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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

The NCT catalogue - WTF!!

143 replies

MachinesAreGo · 01/10/2009 22:32

Just seen a copy of this catalogue. Now, for an organisation which is trying to shed its lentil-weaving, middle-class image, it has got
this VERY wrong.
It is a garment designed to give birth in ffs with, and I quote, "An inspirational, original poem printed in silver on the inside neck line".
£60 for a bit of cotton! What about an old shirt if you want some coverage? Do they think women should really be spending their money on this sort of thing?
Interestingly, it has sold out in sz 10 (comes in black and raspberry, arf!), so there is obviously a market, but by God, by sellig this the NCT are really pushing the 'perfect birthing experience' line, which imo does women no favours at all. Makes me mad! AIBU?

OP posts:
biscuitbear · 02/10/2009 10:04

I think the NCT dress looks nice but way too expensive for me. I bought a nice frumpy cotton nightie from M&S for DD1 and DD2 was a waterbirth so glam bikini.

Radox123 · 02/10/2009 10:25

The concept of Birthing garment is ridiculous. As a wrap dress I quite like it for my fat little self.

madlentileater · 02/10/2009 10:31

what was NCT's defence in the webchat?
can anyone link to it?

Miggsie · 02/10/2009 10:31

"feel feminine on your special day"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why not: "when your baby pops out he or she will be delighted that their mother in attired in a garment such as this"

Reality will be: "let's face it when you are screaming in agony and covered in blood you won't care what you are wearing"

or "after 6 junior doctors have peered up your fanny, you'll be past caring"

Miggsie · 02/10/2009 10:37

Also, they really should do a matching cod piece for dads: "dad, feel really masculine on your special day!"

MachinesAreGo · 02/10/2009 10:45

My gripes are that the NCT is supposed to be about empowering women to make choices.
Creating an expectation that they might need this £60 aspirational garment contradicts this.
The dress and the description suggest a reality that most women will not recognise. The idea of making some money is obviously more imprtant to th NCT than the message that birth isn't going to be perfect and serene - wear any old thing you don't mind getting blood and poo on, because the important thing is you and the baby, not how pretty you look or how 'well' you do the birth.

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 02/10/2009 10:58

lol Miggsie
Yes,I agree OP - the list of "must haves" in labour seems to get longer, setting women up to feel bad because they didn't push the head out to whale sonata #3. First time I gave birth in the T shirt I happened to be wearing at the time, second time I was prepared by making sure I was wearing an XXL T shirt from Tesco -in fact I bought 3 as they were 3 for £5 As someone else has mentioned if you don't feel female (not sure about feminine) when giving birth then a £60 nightie's really not going to help that,

CornishKK · 02/10/2009 11:05

Personally I went for the "naked, covered in blood with a dab of excrement" look, which I feel is actually the look for this season.

I did have a nightshirt in my labour bag, along with massage oil, iPod docking station, rose water facial spritzer and a packet of biscuits. The biscuits came in handy after the 2nd night of hospital food, the rest of it never came out of the bag....

And yes, shame on you NCT. Even the woman running our NCT class was a bit

porcamiseria · 02/10/2009 11:05

Hmmm....for the first time Mums who have no idea bless them.......ignorance is bliss

MachinesAreGo · 02/10/2009 11:12

BUT, is ignorance bliss???
What about a healthy dose of realism to stop women feeling like they have failed birth when it doesn't go all swimmingly?
The NCT are creating false and unfair expectations and should bl88dy well stop.

(says an NCT member and someone who was fortunate enough to have lovely births, which did go swimmingly, but have heard enough stories about those that didn't and who felt cr@p afterwards)

OP posts:
JulesJules · 02/10/2009 11:15

This is what Belinda Phipps (NCT) said about That Dress on the webchat:

That Dress!

