class (which I missed) was about all methods of pain relief, and procedures. I'm glad my partner went as he could put me at ease when my birth experience started going a bit unpleasant.

I didn't make friends there, but found a lot in my breastfeeding support group (also free, run by a local charity). I think one of the reasons I'm still bf at 8 months is that I like the group. I wouldn't have heard of this group though if it hadn't been promoted so much by health visitors and my midwife. I first got in touch with them when my midwife told me about their antenatal breastfeeding workshop.

For me personally the content was less important than the social aspect as we could have found out about birth process, pain relief, bf, etc from other sources. I did go to a pain relief and a water birth talk about my hospital, and also a tour of the facilities, but none of these resulted in more than passing chats with others there - no phone nos exchanged!

The social side is of course totally random and you may end up in a group that just doesn't gel - we were lucky. I'm now pg with No 2 and have signed up to do the refresher course, purely to meet other mums with 2nd children as none of my tardy NCT group are pg again yet!

I was booked on NCT classes- turned up -they had no record of me, and no space.
Talk about panic!
Luckily found a nice private midwife, but obviously didn't meet any other mums as it was one to one.
Still, I met good friends through going to the baby clinics and sitting in coffee shops!

having considered the opportunity cost you know that I am going for the spa, but this thread seems to show that there is a hit and miss approach.

Good friends are priceless if you meet them at NCT but
£250 or near that is a lot of money.

In my area the NHS only offer one 3 hour class with loads of other people so we paid for private classes - NOT NCT but IMO just as good. They were 140 for 6 2 hour classes which I felt was reasonable. We made a couple of friends.

I'd go to the spa then go and meet people at other NCT stuff, pinkfizzle.

Its a lot of money, but I paid for the NCT classes and met loads of lovely people and have kept in contact with them all, so if thats important for you, then it will be worth it?

i'd spend it on a doula instead

It's a personal decision as to the value and most NCT classes are not quite this much but you will probably be getting at least 16 contact hours for this which works out at £7.81 each per hour. 18 hours is 6.94 each per hour. Other adult education quite often costs much more than this.

NHS classes do not usually allow the time for exploration of the issues or time to bond with other parents as they are much shorter and quite often have much larger groups.

The new Health in Pregnancy grant will generally cover the cost of most NCT courses and the NCT has a discount and instalment policy of which more people could take advantage.

Galaxymummy - because they are short of teachers in lots of areas. If complaints are received though their teaching will be observed and they will be 'talked to'. I suppose they would not be contracted to teach again if they do not make changes. It is probably tricky as these are often women who have been teacher for years. People don't tend to complain though. They have their babies and then forget about it.

If you can't afford £250, there are lots of concession rates/ installment plans available. If you can afford it, it's a good rate/ hour as antenatal says.

Don't forget the government grant to all pregnant women - £190 isn't it?

For that money you'd be so much better off hiring a doula - they are worth every penny.

I would spend the money on something else, you can learn all you need to know really from the free NHS classes and books. At the end of the day its going to come out and nothings stopping it!

Here is all you need to know:

It will hurt LIKE FUCK. But it will come out eventually and then you will be very very tired and look like shit. But there a little baby, so that's ok then.

That's basically what the NCT tell you. Though they downplay the LIKE FUCK bit, and focus instead on swinging on doorways and pogoing up and down on a beachball.

Do the free NHS ones and buy a very expensive pair of shoes instead. Other new mums will admire them in the Health Centre and coffee shops and you will become friends.