Antenatal classes near Streatham

[sara75]

Hi everyone, I am desperately trying to find some antenatal classes around Streatham; I am due in January and would like to get some classes with my partner. Had a look at the NCT ones but they look very pricy....
and the ones run by Bump2Bubba are a bit far for us(although not impossible so still considering them).
And if you also know of any actvities for mums to be in the area I would really appreciate the information !!!!
Thankssssssssssssssss

Hey Jenny,
I'm right on the border between Mitcham and Streatham and I'm 20 weeks along with my first - I'm up for a coffee - anyone else feel like joining us?!

Hey SassJ, Thanks for replying I'm actually very close to Streatham Common station so we must live quite close. Shall we wait and see if anyone else wants to join us before we set a date?

Sounds good to me Jennynoo - I'll keep an eye on the post....

This thread seems to have worked well for successive waves of Streatham-based mums-to-be, so I'm going to try reviving it and seeing whether there are any other pregnant women in the area. Is anybody out there?

I'm 28 weeks along now, and am pretty much the first my friends to get pregnant. Come join this thread if you're local and looking for some solidarity!

Hey Covy - you'll have to bump the thread every now and then to make sure peeps see it.

I don't know why I still have a Watch on this thread! Hope you find some friends - I have a group of 8 friends whom I met on this thread and we all meet regularly, even though we're mostly all back at work now. Gosh how time flies...

Hi Covy, I am 37 weeks pregnany, live in Streatham and would be up for meeting for coffee ;)

I'm posting again now I'm 38+5 - I'm up for coffee! Anyone else?

Puddle892 and SassJ - I'm so pleased you both posted; sorry to be so long getting back (it feels like I only wrote that post a couple of days ago). Shall the three of us try and meet up so we can compare notes? I'm pretty flexible about when as I work from home. Which part of Streatham are you based, Puddle892? Because it looks like SassJ and I are practically neighbours (I'm in the southernmost part of Streatham too, just within the Furzedown bit).

Boobz, thanks for the tip and for giving this a bump. It's great that MN brought such a big group of you together.

Bumping this thread again because it was a lifeline for me finding my streatham mums 18months ago (waves at boobz), and the last ladies on this prob have their babies by now and ready to face the world!

if anyone's looking for antenatal classes near Streatham Kristin Hayward runs lovely HypnoBirthing classes in Clapham or private sessions (she'll adapt to your time/budget) in Herne Hill. Also check out positive-birth website for fab downloads to make pregnancy, birth and beyond positive + it has a freebie download

Kiki - you seem to be all over the place advertising this website - I think you're supposed to pay mumsnet to advertise so I would go through them TBH.

Thanks for the bumping, but unfortunately, we didn't arrange anything and as you can see, this thread went quiet again. I wish I'd had DS a year earlier, so could have been part of the Streatham baby boom and joined your group! However he is now almost 8 weeks old and very lovely. Any suggestions about things I can do around here would be very welcome - I'm starting to feel I should be taking him out and about a bit more.

Hey Covy... I'm pregnant again! Starting maternity leave on March 1st for 7 months so am around if you want to meet up for the odd coffee or whatnot... I have an 11 month old DD and am 23 weeks pregnant with #2 (I know I know - mad or what?)

Obviously I'm still involved with my original group but they're all working so I will be on my todd when I start mat leave in March, so am up for leisurely lunches at Perfect Blend of 19. I haven't really done any of the "sing and sign" or waterbabies classes -- as have been working full time, so can't really help on the where-to-go question. But if you fancy meeting up, come back on here and let me know and we can sort something out for next week (am not working Wednesday if that's any good to you?)

