Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

NCT - your thoughts please

30 replies

StargazyDrifter · 04/11/2018 16:26

Super early days for me still (c. 5 weeks) I wanted to start getting my head around NCT for when the time not (hopefully) comes.

My main questions are: did you think it was worth it and when is the best time to do it? Is there such a thing as a waiting list or do you just sign up and start?

DH and I have countless books and apps, but we don't have family close by or friends with children in our area. I was therefore thinking that the social side of things might be quite useful.

I've only had one interaction with NCT in my non-pregnant life, through work, and I can't say I warmed to them. But that wasn't anything to do with a course.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

GroundhogWeek · 04/11/2018 16:49

It really depends on what you want out of doing NCT.
I didn’t find the course content particularly useful. That said though, I had a high risk pregnancy and a complicated birth so a lot of the content was never going to be that applicable to me. That said, we did do a session on C Sections which emphasised the number of people likely to be in the theatre for one, it was helpful to be prepared for that. The baby care type parts of the course I found to be quite basic and not useful.
I’m really pleased I did NCT though as I made some really good friends from it, and we were great support to each other particularly in the early days. That part though really is luck of the draw, some people will have a very different experience of trying to make friends through NCT.

GroundhogWeek · 04/11/2018 16:51

Missed your first question, I did it when I was just over 30 weeks which was about right for me. Don’t recall there being a waiting list as such, but I know some courses were full so I guess there might be in some circumstances.

dotdashdot · 04/11/2018 16:54

The people from my NCT group were all ok but we didn't end up being friends. I think out of 8 of us there's only 2 that are now friends with each other 4 years on. The rest of us met up once when babies were 6 months and that's it. It was the main reason I'd signed up too so ended up being a waste of money really. It's down to luck though really and whether you can afford it.

Emelene · 04/11/2018 17:00

I've just finished a set of classes. I found it pretty useful but not as useful as my online hypnobirthing course. However we did have a special session on breastfeeding which taught me a lot I didn't know.

I'd really been hoping to make good friends but my group hasn't been very proactive. There is one couple we are hoping to get to know better so they are coming over for dinner, so I'm happy with that.

BikeRunSki · 04/11/2018 17:03

I also appreciated th C section preparation.
I made friends, but not friends for life. I didn’t realise that at the time, and friends for a year or two was ideal - we started drifting apart as the babies got older and mums went back to work, and the other couples started having foreign mini breaks - we neither had the grandparent weekend care or income to join in. I made friends for life at local church hall groups and, iironically though NCT coffee mornings.

HmmInteresting · 04/11/2018 17:12

I did NCT 9 years ago now so the content will almost certainly have changed. When I went it was very "drugs are bad, natural birth is good" which, I'm the end, was no good for me with a back to back, very painful labour. I had ALLLLLLL the drugs!

However, I met some incredibly good friends and we met once a week for years after. I now still see 2 out of 6 and we are good friends.

The support side of NCT after the course was well worth the money for me. Having a group of babies all at around the same age is invaluable. You all know exactly what each other is going through and can offer advice and support (although there is also some weird milestone competition which goes on!).

Re timings, when you sign up they should let you know when the best time is to start and should put you with women who are at a similar stage to you.

Congratulations by the way!

fiadhflower · 04/11/2018 17:59

Due to start our NCT classes next week, when I’ll be around 34 weeks. When I looked to book on to the course, it gave me options based on postcode and linked to my due date eg babies due from late November to mid December or mid December to early Jan.

Haven’t done the course. But I’m doing it with the aim of hopefully making some friends (rather than for the course content really). We’re in a similar situation in that we don’t have any family or many friends who live within a couple of hours of us.

peachesarenom · 04/11/2018 18:06

All of my friends said it was about making mum friends and to be fair I have. I was shocked at how well informed I feel now and how kind and reassuring our teacher was. I think even without the social side ut is well worth it!

seekingclarity · 04/11/2018 18:08

Definitely worth it if only to make friends. I met my best ever friend at NCT 19 years ago. It was genuinely a pivotal point in my life.

blackcat86 · 04/11/2018 18:23

I found the course a bit rubbish and quite anti medicine and anti doctor but that may have just been my trainer. The people we met were fab and we meet every couple of weeks. It was worth it just for that. Don't worry about timings, they will tell you when is best to do it based on your due date so that everyone on the course is at about the same stage.

harper30 · 04/11/2018 18:25

We made good friends and the course content was useful for DP who was clueless! I'm a serial researcher/reader so there wasn't really much new info for me but that was fine.
We did the course that lasted for 4 or 5 weeks, happening on Saturdays, and did it starting end of April with a due date of end of June.
Best of luck!!! Xx

user1493413286 · 04/11/2018 18:27

Worth it to make friends most definitely; they group classes by due date so you’ll all have your babies within a few weeeks of each other

Cookit · 04/11/2018 18:33

When you sign up online there will be courses for people due in June, July, August etc do you pick the relevant one.

shallen · 04/11/2018 18:37

Just finished an nct signature course, I'd say it was absolutely worth it.

They are quite biased towards natural and against planned c sections, however not as much as to say don't do it, but they highlight the real pros and cons behind stronger pain relief and c section. I think if you go into it knowing that's the stance they will take it allows you to keep an open mind.

I was quite clueless before so felt I have learnt a lot, it was also really useful to just have someone to ask all the silly questions!

