NCT vs Bump and Baby Club vs others

[bubsandbabes]

Hi ladies, looking at which antenatal course to do...what have you heard about which is best and why? There is also one called the bump i think which seems more expensive...not sure what extra it gives and whats the most important stuff

tia xx

Hi there! I did the NCT ones and enjoyed them. There were sessions on labour, pain relief, breast feeding and baby care. The info was quite basic but the classes were great for meeting other parents, that was their main benefit for me. The babies are all turning 2 now and we still chat most days...

I’m now expecting DC2 and am planning on doing Daisy Birthing. This is a much more practical course about preparing your body for labour with exercises, positive thinking, visualisations etc.

What is the main thing you are hoping to get out of the classes?

I was wondering about this too. I've heard that NCT classes are great for meeting people, but not so good off you want to talk about what happens when things aren't going according to plan - like if you need more than gas and air for pain relief, or off your milk doesn't come through.

At the moment, I'm thinking about going to everything, but that may just be over excitement talking!

We've booked with bump and baby club and we're also going to do the free ones provided by the hospital. They book up months in advance so don't delay your decision too long

OP and @ChoasMoon it really depends on the instructor(s) you have and the experience of the people in your group. So if for example you have a doctor or other HCP who deals with women in labour/newborns you will end up covering different things in depth than if you didn't.

Unfortunately there is no way of knowing this in advance.

We’ve booked NCT for January.

I went with Lulubaby - thought it was great.

Unlike NCT, you have to be a professional in the field to teach with them.
We saw a nutritionist, physiotherapist, midwife, consultant obstetrician and lactation consultant.

Also most importantly, there is quite a lot of focus on what to do with your baby once it has arrived.

We did NCT and thought the info given was fab! Our teacher even came out to help out when we were struggling with breastfeeding in the early days. I also felt as prepared as possible for my very challenging birth which ended in emergency csection. I do think it depends on who you end up running the course. We spent a whole session discussing pain relief and csections etc and it was most informative. For us, the only thing I wish there was more info on was premature birth, but it’s a smaller number of people who experience that, so we can’t complain.