NHS vs NCT ante natal classes

[gimmeadoughnut123]

Hi all

My husband and I have been chatting about ante natal classes. We did want to do the NCT classes as we heard good things. We ended up having a Harmony Test done which we had to pay for, so just wanted to get the views of others before the expense of booking on to them. How different did you find them to NHS classes? Would you recommend them?

I have friends that went to NHS classes and said that it was the mix of people there that they found strange. One couple was older, had been trying for a baby for a long time, and were sat next to a 17 year old and her friend who kept laughing at the word penis. I'm not slating young mum's but as a married couple who have wanted this baby for a long time, I would like to be around people in a similar sort of boat if we can.
This might help with making mummy friends as well. Other people have loved the free classes though. We don't have a fortune so booking on to the NCT ones would be a treat for us as parents, to start prepping.

What do you think? Was it worth it? Or were you happy with the free classes?

Hopefully I don't sound like a snob by asking.

I'm only 7+4 and I'm the crazy person that's already booked onto my local NCT class lol.
Ive heard only good things about the NCT ones from friends who have had babies and particularly for the friendship and support network. I booked early as there was only one easily accessible local one to me and there's only about 8 places in each class.

I didn't know the NHS did them until i saw the midwife today but I want DH to come and the NCT ones are all evening or weekends whereas NHS ones aren't.

My local NHS ones are on weekends. Definitely check out what your hospital's set up is, seems a bit arbitrary.

My NCT classes were very expensive (£370, central London) but I now have a group of similar like-minded women/men in my local area as a support group. Some literally live on the next street.

Went to one NHS class and found it quite basic and also a very varied class in terms of attendees which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I've not kept in touch with anyone from there nor did it seem people were there for making friends.

I did NCT and found it pretty good. The NHS ones were a bit of a pain to get to and NCT was at a local church . Mine was all couples (I don't know if they group single parents together) and I was the youngest at 30 but not by much.

I only did NHS. Ours were pretty rubbish, no one mixed at all, big city so everyone was from different areas. Most people were older than me (24). I dont think I would go again but worth going for baby 1 as it lets you know what's available in local area birth wise (it was only at ours that we found out our midwife unit was closed). The bf class was very basic, meant for someone who had literally never looked into anything about breastfeeding and spoke about 3-4 hourly feeds which I dont think is a particularly realistic expectation of most breastfed babies.
However the NHS classes in a town 20 minutes from us are excellent, they get 4 classes with mums in the same town all due within a 6 week block. Then after birth they are invited to 6 weeks of baby massage class together. So maybe worth while checking with any mums you know locally?

Thanks all. Decided to go for NCT I think. As the cost of dog walkers going in in the evenings will even out the cost of the NCT classes anyway!

We did nhs and they were good. Spent what would have been our nct money on a weekend hypnobirthing course which was very worthwhile for me (we did practise the exercises after the course as well, you have to commit to it) - had a really positive and largely calm birth despite initially planning a homebirth and ending up with induction then emergency forceps under epidural as my massive baby was back to back and thoroughly stuck. Plus I still use some of the breathing in day-to-day life for keeping my head.

I made mum friends going to local groups after baby was born.

I think I’d do the same again.