Ali x

Boobz, that would be great - even if you haven't done the classes type things, I'm sure you'll still have lots of local wisdom to share! I don't know about anything at all other than the Faylands Children's Centre, which is fairly near my home, but when I went to check it out in January there weren't really any babies there - just lots of toddlers letting off steam after being kept inside by the freezing weather. I have to admit I am slightly daunted by the idea of lunching and even coffeeing out as I have yet to breastfeed anywhere other than at home with cushions to prop him up and lots of towels and flannels to absorb my rapid let-down problems (no pad can contain it when it comes to feed time - every surface within a few metres of the bed and sofa are now adorned with a fine spray of shooting milk). I also haven't changed a nappy anywhere other than at home. Or gone on a bus with Snowy. Or done anything much! We only went into Streatham itself for the first time yesterday afternoon, and it wasn't a huge success; I forgot the rain cover for the pram, and had to leg it home when the sleety-hail stuff started to fall. However, I'm hoping to start Kathleen's post-natal classes in a week or so, and that might give me a bit more confidence about tackling things in public.

Are you pretty much in the north, south or centre of Streatham? I'm very much south in Furzedown, near the cluster of shops by the Samuel Johnson pub, if that means anything to you. Close to Thrale Road. I was just thinking that if you're more towards the south or centre too, even though Perfect Blend is really nice, somewhere nearer and more dashable-home-from might be easier. But let's decide when you are on ML and able to meet - I might be feeling more confident then.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! I just saw on your profile how lovely your daughter is. I'll stick a couple of pictures of Snowy on mine.

Hi Covy - sounds like you had a similar let down to me - it was actually physically painful at times! Totally understand your need to be closer to home - but I have no ideas of cafes etc near you... I'm on Natal Road but I usually drive everywhere (lazy) so I can get anywhere.

Why don't you pick somewhere you're comfortable with and then send me the address and I will make my way there. From March 1st is going to be easier as I'm mad busy with work for the next week and a half (only a week and a half left - yay!) so I'll come back and check on this thread closer to 1st March and you can let me know where and when.

I would say however, that you do just have to bite the bullet with the whole breast feeding in public thing. Take a big wrap/scarf thing, to try and cover you a bit more, and then just ignore everyone else in the cafe - they'll be far too interested in their coffee/mates to pay any attention to you. I'd be glad to help and make the first time easier for you, if you want some moral support should milk start shooting into other people's coffee cups or anything! I don't BF Penny any more, but I remember what it was like, the first few times, so can add a bit of moral support.

Anyway, if you'd prefer, my email is ali_bishop at hotmail dot com or else I will pop back here in a week or so and we can make a plan.

And what a cool name! I look forward to seeing pics of snowy soon!

Hello Streatham mums and mums-to-be.
I'm also living in Streatham (next to Streatham Common station) and I'm 8 wks pregnant with my first baby. So a complete newbie. I'm 34. I went to the Streatham vale clinic and have now been referred to St Thomas although I'm still waiting to hear from them for my first appointment. Can't wait now. I haven't had any morning sickness or nausea, haven't been tired or sleepy... so I really can't wait to see the midwife and confirm there is definitely a little one in there. I'm glad to see other Streatham mums in here. I'm the first one of all my friends to have kids (I know, 34 is not that young but I guess we all feel younger at heart) so it's great to find other mums to chat to.
I wanted to ask you since you both have babies how long do you usually wait to hear from St Thomas. Do you think I should contact Gracefield Gardens midwives just in case? Also, a lot of people are recommending the NCT classes but I heard that Kathleen Beegan does NHS antenatal classes at Gracefield Gardens which are free. Have any of you attended NHS classes? Are they any good? I could probably afford the £300 for the NCT but if they are pretty similar to NHS ones I might as well save the money and put it towards a longer maternity leave.

Oh, I forgot to say, my EDD is 2nd october.
Congratulations on your pregnancy and hope this is the first of many posts to come.

Hi SW16bump - congratulations on your pregnancy! I'm just around the corner from you - Natal Road - and am due to meet Covy in a couple of weeks time if you fancy coming along?

