The NCT catalogue - WTF!!

[MachinesAreGo]

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?

Georgimama - I think you are referring to this product (couldn't find it in the NCT catalogue):
yikes!

Actually I know people who have exclusively expressed for their babies, and believe me - hands-free double expressing is a big help in these circumstances! If you're having to care for your baby and work full time, or even part time, you're not going to want to sit around sipping tea and gazing into the middle distance for half an hour 5 times a day while you express your milk! (well, I would, but then I'm lazy and inefficient!)

This product is particularly popular in the USA where many middle class women want to exclusively bf, but have to return to work very quickly after the birth of their babies.

That picture cracked me up! I'm sure hands-free expressing can come in useful, but that picture is HILARIOUS!

LMAO I wouldn't waste my money on buying it or any other clothing item. Both births I have ended up nekkid because my blood pressure rose high and i burnt up badly....with ds2 wouldn't have been so bad except i was indoors with ds1 dp and 3 paramedics lol

Just reading this i have realised i am wearing the manky old t-shirt i wore when my 2nd was born, now 18mths.
There is always some useless crap being pushed by someone telling you that you 'need' it to have a baby. How many of us have bought a baby bath and never used it!

People tapping into a market where people feel they have to spend lots, same as wweddings!

BTW i am an NCT branch co-ordinator and am trying to change views in my area (isle of wight). I couldn't care less about anyone who wants to push their own opinions of 'how to have a baby'. You grow it, painfully squeeze it out and spend the rest of your life paying for it! I love mine tho!xxx

I find it quite interesting hearing peoples views about the NCT.

Yabu. I'd wear one.

Fuck me, I was in too much pain to care about my dignity!

On the other hand though, presumably these are bought by women who have never given birth before, and I'm sure we all had silly ideas and bought useless crap whilst pregnant with our PFBs.

I wish I'd looked all serene on the edge of the bath like that.

'comfortable and feminine on your special day'

This is a little off the topic raised by OP but I was wondering if one of the NCT members on this thread could tell me where all the money from NCT memberships, the catalogue sales, Nearly New Sales income, etc goes? As far as I understand a lot of the NCT services are run by volunteers, not paid staff? When I was a member I attempted to ring their breastfeeding support line, there was nobody available to take the call, I left a message and no-one returned my call. Ditto when I tried to arrange a breastfeeding bra fitting. I did go to NCT antenatal classes which were helpful but cost about £240 so I assume they aren't subsidised in any way by membership income. So where does the NCT spend the income it generates?

It's not the dress I object to (not my style, but never mind). The price is a bit for what it is but, again, up to people what they buy.

No. What has my hackles raised and my teeth gritted is that the pictures accompanying the product bear no resemblance whatsoever to reality. Are the models even pregnant? They don't look it. The dress is specifically marketed as a dress in which to give birth. So why is one model serenely running a bath and another nursing a baby who is nowhere near newborn. However good your birth experience was, I defy anyone to look like that during and immediately after labour!

I agree with Charis: this is fleecing inexperienced first-time mums - and setting them up for a real let-down in the process.

Hoppity "Why don't the NCT sell a 3 pack of plain black oversized tee shirts, marketed as labour garments?"

Or even singly. Now that would be useful - long black maternity t-shirts. I bought a big black t shirt for the purpose then found it still wasn't big enough to fit properly over my bump.

Ended up having a water birth wearing nothing at all.

"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."

To me, that's the central issue. I've already been shouted at once today for being anti-NCT, but this garment epitomises to me the hypocrisy of the organisation.

DH, bless him, tried to dispose of my "birthing garment" in the hospital sharps bin...

NCT breastfeeding counsellors and antenatal teachers aren't volunteers - they're paid an average salary. Classes are expensive but are heavily subsidised for people on benefits (if you're on a means tested benefit I think you pay about 10% of the full fee).

They spend a lot of money on research into parenting issues and into maternity services. They have a busy lobbying arm as well as a research arm.

Much of the money raised is used to fund training - they subsidise the training of their breastfeeding counsellors and antenatal teachers. It's also used to fund the breastfeeding line and the pregnancy and birth line.

Breastmilkdoesafablatte - you are reading WAY to much into the birthing dress. Yes it's a bit bonkers to spend money on a posh dress to labour in, given the amount of blood, poo and sweat involved, but so what! some women will buy it and enjoy wearing it, and the charity will make a good profit out of it which hopefully they'll use sensibly. The point made in the blurb about the dress making women feel womanly or feminine isn't as unreasonable as all that - many birth professionals see birth as a psycho-sexual experience, which as we know involves all the same hormones as sex! In fact some more radical midwives encourage parents to create a romantic environment in which to labour (low lights, privacy, intimacy, lots of skin to skin contact) by way of encouraging the hormonal cascade that leads to birth. I like the thought of a woman wearing the dress and enjoying the feel of the fabric and the way it makes her look........

