NCT Classes

[fififolle]

Hi I'm nearly 9 weeks pregnant with my first baby and am looking in to booking NCT classes as I've heard they get full so quickly. The website gives me a choice of 2 - the first (standard) looks really intense with 7 2 hour sessions, the other (short) seems a bit more palatable. Does any one have any advice or reccomendations? All gratefully received.
Fiona x

You'll probably find that the same content is covered, either in seven 2 hour sessions on weekday evenings, or two days each of 7 hours, on two consecutive Saturdays. So each takes 14 hours in total. That's what they do in our area (St Albans in Hertfordshire) anyway.

We chose to do the seven 2 hour evening courses as we figured that we would get to know the other couples better that way, and sure enough, we did all bond and I made some really good friends who I see all the time (our babies are 14 months-ish now). It depends whether you are looking to make friends, or whether you just want the information.

By the way, the NCT comes in for quite a bit of stick, but our teacher was truely fantastic - brilliant teaching methods appropriate for teaching adults, and very balanced, non-dogmatic advice.

My experince is that you will get to know people over the long course and its for that reason most people do them. You then have a group who will meet up regualry with their new babies and provide mutual support. And later down the line drunken nights out....
With the shorter courses, people don't seem to bond, from what I have heard and don't meet up in the same way. But that is just what I have heard from a couple of people who did the short course, and I might be wrong.

Yes! Weekly (sometimes more often) meetings with our new babies and now we are back at work (to varying extents) we have regular GNOs (Girls' Nights Out), which always seem to start with cocktails...

Well worth it. The classes we did were 14 hours spread out over a Saturday and some evenings over about a month. The longer timescale allowed a sort of "slow burn" and I made some great friends. 1 year and gallons of cups of tea on, we are having our babies first birthday party on saturday. I'd go for the longer course, really.

Brilliant! Thank you very much for all your very helpful responses, I'll book the longer course. A good friend of mine still meets up regularly with all her fellow NCT mums, but as I have yet to tell anyone that I'm pg, i don't know which course she did! Several worries and general paranoia mean that I'm waiting until 12 weeks to make to announcement. In the meantime, mumsnet in invaluable.

I booked my NCT classes (at about 9 weeks) before we told our families I was pregnant (at 11 and a half weeks) too!

I would just check with the NCT in your area that it is the same course, just over different timescales, because maybe they do do a special fast-track one or something where you live.