As for waiting for referral from St Thomas's - I would chase at about 10 weeks as you will be due your 12 week nuchal scan soon after that and don't want to be chasing for that for too long, as it has to be done between 11 and 13 weeks...

As for NCT... I think most people do NCT to make friends in the same boat, rather than to learn loads of stuff (which I think you can mostly get from the internet, books, ante-natal yoga etc)... so is £300 worth finding some people in the same position as you? Probably... I was lucky enough to meet a fabulous group here from Mumsnet (on this very thread) and there were about 8 or 9 of us that met up all the way through our pregnancy and well into our babies' first 6 months or so... and all for free! But this thread seems to have gone a bit quiet lately, so maybe NCT is worth paying for. The ante natal classes from the NHS taught me nothing I didn't already know, but then that's because I am a freak of nature that had to know EVERYTHING about pregnancy, labour and birth (and babies - but this area less so!) before the event, so when I got to 36 weeks and the NHS classes kicked in, pretty much knew everything that they had to tell me...

Come back and visit the thread closer to March 1st when me and Covy are going to put a day in the diary to meet up..

Hi Boobz, sW16bump and Covy! Just stumbled on this thread, and it looks like there are two parallel threads both trying to organise a Streatham meet-up at the moment. Might be worth trying to combine efforts?
Here's the other one in case you haven't seen it...

I live in Streatham Hill, and am expecting my first baby in May.

Hi Boobz,
Thanks for all the advice. I just got the letter for my first scan this morning. Phew... I was beginning to think they had forgotten about me.

It'd be great to meet up with you and covy, I'm sure you've got quite a few tips to share, although I'm working full time so it might be difficult until later on in the pregnancy (I'm hoping they will let me "work" from home a couple days a week).
I'm just off Eardley road so close to you but on the other side of the train tracks.
I go to yoga classes with Liz on Wednesdays at the Scout Hut, I think that's Natal road, isn't it? Although I think I'm going to start the antenatal yoga with Kathleen from next month too. Hopefully I'll meet some new people there too. I'm still undecided about the NCT classes, as you said, you can find most info on the internet and books nowadays so it would be more for the social side of things.

Marquise, thanks for the tip, I'll introduce myself on the new thread too. :-)

Thanks Marquise - have posted a link over here.

Covy - you still up for a meet up?

SW16bump - when do you start mat leave? Or when do you think you will start your day off a week?

We could always do a Sat afternoon meet up - or Sunday lunch at my local pub, The Earl Ferrers (best pub in Streatham, IMHO).

Am meeting a potential home birther on Thursday at Perfect Blend who lives on Leigham Court Road... she's still working for now, but is interested in finding out about home births, and since I and another Streatham Mummy (Girlwiththemouseyhair - who posted above) both had HBs here in Streatham, she's meeting us for the low down.

Anyone, do come along if you fancy it. 2:30 in PB on Thursday 4th.

Thanks Boobz for your efforts to combine the threads. Have had a quick peek back at some of the previous ones on here and am really pleasantly surprised at the number of mums in Streatham!

Potentially very interested in gatecrashing your Thursday meet-up (subject to finding an excuse to work from home - don't start maternity leave until 23 April). I'm booked into St Thomas' but still vaguely toying with the HB idea, and would definitely be keen to hear about it from those who have been there / done that!

The more the merrier Marquise - do come along if you can make it.

Hello! Hi Boobz!

Thanks for posting the link to this thread, hope is okay for me to gatecrash? I'd love to meet up on Thursday but will have my 2yo with me, is that okay?

Hi,

Thanks for this thread too.

What time are you meeting up on thursday?

Of course babies / toddlers are fine - I will have Penelope with me as well.

We're meeting at 2:30 in Perfect Blend. I will be wearing a pink cardi and have a little blond girl (that looks like a boy) 1 yo with me.

We're talking about homebirths with a girl I haven't met yet (not on Mumsnet), so if you want to miss that particular part of chat, then come at 3ish or something to miss me going on and on about how fab giving birth at home is...