NCT - yay or nay?

[yellowmelon]

NCT seems to divide people - I'd like to hear positive and negative experiences of NCT. Did you find it helpful if you did it? Or did you think it was a waste of time /money?

The point of NCT classes is to meet people due at the same time as you. Invaluable.

I did it for the exact reason @BlueGingerale said. Took all the natural earth mothering stuff and breast is the only option stuff with a pinch of salt and made a group of friends. After 2 years am still friends with one other woman from it.

Actually to be fair, it was pretty good for DP as he really benefited from learning how to put on a nappy and other basics that were taught. Was expensive though, about £180

Yes, I've heard very positive things about the social side! I guess it's the luck of the drawer in who you're with and whether you gel. Did you do NHS antenatal classes too? How did you find them in comparison?

I wondered the exact same thing, I'm 30 weeks and um'd and ah'd about it for ages. Posted on a local facebook group for advice and everyone recommended it and lots of people said it was the best money they spent when they were pregnant! Think it maybe depends on the area as some of my friends have done it (other parts of the country) and said it was rubbish. I've signed up and doing it at the end of November. It was £260 for us. Think it will be invaluable to meet local mums to be.

I’m so glad we did it. I meet up with the other mums from our group about every 2 weeks and it’s a great source of support. DH found the classes really useful too

I love our NCT group. The babies are now 1 year old. The mutual support and encouragement has been invaluable.

I'm due in a couple of weeks and I've been to both NCT and NHS classes in London.

NHS were better in terms of content about the specifics of labour and birth, especially for DP but were very PowerPoint heavy. We had a hospital tour as part of ours which was very useful. We actually swapped numbers with another couple from the group but nobody else in the (20+) couples who were there seemed to make friends

NCT was horrendously expensive (more than other posters have suggested) but the 7 couples in our group really seemed to gel well and the pregnant mums are already starting to meet up on mat leave. I can see some of these people becoming really good friends and they all live much closer than the wider catchment of the hospital. In terms of content the childcare stuff was more useful and it was far more hands on and practical, and had some lovely exercises that were kind of aimed at strengthening your relationship as a parenting couple which worked really well for us (I don't know how that might change if one attendee was a single parent)

Hope that helps! I'm glad we did both for different reasons although they took up lots of our free time...

We lucked out with our NHS classes. A small group, all of us mid to late 30s, and 9mo later we see each other every week and chat every day! It can be hit and miss I think, though, but I guess the same is true with NCT.

I didn’t do NCT the first time and haven’t this time either. For me the concept of essentially ‘buying’ mum friends just felt wrong, but then I’ve never been overly social so having regular meet ups with other mums wasn’t the be all & end all.
Over time with DS1 I naturally met others with similar aged kids through swimming/toddler group/baby sensory etc.

I don't know anyone who regrets doing it. 2.5 years on and my group are close friends who I rely on and see a lot. A great way to meet local parents in the same position as you.

The information they teach is nothing you won't know already if you're proactive in reading up in pregnancy/labour/hypnobirthing etc. But if you're going into it clueless you'll probably learn some basic things.

I'd recommend to any first time parents.

Definitely was worth the money for us. There were 8 couples in our group and all were nice but there's 3 couples who are now our friends 2 years later. We occasionally still organise something for the whole group but it has died down a lot now. It was invaluable having people around off on maternity leave at the same time and it's now great having friends with children the same age.

The actual classes were okay, my partner felt more prepared to support me during labour afterwards. I think they give you plenty of time to do group type activities as they know getting to know each other is what a lot of people are there for.

I didn’t luck out with my group, though we did meet up every week during mat leave, we didn’t continue once people went back to work and I found a close group of friends with similar aged babies elsewhere.
But I would still recommend it first time round.
Content of the classes was crap though.

Ooh and where I live now there are good nearly new sales and membership gets you in early.

It was worth it to meet people to then spend my maternity leave with and have shared experiences with

We decided against NCT because a lot of friends said it was all really idyllic and didn't cover things like c-sections, bottle feeding or what happens if things don't go to plan.

We did still want to make friends though so paid for an independent antinatal course run by a midwife from the local hospital. It was 6 couples, 5 weeks, and cost the same as NCT.

We made friends but also the course was really well balanced, it covered all different types of labour. Plus there was lots of opportunity to ask questions which were well answered by the midwife who knew the exact hospital procedure.

We had a really positive nct experience, we actually learnt a lot and the separate breastfeeding session wasn’t just about breastfeeding, we got to learn about bottle feeding, however I think it totally depends on the person Teaching the course.

Didn't luck out with my group and genuinely regret having spent all that money. Baby came early and the others in the group totally blanked me after that. In some cases they actively avoided me because they seemed to think my 'bad luck' of preemie birth & long stay in SCUBU was contagious or something... Its now a couple of years later and I still see them around and know the group is still in touch, but I was never part of that. But I agree that most people seem to make great friends and feel very positive about the whole thing.

Oh and I think I would have found the actual classes more useful if they hadn't just concentrated on the birth part of parenthood but also on some of the challenges of bringing up kids. We never really got beyond day 0.

My experience is pretty poor. The other couples in my group were not local so we didn’t meet up very often and they were all quite competitive when we did. Also the NCT tutor didn’t prepare us for anything but the perfect birth. It was over £200 and I’ve heard much better things about the nhs classes x

I've had a look on the NCT website and there seems to be a coffee morning in our area but no courses. That's fine with me as this baby #2 so I don't feel like I really need a course, but I'm in a new area so would like to be out and meeting people.

Does anyone know if you can go to groups without going on the courses? If I did, would I be the odd-one-out?

I think it's important to have a local support group during mat leave. You can achieve that in a number of ways, NCT isn't the be all and end all.

I did it and a year later we barely saw each other, two years on and the WhatsApp group has been quiet for months and months.

The actual course was a steaming crock of shite.