NCT Signature or Essentials or not at all???

[cattyf]

I am expecting baby no 1, a lot of friends who have babies talk a lot about meeting friends they made during NCT classes but are the classes worth it and which one to go for! We are lucky that we can afford them but I don't want to waste money! Your advice/experiences would be really useful.

I loved Nct, ended up with an emergency section but found at the labour advice useful and reassuring. Made lifelong friends, who were great in the first few months when we could share experiences etc. The breastfeeding advice was great and I used their bf counsellor post birth, she was much better than nhs and her help enabled me to go on to bf for two years.

I would pick the course which is nearest you and which is best for your due date - not sure it really matters for meeting people whether it is signature or essentials.

Definitely recommend nct for meeting other mums going through the same thing at the same time.

There's a Signature course right by me but it's a lot of money and I would be going on my own as my husband does shift work. I'd also be really interested to know if they're worth it. I'm a bit shy and don't want it to be cliquey

I really regretted not doing NCT. For the social aspect. While I ended up making lots of friends on mat leave (most of whom I'm still friends with), when DD was about 9 weeks old and the novelty was wearing off I really regretted not having the in-built 'group' that NCT gives you.

Go to the signature class you will get enough time to get to know the other couples. We were all very similar and I hope we will all keep in touch. Don't expect to learn anything though, we found it biased, flawed and frankly dangerous in some of the information we received. Make sure you still go to the nhs classes to get informed about epidurals, inductions, c sections etc.

Whereas our NCT class did cover inductions, epidurals and c-sections! Just as well, 5/6 of us had cesareans in the end.

I wouldn't say we bonded massively during the course (all too knackered after a day at work and all slightly in denial about how much our lives were about to change). This has changed since the babies arrived though and we meet up weekly. Lovely to know a few people at the exact same stage, but also easy to meet other mums at children's centres and baby groups too for a bit of variety.

Most of my NCT group are going back to work after six months so I suspect it may die a bit of a death then.

what about second time mums? are the courses still useful? I don't have any mummy friends from first time round.

Don't expect to learn anything though, we found it biased, flawed and frankly dangerous in some of the information we received.

Did you give them feedback on this? We did an NCT signature course and it covered everything you've mentioned in a lot of detail. And, despite me having reservations initially, went into feeding a great deal more than just breastfeeding. At the beginning she asked us what we wanted to cover and it was all done. No bias and no judgement.

Unfortunately a lot of people can't make NHS classes because they're generally held during the day when people are working.

I really want to do the NCT classes, my friends really recommend them but I just cannot afford them with trying to clear debts and with all the work that needs doing to the house before baby arrives.

I'm quite scared about not having any antenatal classes

Stinkylinky - aren't there nhs classes available to you? NCT isn't the only option...my hospital offers an early wellbeing class, birth preparation and breastfeeding class. Maybe ask your midwife about it? Afaik you are entitled to time off work for booked ante natal classes as well as the medical appointments, so if they're daytime it shouldn't be a problem. Also I think there are discounts available for NCT courses if you're unable to afford them otherwise-could be worth investigating?

Curly - apparently NHS classes in our area had their funding cut and are now only available to mothers under 18 and mothers who are classed as vulnerable. I will ask my midwife when I see her next week though

Also our household income means we aren't entitled to any discounts on NCT courses

Our class was evidence based and the leader was able to answer questions about the evidence base for what she was saying - just as well, we were that sort of group! We covered CS, all forms of pain relief, and lots of useful stuff on the local hospital and what to do if we had any problems - good insist sid as the teacher was also a patient liaison. The breastfeeding session was good and the counsellor helped me hugely when ds was small, we were having nightmares and the NHS ones were clueless at best, dismissive at worst.

We are all all friends 3+ years on, including the dads. It was great for making local friends full stop. We babysit for each other, are emergency contacts for nursery and do lots of outings together, with and without kids.

For that alone, it's worth the money. I'm not sure the group would have gelled quite so well without the longer course.

Nhs provide free classes that are great, feet lovely people and its midwives running the classes not random people with no medical qualifications.
I find it hard to believe that there are not classes available on nhs

It's terrible to hear that not everyone has access to the free NHS classes. One of my reasons for going is to meet other mums as most of my friends don't live in my area, they live where I work in London so I really need to connect with people locally so I am not alone when baby comes! I just found out that my local NCT group is offering free pregnancy yoga now as well so I am going to join that. I think we're going to go for the Signature course, mainly because it is better for our dates and only 2 of the sessions will be during work time for DH.

I am doing a slightly cheaper local one- bumps and babies I think? Our main goal is meeting people as we're new to the UK. I had marked a place in an NCT one and then went to pay and realised it was £340! That felt like very expensive potential friends :P the other one is maybe £250 so not cheap exactly but it's a fair difference, all of which I spent today on a bouncer and bowl and shoes and muslins