Well the NCT is known for being pretty innovative ? we invented and we re first to sell by mail order ? feeding bras ? and for years they were really hard to get hold of anywhere else ? now you get them in many more places ? but we still probably have the best range and fit the biggest range of sizes and will make specially for you if we don?t have your size.

www.nctshop.co.uk/Bras/departments/1/

Now the dress may not be to everyone?s taste and price range ? but the idea is that giving birth is a pretty special thing ? and you usually get to have a lovely dress for your wedding so why not your birth ? certainly NCT has pushed - and largely succeeded in making sure hospitals don?t make women wear the attractive backless gown that hospitals provide ( except if you are having a cesarean section ? we haven?t cracked that one yet) ? so now you can wear what you want ? and if you want lovely we can do it ? it may not catch on ? but we will see.

The antidote to the dress are those pants ? the most unattractive but the most comfortable post birth ? even post cesarean section pants on the planet

www.nctshop.co.uk/Stretch-Briefs-3-Pack/productinfo/2015/

We do other PJ's too . www.nctshop.co.uk/Nightwear/products/19/? and to take care of the majority action of ripping off all clothing altogether while labouring and giving birth we push hospitals to have a knock wait to be invited in approach to going into labour rooms ? and making sure those rooms have window blinds and curtains ? can you believe that some don?t ? I went into one where those parking their cars in the car park got a view right into an uncurtained birth room! NCT sales aims to provide a range of things that are likely to be useful and at least less planet damaging than many other places ? we provide some nice to have things too ? which are not on the must list ? but we don?t try very hard to sell things ? mainly because you don?t need much in the way of things when you are pregnant or giving birth ? we would love people to come to us and buy a limited selection of things ? because going into other high street retailers generally means being encouraged to spend spend spend ? we do Nearly New Sales too ? so you can raise cash for you (and the charity) from items you have finished using ( or more likely barely used) and buy things at much lower prices than the shops. If you go to NCT events and classes ? there is general discouragement of butying loads ? lots of tips on using the no purchase option ? co bathing ? raising babies nappy free ? and laods of swapping and lending going on ? sometimes for money raising reasons I wish we were a bit more pushy ? but go to a class you will generally find the teacher ? bfc or postnatal leader showing you how little you need ? rather than suggesting you get your cash out. The CEO of Mothercare seemed to think we were missing a great opportunity to sell ? but he was missing the point ? we are here to offer not to push stuff on people.

There is always a lot of debate about what we do sell ? and what we don?t ? we steer clear of things where there is evidence of harm ? so that?s why we are moving to along side cots ? a la Bednest ? and as the evidence develops we will likely move away from cots where young babies sleep alone in a separate room because its becoming clear that the safest place for a baby under 6 months to sleep is in the same room as their parents. If you have a view ? let us know www.nct.org.uk/contact-us If there is something that you think is a must have ? if you a e a supplier yourself ? then get in touch.

We have been doing Bisphenol free containers for years now ? and finally succeeded I getting the press to realise it was an issue ? so much so that a very annoyed Avent came to talk to me ? because they were having to look at how to get Bisphenol A out of their bottles ? they haven?t done it yet btw ? so we will be keeping the pressure up.

NB on price- because we are often first and taking a risk ? or we have products that are only made in small quantities ? so when we run out ? that?s it - we are not at the pile it high and sell it cheap end of the range ? and we want to make a small profit to plough back in the charity ? but worth watching our site-because what we have today ? others will have in the future.

And any profit the trading Company makes is covenanted to the charity,
By BelindaPhipps on Thu 17-Sep-09 13:26:33

StealthPolarBear · 02/10/2009 11:20

"you usually get to have a lovely dress for your wedding so why not your birth"
because a wedding is often about the perfect day, dress, flowers etc. No harm done most of the time as most people have thought the marriage thing through in advance. But she's effectively saying that you should strive to have the perfect labour 'day' in a similar way, which can be a lot more out of your control. Is usually in fact, even for straightforward 'normal' births.

StealthPolarBear · 02/10/2009 11:21

And I assume she means labour, rather than birth DD didn't seem to care what she was wearing when she was born, even though she was in her best birthday suit!

needahand · 02/10/2009 11:23

am I missing the point or is it just a wrap dress. I have got loads from H&M at £19.90. Would I wear them in labour. Not a chance in hell that must be the silliest thing I have ever seen

StealthPolarBear · 02/10/2009 11:25

It's not just any wrap dress...it's an NCT wrap dress

charleymouse · 02/10/2009 11:27

I think it looks quite nice but would not buy it myself.

