OMG! £309 for NCT course!!!!

[saltnvinigarcrips]

Live in Ealing and enquired about NCT courses. Got a letter today and it said it will be £309. Is that not madness? Needless to say I won't be booking. Is it really worth that much ladies?

Well, as I said, C-Sections were covered very thoroughly in our classes.

As BikeRunScream said - we also had a role play and were told about the numbers of people to expect in the operating theatre, what recovery would be like etc etc.

sounds like your teacher wasn't up to scratch.
Ours was great - what can i say?

Also, it does depend on where you live as to the likelihood of c-section.

I was shocked to learn that in London hospitals, the percentage of c-section births is over 80%.

Although I was registered for the NCT classes, DS1 came early so I missed the classes - luckily I'd hedged my bets and had done the NHS ones as well. I met most of my mummy friends at coffee mornings and baby classes, like baby massage, singing at the local library, tuneful tots and Sure Start things. If you're doing similar activities in the community, you usually end up forming a bond ... over cake!

From the other perspective- I'm an NCT teacher. I know that couples pay £300 + to come on my long courses (short ones are a lot less). I feel this is a huge amount of money so I do my utmost to give them their money's worth. I work my little socks off to try & provide value for money and cover as much relevant information as I can, and yes I do cover ceasarean though it doesn't take up a quarter of the course as that would mean not covering anything to do with looking after a new baby amongst other things. But it does get an hour or so.

I also work hard to try and integrate everyone to 'create' a happy and supportive group to go on after the classes finish, & I think I'm mostly successful in this. I know my local hospitals well and am able to advise on the individual institutional systems that my Mums are going into and how to get the best out of each particular hospital with their individual protocols.

It is a lot of money I know, but we teachers know that & really do appreciate the sacrifices you make to come to our classes.It might help to think of it as an hourly rate - if it's over say 18 hours, it works out to about £17 per hour for a couple. If it's too much, well then it's too much & that's a shame both for you & for the NCT for not being able to help you & your partner at this time. Do they do shorter/ cheaper courses in Ealing maybe?

Sorry, I know I'm rambling, just wanted to say 'what a shame' and 'sorry' that you might not be able to do the classes. I hope you find something that will suit your pocket & partners working hours.

Daisystone, where on EARTH did you get a figure like that?? Apart from being pretty much impossible - there would be surgeons working aroung the clock, removing babies on a conveyor belt, it'd also utterly bankrupt the local health economy!

And the NCT should ABOSOLUTELY do more on c section in that case!

Try this - it's compares strategic health authority c section rates across the country.
www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c5065.full

OMG Daisystone - which ones? I'm in South London & none of mine are anywhere near that the highest (Chelsea & Westminster) is 33.3% - which I find pretty shocking.

Missimac, C+W have a significant proportion of private patients, who are covered by insurance. Given that insurance usually only covers c section, not vaginal birth, units who provide private obstetrics will have much higher figures for c section than their NHS area. Even the Portland only runs at about 40% c section, for the same reasons.

As you'll see from that link I posted, the going rate is between about 24-32%.
Not 80%.

ha ha! Pregnancy brain. I should have said epidural not c-section. I am not reliable for stats at the moment.

I'm on a NCT course at the moment, and one the best thing for for me is how it gets DH involved.

Personally I read up on everything, but DH finds that a little dry, and the interaction particularly with the other new Fathers-to- be, has made it fun and brought the reality to life for him. The fact that they can actually be honest about stuff that scares them with blokes in the same situation, and then be chatting about the footie in the break is making for for some good relationships.

Here it is £170 in Liverpool (With no membership) for 8 weeks x 2 hours.

We spent a lot of time on c-sections in our classes. Our teacher had had one, not remotely judgmental about them.

She also said 'if the midwives offer you an epidural think very carefully and if you reject it then consider whether you will need one soon because they're good at recognising when you need one' i.e. if someone is offering you an epidural it's a sign you're in for a a bit of a slog and you may need heavy duty pain relief. Don't feel bad about it.

Sorry Daisystone, but that's still MILES out from every piece of research I can see. And again, also fairly obviously impossible as you'd need an anaesthetist on hand, and there just aren't anything like enough anaesthetists in the country, never mind London, to do 80% of births as epidurals.

The actual figure according to this paper is around 25%.
ceaccp.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/4/114.full

Do you have a reference for your 80% figure?

that's what I was told by my NCT teacher and an anaesthetist at my local hospital. I am quoting from them.

so get off your high horse

Like Kiwikat my DS came early so although I joined an NCT class I didn't really go (I managed a class on relaxation and the early stages of labour. I didn't notice the early stages of labour and was 5cm when the consultant told me DS was coming we also discussed hospital bags, but I went to hospital with just what I was wearing as I didn't expect to stay!) I got my mony back about £160 and spent it on a breast pump but I also got the friends from the class as they were all so lovely and supportive when ds was in scbu and came home. best of both worlds

Ah, completely unreferenced bollocks from NCT. Now that's unusual, isn't it, for them to be pushing their own agenda and spouting alarmist nonsense and frightening women! Thanks Daisystone you've exactly demonstrated my point about the NCT - they're great for meeting people and often crap at educating people at anything outside of natural birth.