Nct also offer a great support network, including a breastfeeding expert who we can call if we are having problems and a helpline for all sorts of general problems or concerns which I think it's well worth it.

We had 1 couple in the group who had done the nhs one the week before, felt it was lacking what they needed so booked an nct course last minute.

I'd say it's well worth it. X

MerryInthechelseahotel · 04/11/2018 19:13

Mine were 22 years ago and it was a great way for me to make friends that became very close. Course content did not prepare me for the birth I had but I did the nhs course as well

whiteroseredrose · 04/11/2018 19:40

I did NCT twice, in Bristol for DS and Manchester for DD. In both cases we didn't initially know people with DC so we went to find people in the same situation. The people attending were very different in the two areas. We had much more in common with the Bristol group and the leader was practical and friendly. We were in touch for over a year but lost touch when we moved. I think we'd have stayed in contact otherwise. The Manchester leader was quite different, more hippy right on which was the stereotype. I bump into people from the group occasionally because we still live here but none are friends. They came from the NHS classes.

I suppose I'm trying to say that it's worth a go but look at other stuff for contacts too, like antenatal water exercise.

Original poster

StargazyDrifter · 05/11/2018 10:09

Thank so much everyone for your thoughtful and super helpful comments! And for the congrats! 😊

All great points, especially around signing up, getting DH better informed and BF. Also really grateful for the c-section heads up as I'm probably going to end up having one on health grounds. Will check out alternative antenatal stuff too.

OP posts:

TryingToStayRational · 05/11/2018 14:56

I recently did a signature course and am pleased I did. I do a lot of reading myself so didn’t learn a massive amount of new stuff, but my partner certainly did and it was good for us to set aside that time as a couple to prepare. I had heard that things were very biased in favour of “natural birth” but was pleased to find it was much more evidence-based than that. For example we discussed all the different pain relief options and their pros and cons, and I felt the information was very factual. In fact, compared with the NHS session I attended, I would say we covered more of the intervention scenarios such as epidural, assisted delivery, c-section and induction. I found the breastfeeding session particularly helpful
and the resources we were emailed after each class also very good.

The other positive was definitely meeting other people, and I think even if we don’t all stay in touch long term it will be valuable in the early months knowing other people in the same position.

I’m sure a lot depends on your trainer, but I would certainly recommend mine.

Kintan · 05/11/2018 16:27

The course didn't give any monumental info that you couldn't get from books, however it was invaluable for making friends to hang around with on mat leave. Now we've all gone back to work we don't see each other so much, but still in regular WhatsApp contact and meet up when we can. As an aside, our course leader was quite anti c-section, but by co-incidence our whole group (4 couples) ended up having emergency c-sections!

sockportal · 05/11/2018 17:04

I was hugely disappointed with mine, they promised friends for life and that was the reason I signed up. They were anti formula, breast is best - my daughter arrived at 35 weeks and didn't have any inclination of breast feeding despite the hospital helping me. I then spent ages feeling like the worst mother ever.

Also because my little escape artist burst into the world at 35 weeks, I didn't compete the course. I asked for my phone number to be passed on to start a WhatsApp group, but nothing happened. I found the course leader to be quite vague and not very good at encouraging friendships. Even though on the first day all the mums said they were going to make friends.

I found my friends for life at baby groups once my daughter got bigger.

Original poster

StargazyDrifter · 05/11/2018 18:55

Another really helpful set of views, thank you.

Is it true they make you sit in a circle and share (and share what!)? Someone said that as a throw away comment at work recently but I didn't want to come across too interested and out myself as being pregnant just yet!

OP posts:

Chester1980 · 05/11/2018 19:08

I thought NCT was worth every penny. We have a nice group we’ve so far stayed in touch with.

I found it especially great for my husband, as before we went on it I did struggle to try and get him engaged in some of the birth chat because it freaked him out a bit! He was great afterwards having found a group of dads to be to chat to.

The lady who ran it was fantastic. She didn’t seem to push views on us and provided lots of information. I don’t have anything to compare it against, but others on the course felt it was much better than the NHS antenatal classes they went to.

Starsong82 · 05/11/2018 19:21

I'm 2 sessions into an nct essentials course and no sitting in a circle and sharing so far! In the first session we did split into small groups for a bit of an icebreaker but nothing too personal or cringeworthy! I'm sure it's a little different for each course depending on the instructor and who attends but mine seems good so far. Definitely haven't felt like any agenda is being pushed. Most recent session looked at labour, positions, vaginal birth and pain relief (balanced pros and cons for all as some one else mentioned) and next one is looking at induction, caesarian and feeding (breast and bottle)

OllyBJolly · 05/11/2018 19:30

I didn't find the course particularly useful and as we moved house just after I gave birth then didn't make any friends. However, NCT was great for meeting people in my new area. There was a very lively "new baby group" who seemed to know where all the activities with creches were. Really worthwhile. Moved again a year later and again found the local NCT group to be great for meeting people and did make some lifelong friends (as did the DCs despite some of the other children going to different schools).

TryingToStayRational · 05/11/2018 19:42

We did sit in a circle and introduce ourselves with some basic info like where we were due to have our baby, but it wasn’t hideous or anything. Mostly for each topic it was a bit of info from the trainer, then a bit of small group work, then back together for a summary. Also a few videos. I thought it was a good mix. The NHS one by comparison was 3 hours solid of being talked at without a break or even a glass of water. Fortunately I had taken my own provisions!

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread