NCT classes - worth the cost?

[KitKat1985]

Hello all. :)

Just turned 25 weeks today and expecting our first baby (a girl) in September. Right back at my booking appointment I was given a booking form for NHS antenatal classes and told to send it off after my 20 week scan, which I did, but didn't hear anything. I saw my midwife yesterday for my 24-week check and she saw my antenatal request form and told me all the funding for the NHS antenatal classes have now been withdrawn in my particular NHS trust, and despite all the midwives themselves objecting to this the budget holders are refusing to budge and so there will now be no NHS antenatal classes in our area. I feel a bit freaked by this as I was rather relying on those classes to help me feel a bit better prepared for labour / those first few weeks, as neither me or DH have much previous childcare experience. Also I was looking forward to meeting some other new parents due at roughly the same time. The options now open to us are either no classes at all (and just study pregnancy book etc) or pay out for NCT classes, but they're expensive (I think the 'essentials' course alone wold be about £200 for me and DH). We have lots else to pay out for over the next few months as we prepare for DD, and plus for various reasons our budget has been a bit stretched recently (e.g, by enormous car repair bills). So my question is has anyone done the NCT classes? Did you find them worthwhile or could you have managed without? x

Its not worth it for the content of the classes - at the risk of starting a fight, the NCT have, in my view, a bit of an "agenda" - interventions are bad, you don't have to do what the doctors tell you etc etc, which I thought was pretty unhelpful and often not entirely accurate.

I think the extent of this varies a lot depending on the teacher - in my class they certainly weren't telling us epidurals were the bees-knees but they left it very open to us to decide what we felt was best for us rather than enforcing an anti-intervention stance.

Personally I think (again based on my experience of my class only) the extent to which they empower you to question what is right for you is helpful - I'm quite happy with the idea that we don't have to do what the doctors tell us. But I know what you mean though, some of the things I've heard (less through NCT, more elsewhere) do seem to push the 'trust your instincts above all else' line, which I do worry is unhelpful (say if your instincts are driven by fear of intervention).

I just had a very helpful session yesterday bar a video ... again a slight case of sugar coating... of a hypnobirth expert having a home water birth (NOT her 1st too). She knew what to expect and could clearly wholly control her mind and body: she did not poo, there was hardly any blood and she looked serene with just ONE "HMF" sound once.

No wonder some people have a false idea of how labour can end up! The instruction forwarded through the interview where she talked about an earlier birth which had medical difficulties and needed treatment and was reluctant to let us even hear that it happened.

My personal feedback would be, yes aim for the ideal BUT I would like to hear about what might happen if I need a blood transfusion or something.

Nct classes are a bit of a lottery friends wise. You might meet people you bond with, or you might not. Our group certainly didn't bond. Be wary of their agenda as well. They are good if you are into no intervention birth, ebf etc but can be lacking severely when it comes to preparing for emcs, which makes a lot of new mums feel inadequate when they do end up having one. They are however good to help prepare dh and involve them in the whole process.

The NCT having an agenda is a bit of an issue, really. I enjoyed my classes but I think it's a shame that the only antenatal education most women can get is from either the NCT or perhaps a hypnobirthing course. It means that as good as they are, they're not completely unbiased.

But then I think it's pretty sad that most PCT's have had to cut antenatal education almost completely. I understand why if they need to cut costs, but it doesn't mean it's helpful.

Thurlow it seems NCT varies SO MUCH too: a friend commented in horror when I booked mine. Hers had been all about home birth and they were told pethadine was for women who were 'weak' and put their babies second.

Ours sugar coats things but will honestly say what pain relief is available (albeit with a cheery "but you might not need it!"), they also showed us photos of hospital (if you feel most comfortable seeing equipment and experts everywhere), MLU (if you would like the back up of medical care with a more home-birth feel) and home birth (which she briefly spoke about and when she realised no one wanted one, offered a 1-1 chat if anyone did).

We both paid and signed up for the 'same' course... clearly the NCT needs to be firmer about what is covered in each session. Like a curriculum of some kind.