We paid £280 last year. The course itself wasn't great - very much focussed on our feelings and role play. It was short on practical information. I also felt it had a very rosy view of childbirth.
I found the NHS class to be far more informative.
That said, getting to meet other new parents in our area (who now have babies the same age) was wonderful.

I always assumed I would like to do NCT classes if I was pregnant but the cost put me right off.

Did lots of reading and went to a La Leche League group for breastfeeding support instead.

We paid £270, including membership to the NCT. I would say it was some of the best money we spent. I must be honest, I didn't do it for the information on birth/breastfeeding etc. And I was prepared for them to be a bit militant about certain things, and as I result, I was really pleased to realise I learnt quite a lot. We covered c-sections, our NCT teacher had had one and basically said the same thing - she just knew that when they mentioned an emergancy c-section that was what was necessary for her and the baby. They were very pro breastfeeding, but I have to say, I don't mind that.

We borrowed a pram, bought a second hand one for the second baby (due any day now!). I was also really fortunate to get loads of used baby stuff from my brother and sister-in-law, and almost all of my DC1's clothes have come from hand-me-downs (I love free clothes!), or from NCT sales. Aside from gifts for bithdays and christmas, almost all of my DC1's toys have come from NCT sales too. I always help set-up so that I can do the pre-sale. Incidently, the percentage of sellers profits taken by the NCT here is 25% (just gone up from 20%). It might still be better value to sell on e-bay for example, but much less hassle and you are supporting a charity. So, as well as the social circle I have gained (who have been my mummy life-line), I know I have saved well over the cost of the sessions in terms of clothes and toys for DC1 and now for DC2.

At the same time, £250-300+ is a lot of money, and I can totally understand that some women just wouldn't feel it was what they would choose to spend precious money on with a baby coming! If you don't need to get to know a group of friends, then you can do all of the pre-sale/playgroup/more general social get togethers by just by paying your £30 or so for NCT membership, and that is REALLY worth it!

I was put off by the price too & I don't get to see enough of the friends I have already - I don't need a new bunch thanks.

The NHS class was pretty good plus general reading on the subject.

This Effective Birth Preperation relaxation CD was by far the best source of support & information for me - £12! (no I don't work for them - but loads of my friends have also really enjoyed using it)

non-members can go to NCT sales - it costs £1. They are very good.

If you actually can't afford the cost of NCT classes, they offer payment in instalment and/or significantly reduced rates for those on limited income. Obviously that's not for those who can afford it but object to paying the fees!

We already go along to our local NCT Working Bumps group which has been great. But as meetings are monthly and not everyone makes every session, it's a lot harder to make friends properly, so we're looking forward to having a course where we'll see the same group many times, especially as we'll already recognise some faces from WB.

For us, part of the decision was certainly that with NCT we had the option of evening and weekend classes, so DH can come along too. All the NHS classes are during the day here.

I paid around £200 and for me it was well worth it.
Had so much info and felt v prepared for any eventuality childbirthwise. Great teacher so that helped.

Also made some good friends and had lots of support from them about breastfeeding etc. I got my moneys worth!

In our NHS classes there were simply too many people there to get any personal Q's answered.

Wonder why it's gone up so much.

My free NHS classes were great as well and I went with husband in the evening. We didn't make any friends but as a previous poster said I don't get to see old friends as much as I would like to, so not really an issue . I asked my midwife in health centre any questions I didn't get answered.

BagofHolly - the CS statistic quoted for C&W only takes into account the NHS unit in 2009 (www.birthchoice.com), and you're way off on your subsequent belligerent generalisms about the quality of information NCT teachers give. Though I do agree that daisystone has been hugely misinformed with the statistic she says she was given by her NCT teacher & the anaesthetist at her local hospital.

Sorry Daisy - I know you were just trying to be helpful - if you're interested check out the above website for accurate and up to date statistics.

Am off now to make up some completely unreferenced bollocks & alarmist nonsense with which to frighten the women coming to my classes - got to push my own agenda doncha know !

Did you mean birthchoiceuk.com?

I guess the making friends bit is only of interest to some people. Personally, we don't have any friends with LOs near here so I don't know any people I could meet for coffee with a LO. Plus I'd like the support of knowing people who are going through the same stages at the same time, rather than our friends with older LOs who have been there - done it.