NCT for dads?

[Floraleigh]

DH and I are expecting our first and recently moved 150 miles from home. I've heard NCT can be good for mums to connect but is it as good for dads? I reckon I'll meet other mums through baby classes and groups so not so much fussed for myself. But DH is a bit more shy and wonder if it's worth the expense for him to get to know some dads to share a pint with. We don't have loads of money but could scrape the fee together if it's worthwhile. (But will probably regret it if we don't make the lifetime mates everyone talks about!)

We did nct classes. It was all couples. So worth doing.

Did your DP bond with the other dads as you did with the mums?

DH and I did NCT 10 years ago. I didn’t particularly “gel” with the group, and the friendships I made dwindled after 2 or 3 years. DH is not particularly gregarious, and was friendly with the dads and went out for a couple of drinks and a football match in the first year. So that just us, but I do know, that 10 years on, there is a group of 4 families where mums, dads and children are all great mates, holiday together, pop round to each other’s houses, go out for drinks, babysit etc, so it certainly can work from the social aspect for dads too. They all live in the same village (not mine) and are considerably better off than us, which is partly why we didn’t fit in.

I made my friends at the local SurestartvCentre and village hall. Ironically, my best friend is a single mum.

Currently our dad's nct is more active than the ladies!

It depends on the group really, but tbh if it's a matter of scraping the money together I think it's not worth it for an NCT course.

NCT is brilliant and we've made some friends from it... but I wouldn't do it if I had to scrape the money together. You'll have plenty or chance to make friends when the baby is here at classes etc. Then you can introduce your oh to their oh etc.

We've booked "bump and baby club" sessions instead of NCT. They apparently put more emphasis on helping dads bond too eg. sending them away to the bar together at certain points

They're cheaper than NCT too

We were in the same boat. We moved to a new area and did NCT to meet people. Both DH and I made friends and it was a good support network especially during the early days. 2 years on and we are still in touch with around half the couples and meet regularly. If you can afford it, I'd said do it. Also, even if you don't end up being close friends in the long term, you might make other local friends through them.

Thank you. Had a look at bump and baby, they're as expensive as the NCT course in our area I may just hope to meet other mums and connect our DPs that way, seems if we don't click with other couples in the NCT will be a waste of money we could have spent otherwise or saved for mat leave. A bit worried also as we've moved to quite a posh area and DH and I aren't at all, not sure we'd fit in with other mums and dads here, as it seems to be organised by postcode?

I'm also a bit turned off by their pricing structure and how the fees are so difficult to sort on the website, anyone else?

We’ve just started NCT (2 classes done, 4 to go) and already my husband has said how much he is enjoying them, both class content and the social aspect. We did NHS antenatal classes too (a few weeks ago) and they were much more rushed and no social aspect / opportunity at all.

There are often weekend sessions/playgroups for dads at local children's centres or churches. If he really wants to make dad friends, he can.