Not everyone has a blood, excrement and vomit covered birthing experience, each to their own if you do not like it do not buy it. I hardly think it is disempowering women either.

Personally I don't even think it is lentilish weaving, now if it was crochet in a multitude of colours then yes .

Pikelit · 02/10/2009 11:33

I managed to avoid the sick and shit bits of birthing but nobody, not even the most fragrant, gets away without the blood, sweat and tears!

MachinesAreGo · 02/10/2009 11:41

Water births are good for keeping the grot away. I emerged very clean (although in my first water birth the placenta came out before I had a chance to get out - that didn't look pretty!).

I do think the NCT are wrong in marketing this though - it is by implication, disempowering...

OP posts:
you · 02/10/2009 12:43

Oh God, I'm such a sucker, I probably would've bought this if I'd seen it before I had my DD

Am oh so glad I didn't

mrsjuan · 02/10/2009 13:08

It's a ridiculous idea. I got some cheap nighties from primark with button down fronts for feeding and felt fine in them. When you've got your head buried in the pillow and your naked bum stuck up in the air no dress in the world is going to make you feel 'feminine'.

I did quite like the little poem though but I am blaming that on hormones making me feel mushy

knpeppa · 02/10/2009 13:56

I can't understand why they have such overpriced and unnecessary stuff in that catalogue. In every other ways they seem to be against excessive consumerism, having nearly new sales, recomending washable nappies etc. In my antenatal classes we were advised to wear comfy, old clothes for the birth as they would get very messy. We were given lots of tips to save money, eg by using pillow cases as sheets in the moses basket. It just doesn't add up! I thought they were an organisation with some integrity, even if they are a bit lentil weavery. They seem to be selling out to consumerism

Eirlys · 02/10/2009 14:25

I think they could be forgiven if it was the NCT who campaigned such that we didn't all have to wear a hospital backless gown to labour in.

And if anyone has the dosh to spend and it brings more money into the charity then why not...? If someone has that sort of money to spend they're probably going to be sucked in to spend it on something uneccesary elsewhere, or buy some Isabella Oliver maternity clothes.

Wheras most people might see that and go, what a good idea lets go and see if I can get a smiliar wrap dress from h&m.

Miggsie · 02/10/2009 14:35

I found the most important thing about my birth garment (nightie from M&S) was to take several of them into the hospital.
Mine ended up covered in blood and then I threw up on it.
The second one I bled on while sleeping post birth.
The third got a bit of baby sick on it but I didn't care by then.

Surely the NCT should concentrate on the practicalities? It's going to end up soaking in a bucket and you'll need something else to wear afterwards.

Birth is not a wafty floaty experience for 99% of women.

And it really annoys me that bit about feeling feminine, did anyone feel not like a woman while labouring? Is my sense of womanhood so fragile that when I was giving birth I thought I was a man? The verbiage accompanying the dress is offensive, not the dress particularly.

Miggsie · 02/10/2009 14:35

I found the most important thing about my birth garment (nightie from M&S) was to take several of them into the hospital.
Mine ended up covered in blood and then I threw up on it.
The second one I bled on while sleeping post birth.
The third got a bit of baby sick on it but I didn't care by then.

Surely the NCT should concentrate on the practicalities? It's going to end up soaking in a bucket and you'll need something else to wear afterwards.

Birth is not a wafty floaty experience for 99% of women.

And it really annoys me that bit about feeling feminine, did anyone feel not like a woman while labouring? Is my sense of womanhood so fragile that when I was giving birth I thought I was a man? The verbiage accompanying the dress is offensive, not the dress particularly.

MamaGoblin · 02/10/2009 14:39

...

Is the NCT trying to shed its middle-classed, lentil-weavey image? First I'd heard of it!

(Disclaimer: am fully paid-up member, weave lentils and shop at waitrose. I even attend meetings. Had no idea NCT was attempting 'inclusivity' but god knows, they need to!)

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