NHS vs NCT antenatal classes

[LittleMiss7]

Hi all!

Apologies if this is in the wrong place. Does anyone have any previous experience with either NCT or NHS antenatal classes please? I’ve been looking into a local NCT course but wondered if it’s worth the cost? Do you get more with a NCT course than you do with NHS ones? Or would you say the NCT ones aren’t worth spending out on? Any opinions - good or bad - would be gratefully received! Thanks 😘 xx

I did NCT, I really liked it. Good info, convenient times and places. The best bit is The whole group have stayed in contact. The mums and baby's met every week for coffee. And seeing them really became the highlight of my week. We also did a private baby massage course and weaning course together. If I went to a new play cafe or class one of them usually came as well.

My GP didn't offer NHS course until I was pretty late in my pregnancy, it was 2 full days which at the time I couldn't be bothered doing. It covered everything I'd done anyway.

Have you checked the NHS ones are available? At the moment our NHS trust has cancelled all classes.

@CorkingHell @MadameJosephine
Thank you both so much for your responses 😘 Our NHS are starting some antenatal classes as of this week and you have to email them to be added to the classes you want to attend. Currently, they've only released dates until 1st June and they're all on Zoom so hopefully other hospitals will do the same soon too. That said through, I do like the sound of the NCT ones, based on what's been said and the times are more convenient so hubby and I said we'd go for those and then if NHS releases more slots that we can attend, we may do a few of those too xx

NCT was really good in that I met, and have stayed really close with, a group of good friends with babies all a similar age. It helped when I was going through some of the lower moments and was just good fun and support in general at other times!
Saying that - this was in a room together as a group, so we got to know each other, I’m not sure if we’d have kept in touch if it had been virtual.

I didn’t do NCT but daisy birthing which is very similar and really enjoyed it

The nhs don’t offer sessions here now other than 2 1 hour sessions 1 on birth one in breast feeding. There was about 40 people at it and if I hadn’t done daisy as well I wouldn’t have had a clue. I also pulled the woman up when she was extolling they virtues of bf and how easy it was and everyone can do it - it bloody isn’t and no they can’t

We recently did our NCT ones. Content was good but it was an entire weekend spent on Zoom which wasn't ideal, and part of the point is to meet other parents - not sure you get the same friendships started over zoom!!

If it's virtual only I'd be tempted to save my money and just watch YouTube tutorials to be honest. In normal times it's a nice way to meet other expectant parents if you have the time and money to spare.

Lived NCT money was so worth it the classes were good and met a great bunch of ladies we met up couple of times a week whilst on maternity and a few of them I can see as life long friends. I don’t think maternity would have been as fun if it wasn’t for this group of ladies and the support we offered each other.

When I did the NCT course, which was quite a few years ago, there was a distinct push to breast feed and natural birth. In fact discussions of epidurals were met with distain and sneering. I hope this has now changed so that all options are explained fairly. I would definitely check this because I was very disappointed in my classes. I knew I wanted an epidural but was made to feel like I had let the side down!

We kept in touch for around a year and then there were factions. Some mums were excluded from meet ups. So people found their tribe and excluded others. I’m not sure the nhs would necessarily be better, but I would look at content of the course from them and who is doing it. It could be a good way to get to know the local midwives. Good luck with your pregnancy.

*Loved

Nct needs to be v local to work. Our nearest one was 5 miles away so pretty useless for meetings afterwards. Saying that our hospital ones weren't a local group either. I found my friends at groups once baby was here.

I agree, unless you live rurally and everyone has to drive to buy bread and milk local is better.

I would really consider NCT if it’s a very local group and you don’t have friends / family nearby who will be on maternity leave the same time, or another way of building that type of support network.
Our little ones are 10 months and we are in London - no one really has family nearby and pre lockdown we were meeting regularly at baby groups and coffee shops, baby swimming and just each other’s flats. Miss them all now! But keeping in touch on our WhatsApp group.

I didn't do NCT classes, but friends that did it enjoyed the social
Side of things, the meet ups/coffees/local support for each other post birth.
With the current social distancing I'm not sure you would get full advantage of this at present.
The NHS ones were sufficient for all the essential information you need.
Another thought re NCT from chats with my friends was the very very obvious bias towards "natural birth" and breastfeeding.
Whilst obviously these are to be recommended and commended, sometimes those things don't work out for people, or not their first choice, so the info needs to be balanced and informative for all circumstances. My NCT friends said their classes barely touched on bottle feeding and c-sections/medical interventions were either not covered in its entirety, or vaguely brushed aside...

Mine was happy to talk about epidurals and c sections but they weren't allowed to discuss formula

In case you haven't seen it I posted this last week:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/3895198-Invaluable-help-advice-and-support-for-anyone-pregnant-right-now

Hopefully this should help! It's a brilliant online antenatal resource for everything you might need to know.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, much appreciated! I must admit, I'd wondered myself about the social aspect of it if it's being done via zoom however as our local NHS are only just starting to do some classes, I have a feeling they may get snapped up quickly due to not having done them over the last few weeks. Gonna have a good ol' think over what to do. Thanks again 😊 xx

I did the NHS classes - I liked them. Covered all the basics in easy to follow way. Wasn’t interested in the social side as baby groups weren’t my thing and I was going back to work full time so not around much.