Baby Groups in London- advice please :-)

[newbie2003]

Hey there,

I'm currently looking into setting up a new form of baby group, which follows supported research I conducted on my PhD in baby development at Cambridge. I'm hoping any of you wonderful mums and dads out there who have been to baby groups or are looking to go to baby groups in London (or even beyond) could please give me your advice??

Basically, even though there is an underlying structure to these groups which has been proven to support childhood development, I would love to know what you look for in a baby group? Do you currently go to baby sensory/baby yoga/music classes (or any such baby groups) for your little one and what do you most love about them? Have you had any favourites? Is there anything you haven't enjoyed?

Is a baby group something you'd want to do weekly or more than once a week? How many months did you attend such groups. Those in the London area... what have you paid/would you be willing to pay to join a baby group?

Sorry for all of these questions... I have two wee ones and I'm trying not to be biased so have quizzed all my mum friends, but I want to build a wider picture too. I'm open to all ideas and feel free to be completely honest! Would be grateful for all of your responses... thanks in advance :-)

We've been to a few groups but haven't stuck to one religiously. I've enjoyed groups that appeared thought out and prepared, e.g. a plan and good props. I suppose it was also nice when some offered bickies and tea for parents making it easier to socialise. As I'm not British, I really appreciated the group where the instructor gave me the lyrics to the songs as I hadn't known any English nursery rhymes.

I'm happy to pay £6-7, find £10+ per class annoying but will occasionally attend too.

Honestly, in London there are so many expensive baby groups (monkey music, Bach to baby, water babies etc etc) and the best ones I went to were just the free local children’s centres. When you have a very small baby it’s so hard to get out of the house and you put yourself under a huge amount of pressure to get there if you’ve paid for it in advance.

The real reason people go to baby groups is to give themselves a break from being stuck at home on their own. The groups I’ve enjoyed the most were just the ones where I met nice mums. It really didn’t matter what the content was. Babies are happy playing with anything, reading stories, singing nursery rhymes etc.

This trend for expensive and mega sensory baby groups is getting a bit out of hand. We put ourselves under so much pressure to entertain babies in a way that our parents never would have done.

I’m in London and there are so many free, brilliant classes that I haven’t paid for anything - my baby is six months old. I’m part of an NCT group of mums and we arrange our own meet ups too, including maternal journal (using resources from Kings), swimming as a group and other ad hoc meet ups. For the baby I go to baby explorers which is at a local children’s centre. It’s basically free baby sensory. The best group we go to is a church one - mum focused with a discussion about babies with a midwife, lactation consultant and older mums as facilitators. It’s also free and they provide breakfast.

Before I had my baby I expected to pay for baby classes, but given that there are so many free ones I don’t see the need.

I’m with user1480880826. Based in London, you can spend loads of cash on all sorts of baby bollox everywhere. But, something nearby that ideally you can walk to with pushchair, and is between free and £8 is ok. The aim is to get out of the house for an hour, change of scene, maybe meet a friend afterwards. Truthfully the content is second- I wouldnt have cared if it was music, massage or yoga if the venue and instructor was nice, local, not too pricey etc. The only thing I paid more for was swimming.