NCT - hugely biased?

[clementine100]

My husband and I have been attending NCT classes in preparation for our first baby next month.

We have been really shocked at how biased NCT is towards 'natural' birth, despite loudly proclaiming at the start how unbiased they are. Pain management methods such as epidural and opiates are given as much air time as alternative methods like reflexology, homeopathy and doulas (!). And it seems to be 90% around doing breathing exercises (which are admittedly helpful) and answering little questions in groups, rather than actual guidance on labour and how to keep a baby alive after...

Has anyone else found this? Are there any good websites for new parents, in addition to the NHS website? I just don't think we're going to get all the info we need from NCT. (It doesn't help that our midwife is hugely into homeopathy as well...)

[TwittleBee]

Was there a typo in your OP?
"Pain management methods such as epidural and opiates are given as much air time as alternative methods like reflexology, homeopathy and doulas "
If not then giving air time equally across all forms of birth assistance is being unbiased?

I found our NCT class great, they really tailored it to our needs. She asked us at the start what we all wanted and what our expectations were and based it round what we wanted to learn.

We learned the pros and cons of all types of births and various ways you can assist your birth whether that be through medical pain relief or using hypnobirthing skills.

We also had a great few sessions on preparing for life with a baby. Our NCT class really emphasised how we need to stop focusing on birth when pregnant, as it is such a small moment, and look ahead at how we will change our lives to cope with a new born.

We had one session which was all about team work between the couple to ensure we both knew we could rely on each other and that both had to recognise what had to be done. E.g. if one person was feeding the baby then the other one could start dinner etc. This massively helped shift my OH (and other DHs in the group) into realising they need to do more round the house before babies were even born!

The only gripe I have with my course was the BFing session which I think grossly under prepared us. We were naively led into believing BFing is easy as its natural and anyone who says they cant do it is either a liar or selfish. Luckily I had witnessed the struggles my sister had so wasn't a total shock. Our whole group wished that the BF lady was more open and honest about the issues we would face. I guess she didn't want to scare us but instead she left us underprepared and as a result some of the women really beat themselves up for not finding it easy and natural.

Perhaps it depends on the course leader or the area. Worth writing to them though so they are made aware of any recommendations to improve the course you have though. I think they do a feedback form at the end actually if I remember correctly.

NCT was great though, I am now BBFs with the ladies in my group.

[TwittleBee]

*BFFs

[clementine100]

@TwittleBee it wasn't a typo. I guess I feel alternative methods not rooted in scientific evidence do not deserve as much coverage as evidence-based methods. So to give both equal airtime felt biased.

Absolutely agree with your comment on breastfeeding! Guidance went against what midwives have been saying. There was an insistence that 100% of women are able to breastfeed, it won't hurt, and if you don't do it you're a bad person and cry baby. That position that just borderline criminal.

[TwittleBee]

Ah I see. There is evidence for it though. Perhaps this wasn't explained clear enough? We were given the pros and cons, all evidenced based, for all methods. There is clear evidence that shows medical intervention can cause further complications which is why it is recommended (not just by NCT but also our MWs at the NHS courses) to try and have as little medical intervention as possible.

[clementine100]

@TwittleBee of course medical intervention carries risks. That's clear. But let's also be clear on alternative remedies - homeopathy, reflexology, acupuncture etc. are NOT supported by any evidence, a point the NHS makes clear.

[TwittleBee]

But isn't it only fair and non-bias to explain all options?

[NewImprovedNinja]

Eastern medicine isn't supported by the NHS same as the UK is a Christian country but in reality, people of all religions and none reside there reasonably happily. There's plenty of evidence in countries like China and Japan that eastern 'medicine' works extremely well along with drug based intervention.
I practised hypnobirthing to help with my induction and it helped enormously. The NCT didn't cover how induction worked in any detail and it was up to me to research the process.
However, I think the real value in the NCT classes is in making friends with other couples going through roughly similar experiences rather than expecting it to cover all situations.

[AbiBrown]

I didn't bother with NCT because of how expensive it is, but heard many disappointed participants share the same grievances as you. For what it's worth, the NHS hospital antenatal classes were excellent, reassuring and informative. I think it's a real shame they're being cut and not funded properly and women are often left having to fork out for private alternatives sometimes run by people with agendas or untrained to deal with the real issues of childbirth.

[clementine100]

@AbiBrown yes absolutely agree with you on NHS! We went to the NHS session last week and found it so useful. They covered more in an hour than NCT did in ten, seriously. And really sensible, practical, midwife-led advice and guidance.

[AbiBrown]

Glad you also had a good experience with the hospital :)

[slightlyglittermaned]

I went to both NHS and NCT. Fortunately the NCT tutor we had was clearly one of the good ones. Was pretty sensible, very careful not to be judgy.

The most useful bit was probably that a lot of partners couldn't attend the daytime NHS sessions, so the partners attending the NCT session got to hear all the detail about labour/birth itself, do the sessions discussing about how to handle workload after the birth, who gets up etc (lots of emphasis on dads being able to bond through getting up to do nightime nappy changes, do bathtime etc), as well as stuff like "this is what a febrile convulsion looks like and how to deal with it".

I had heard that some NCT tutors could be like that so was basically planning on just getting to meet some other parents out of it.