DS hates toddler group

[Lhgal]

DS is 17 months old. I work part time and have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday with him on my own because my partner works those days. New to our area, I asked in a FB group about toddler groups and signed up to a highly recommended one.

Context: DS isn't walking yet. He's taken his first steps but just doesn't want to walk unless we're holding his hands so he was placed in a class for crawling babies and he's about 5 months older than the next baby.

He completely panics when we go in to the group and screams from the moment we arrive until the moment we leave. This has happened 4 times in a row. I was so worried about socialising him properly vs traumatising him that I burst into tears at the last group session so I'm embarrassed to show my face again.

Does anybody have any advice, eg. should I just not go back? Or even about getting him walking?

Does he go to nursery the other days? If so I wouldn’t worry about toddler groups unless you both actually want to go.

I have a non-walking 2 year old and find most toddler activities are for walkers but we do go swimming on my day off work which DD enjoys.

No, he's looked after by my parents or my partner when I'm working.
He does enjoy swimming but has similar meltdowns in the changing room/shower, which has scared me off.

How much experience does DS have with other children? Have you done toddler and baby groups with him before? How is he in a relatively busy play park or a softplay?

With swimming, is he tired and hungry after? We always, always had a snack before heading home after swimming, and if things started to fall apart getting changed, the least messy part of snack got shoved at them in the changing room whilst I sorted myself.

One thing that helped my rather shy first was to get there early. If we arrived and the room was busy he didn't settle but if we arrived and the room filled up afterwards he was much better.

It might be worth trying a few other things too. DC1 seemed to prefer the trope of playgroup held in Church Halls where there's usually a few toys, maybe a bit if singing and a snack and drink.