NCT weekend course - what to expect?

[HardCheese]

Could anyone who's done one of the NCT weekend courses give me some idea of what to expect during it? Mostly an instructor telling us things, or discussion? More focus on labour and birth than in caring for the baby or vice versa? Is the ethos very much one of 'natural birth', and will I be labelled uncooperative if I say I want information about problems, pain relief or birth injuries?

Also, this one has a separate session on the Monday for breastfeeding, and I just had an email saying this was intended for both parents - if this was the set-up in your course, did many fathers attend that session? My partner is very willing to come to that part (though we'd both originally assumed it was for the mothers only) but I don't think is wild about possibly being the only man present, because he would feel intrusive.

Thanks for any thoughts.

It was a while ago, but we did the weekend course too. A lot of it concerned the birth itself and the pain relief options available. Our instructor wasn't at all judgemental about, very much do what you need to. There was some role play as well, and some dividing up into groups to cover emotions and different viewpoints.

Also covered feeding (including how to make up a formula feed), changing nappies (cloth and disposable). Didn't have a separate breast feeding session, and TBH not sure how much it will help before you have a baby there and actually have to do it. However, they may cover emotional support so encourage him to go!

Hope that helps.

we did it, it depends on your instructor really. DH attended the bfing bit,a nd found it very useful (I found it useless, but I had read about bfing beforehand, and the course was not very enlightening compared with books/mn!).
our instructor had experienced every kind of birth I think (I emcs, 1 elcs, 1 assisted delivery, 1 natural delivery! and I think the elcs was twins!) so was very non-judgemental, and very good. Others are obviously not going to be so experienced as she was!

It probably depends on the instructor, but ours asked us all to get into groups and make lists of what we wanted to cover during the course, and then our teacher made sure that she'd covered all points by the end.

I doubt you'd be labelled as uncooperative by asking about problems and pain relief - they are some of the main things people want to know! The focus is very much on natural birth BUT in our case it was about trying to have the best birth possible and avoid the 'cascade of intervention' that can happen even in the most uncomplicated of births. Our teacher was very pragmatic about when an epidural is a good idea - i.e. if you've had an induction and are having unbearably strong contractions.

Regarding breast feeding, I think all but one of the men turned up at that session, and the one that didn't come was given the night off by his wife - he was perfectly willing to attend. I'd really advise your DH going as the man's support for BF can be make or break, and in our session they specifically covered what the man could do to help you. Great stuff.

I did it with DD1. We were all 37w+ so there wasn't a huge amount of energy in the group for chat etc! bf bit was fairly pointless. I think all the blokes were sent by teacher to the pub for an hour.

Just finished our NCT at the weekend.

Day one focused on labour, stages of, what to expect, all types of intervention, when to go to the hospital, how dads could help, inductions, sweeps, tears etc.

Day 2 was on 3rd stage options, PPH, managing visitors in the early days, hormonal changes in the first weeks, bit on baby blues & postnatal depression, typical 24 hours for a new born, nappies etc.

Breast feeding session was a different instructor & a bit shit. All the dads were there but no one found it massively useful. She refused to discuss bottle feeding at all & she was derogatory about HCP.

It was a combination of discussion & group work mainly. V relaxed and open.

Our main instructor was brilliant - impartial, used NICE guidelines, didn't waffle. Chatting to her she said there's no set nct criteria to follow & some of her colleagues don't cover interventions at all. For £300+ that would really piss me off!

I second what hot pink says. With breast feeding bit I was v glad oh was there as I was struggling in the first few days after birth and he said remember we were told this and that and why not try x. My brain was frazzled and could hardly remember!

Oh and there will most likely be an annoying/ weird couple there and if there isn't its you! Seriously my group were great and have made some really good friends.

My DS is almost 12 months now, and I still see all but 1 of the other families from my NCT course! We did the weekend course with extra 2 hour (I think) breastfeeding session. Agree that DH found the breastfeeding more beneficial than I did. The breastfeeding counsellor didn't discuss bottle feeding (although she talked about expressing) but it was discussed over the weekend so if that's something you're interested in, then ask about it earlier!

We also had to discuss on the first day what we were hoping to get from the course, and if there was anything specific we wanted to discuss. Ours included assisted deliveries, c-sections, PND, and caring for baby after birth. I can't recommend it highly enough, although we may have been lucky with our instructor!