When to do an NCT course?

[CheeseBadger]

Frau Badger and I are expecting offspring 1 in early May. She's keen on doing an NCT course (among many others), and I was wondering when people normally do these. Is it a "get it done ASAP" type thing, or is later better?

I have a slight issue* in that I'm in the US for work during weeks 30-34 and we'd prefer to both attend. I assume starting in week 35 would be too late, even if we could find a class running at the right time?

• OK. It's a really serious major issue. I know...

I think ours started in week 32, and finished at around week 37. They like you to be with people at the same stage of pregnancy as you. Best thing to do is call/email someone at your local NCT and explain the situation.

Probably best to contact the administrator for your region. IME they try to group you together according to due dates, although the range will vary depending on the frequency of the courses in your area. Our group were all due within a four - week range but friends have had up to eight weeks.

Assuming you intend to do the full course then yes, 35 weeks is too late. I think ours was spread over about four weeks, mostly Saturday mornings with a couple of evenings. They do offer shorter courses but these might not be as good for the social side of things.

Thanks chaps!

We started last week at 34 weeks, but the group as a whole ranged from 30-35 weeks pregnant at the start. Ours are Mon & Weds evenings for 3 weeks and one final session at the start of the fourth week, whether we will all make it to the end before popping I'm not sure.

I think doing it nearer to the end is optimal partly so it's fresh in your mind, but mainly because the actually realisation that you are going to have a baby in a few weeks helps focus you a lot more than you might manage at 20 or even 25 weeks when it still seems ages away.

We didn't have an option really as they grouped us together with other couples expecting around the same time. Think we started at about 28 weeks or so.

You can also try to find out if there is an intensive course in your area. We did one. It was intense but only required 2 Saturdays and one Tuesday evening (2 hours). I was 27-28 weeks but the others were 33-35 weeks.

With ours we put in our due date and they essentially told us when they'd have us lol. As above we all had very similar due dates (within a month)