Edinburgh NCT - can anyone share experiences?

[MadameDuBain]

I've never been to anything NCT before but I'm considering doing an antenatal course.

I've heard it can be a bit extreme in the pro-natural-birth department, which might not suit me as I may be in line for a planned CS, and I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to excessive lentil-weaving. OTOH maybe I've got that wrong and anyway I'm sure not all groups are the same. Has anyone been to/been involved with NCT in Edinburgh, how was it and would you recommend it? TIA

I did the ante-natal classes and am similarly cynical about lentil-weaving . While the teacher was pro all things natural, she didn't force it on us IYSWIM. There were a couple of people in the group that needed planned CS because of medical reasons so it was pretty well rounded.

I think the group you are in makes a difference - I still meet up with mine every few months, and I see one of them very regularly. A friend had a different teacher andshe also had a good group that she sees regularly.

TBH I really went to meet other mums to be and in that respect it was worth the money.

I did their ante-natal course when I was pregnant with dd1. For me it was more to meet other mums who woudl have babies at the same time as me.

Our group was a real mix - and we were able to direct the discussions. So - I wanted to know all about pain relief , others wanted to know about water births - so we pretty much covered everything.

It wasn't too lentil-weavery at all. Our leader was a lovely lady - there was a lot of stuff about how to do it naturally but she also armed us with the info we needed if that wasn't an option. She gave us quite unbiased info on c-sections as well.

After our babies were born we met every week for coffee and that increased to twice a week. I couldn't have go through those early days without them all!

It is the luck of the draw whether you have a good group or not. At first I thought my lot were really quiet - then we all went along to the bra-fitting lady's house to get fittings done and that was us all firm friends!

This was over 2 years ago and I still go out for drinks with the other mums. We have celebrated the wee ones 1st and 2nd birthdays together and are even contemplating a trip abroad to see one of our group who is emmigrating.

I think it gives you good info - and you can always balance it all with the NHS classes (which I never went to) and MN!

I didn't actually join the NCT - just booked the course of classes. I have friends who have done the condensced weekend class (they booked to late and couldn't get the longer course - so book earlier rather than later)and those in different groups and they all still have some connection with the other mums.

Thanks so much for all the info... it is also to meet other people and just get into the swing of it all, as I don't know anyone else who's pregnant at the same time. But I have a 4yo so can't really do the intensive weekend thing. Because it's the second time round I don't think I get NHS ones (or do I?)

I went to an NHS bf clinic second time round - I'm sure if you asked they'd let you go along!

Hello,

I did NCT classes and whilst the people were all very nice most of them were based at the opposite end of town, therefore once babies arrived we lost touch. The classes weren't too bad regarding the natural birth element, they did discuss the other options available and in fact a few of the tips were helpful when I ended up having an emergency c-section but there was a definite emphasis on natural being best.

Our local surgery also did classes and I met up with all the women from that and still do from time to time although it dwindled once I went back to work. Worth talking to your midwife and see what she recommends for getting to know people locally.

Hi, I went to NCT classes in Edinburgh almost 5 years ago when expecting DD1 and still meet up regularly with 3 of the other mums (we now have 11 kids between us!) and as I went mainly to meet other new parents it was totally worth it. You do need to register as early as possible to get a class and I know that they often only have the intensive courses available. They do try to put you with people who live close to one another but in my group we were spread all over Edinburgh so had to make the effort to travel around when meeting up. NHS classes weren't offered to me with DD2 and when I asked I was told by my midwife that they could try and squeeze me in if I really wanted to go but they were very busy. I didn't bother as I was only really interested about having an excuse to have a few afternoons off work!
Our NCT teacher was very nice but I did think that she leant a bit too much towards drug free births although she did cover all options. She did quote some random
study from Norway which showed a link between mothers who had pethedine in labour and children who became heroin addicts in later life!!! Luckily we had a doctor in the group who challenged her strongly on the evidence.
Not sure how you will find going along as a 2nd timer though, tends to be predominantly 1st timers and it's maybe just me but I found it quite hard talking to people expecting their first children about labour and the early days because all I could think was "oh you haven't got a clue what it's all about" as I'm sure other parents thought when talking to me when expecting DD1!

I went to NCT classes about 12 years ago, so info may be rather out of date. The childbirth classes were great, and definitely to be recommended. As someone else said above though, my group was scattered geographically so after the classes we had one or two baby visits then failed to keep in touch. (The NCT had actually put me down for a local group, but it was a night that I'd already said I couldn't attend...of course maybe they don't have enough classes to suit everyone.)

I did go to a few NCT coffee mornings locally post-birth, but nearly all of us went back to work after a few months and it became difficult to meet up any more. A shame really because it's a great way to meet people going through the same thing. I did childbirth lasses at Simpsons as well but there wasn't the same group dynamic as in the NCT groups.