One thing I I can vouch for is that the NCT head office is very grim and has clearly had no money spent on it for decades. It's in a horrible, rough part of London and the curtains in all the rooms look like they come from a 1970's NHS hospital. So no money being squandered there!

Ridiculous waste of money IMO. I really don't care about 'labouring in a little black dress' ffs I just want baby out safely without ripping me in half in the process!! :o

emmab5 - If you like the dress and you wear it before, during and/or after labour, then it's not a waste of money. Not everyone throws clothes out because they've got shat on/sweaty/soiled with bodily fluids. Some of us put things in the wash when they're dirty, rather than screeching 'ewwwwww!' in a Paris Hilton like way and hurling them into the bin.

And we all want to deliver our babies safely and healthily. No exceptions. No matter what we wear or don't wear.

I'm not sure if it's still the case but when I was involved with my local NCT branch (2000-6) Breastfeeding Counsellors were volunteers. Only antenatal teachers were paid. Local branches could set the antenatal fees as they saw fit. I remember getting very cross because our branch was being criticised for having fees much lower than neighbouring areas. We were in an affluent area but I didn't see why that meant we should set fees at a high rate as our overheads were fairly low.

We had held very successful nearly new sales and I seem to remember a proportion of the monies raised were sent to HO for funding the Breastfeeding Help line, etc.

BF counsellors do some voluntary work counselling, but the work they do on the breastfeeding line and the teaching they do on antenatal courses is paid work.

Not sure about the birthing garments but the daftest thing I ever bought from the NCT was a 'doidy cup', recommended by one of the other NCT mums as an alternative to the evils of a tommy tippee style cup (er...what evils I'm not sure...) Every single time I have ever given the 'doidy cup' to any child the end result has been a total soaking and water all over everything.
Also unforgettable was the NCT 'positions to make your labour shorter and easier' poster in the birthing room- I was in there for about 24 hours so I had the chance to go through every position at least ten times.

Has anyone ever bought this?

Whilst I fully support BF, it just reminds me of the documentaries we had to watch at school on dairy farming.

Actually, I really like it...I might have another baby just so I can have one.

But with a home birth not many people would see it..I'd have to invite the neighbours round.

I don't really understand the vitriol on this thread. I wandered round during labour in an old T-shirt (washed and still in use) and maternity jeans. I only took the jeans off to get in the pool. Thinking back, a dress would have been way more comfortable.

Also had I been in hospital then, yes, I would have felt more comfortable in a dress, rather than a T-shirt. I imagine many first time mums feel the same.

Well done all of you who happily laboured 4 times stark naked/ wearing your Primark T-shirts etc but is it really so awful to want to feel comfortable in labour? Birth is such a huge thing for first time mums - if a [relatively affordable - pre-children anyway] dress gives a first time mum more confidence in herself then maybe, just maybe, that might be a small contributing factor to a positive birth? Of course it shouldn't become a birth 'necessity' but I don't see the NCT saying that.

LOL!

I guess I am a bit of a freak then!

Yes - I used to wear a pumping bra (fabulous thing - I would sit at my computer 95% of the time I was pumping and either work or have some forum fun).

I don't find the dress thing shocking at all, either. Maybe a little OTT but if I had another baby I couldn't completely say I would rule getting one out...

your wedding is your special day. not the day all hell is going break out of your vagina. im sure you feel very feminine and pretty with sweat pouring out of you, your hair looking like a birds nest whilst having some woman between your legs with sutures

"your wedding is your special day. not the day all hell is going break out of your vagina. im sure you feel very feminine and pretty with sweat pouring out of you, your hair looking like a birds nest whilst having some woman between your legs with sutures"

Well none of that happened the 4 times I gave birth, I wore the same nightie to have them all and it was some out shaped matalan number.
Will you not think of the first photo's ? I for one did not want to look like I'd be run over by a truck.

mamat the dress wasn't to change into after birth but to give brth in so I'd have looked like I got run over by a truck whatever I was wearing. Have to admit that I think that a birthing dress is a stupid idea and gives the wrong impression - it is bad enough having to worry about what you look like and whether you have the "right" clothes the rest of the time without this creeping into birth as well. I have heard all the arguments about "dignity" etc but found that during all 3 of my (pretty straightforward) births I just wanted to get the baby out and found that all my usual modesty went out the window which is, I suspect, what is "naturally" supposed to happen. I feel that all this talk of "dignity" is actually trying to make women feel something that they are not supposed to feel whilst birthing. I do not think that we are designed to worry about what we look like, or dignity etc at this sort of time - any more that an RTA victem worries about it. If you want to get technical then IMO childbirth puts you down near the bottom of Maslows pyramid - ie safety needs - not up near the top with self esteem and dignity.

Ha ha ha!!! LBD for labour?!

Comedy gold!!

What does the poem say? I want to know - come on I coud do with another giggle :)