1 to 1 Antenatal Education

[BathMidwife]

Hello!
Calling out to all pregnant mums and dads...
I'm thinking of offering 1 to 1 antenatal support/education classes in my local area. After talking to the women i care for I feel that a lot of antenatal education out there isn't quite hitting the mark. Sadly NHS education can often to a bit lack lustre, and NCT can be quite biased towards normality. Im also hoping that 1 to 1 education might also appeal to those who don't feel comfortable in group situations.
I am a practising midwife and hope to be able to give realistic, knowledgeable, personalised advice. Im just wondering if this is something that people think they would be interested in if it was available?
Thanks so much :)

I think this would be great for first time mums

I went to ante-natal classes to buy myself some mum friends so this wouldn't appeal to me. However, I have had nothing but judgemental and unhelpful advice from health visitors since DD was born, if there was an option for some post-natal support and advice (breastfeeding, sleep, general am-I-doing-it-right reassurance) especially during the early days, I definitely would have paid for this.

I would love this. I have millions of questions I don't know the answers too and have different needs than others (I have mental health issues that are very bad atm) so 1 on 1 would be perfect for me. In groups I find it embarrassing to ask questions and learn stuff I don't need to know and nothing about what I need to know. Some quality 1 on 1 would be much better!

As a first time mum I would love to have this! I don't really want to go to antenatal classes as my husband isn't available during the week so unless they offer weekend ones I won't be going as I'm too scared and anxious to go on my own. 1 to 1 would be my preference both antenatal and postnatal.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Great idea, I think it would also be good for mums who have had late losses in the past, so going to a group session full of first time, sickeningly optimistic parents might bring on additional anxiety. You can give all of the info but also reassurance and support that's tailored to the individual needs of the parents.

Also, people would be less likely to keep in "silly questions" and feel more comfortable to ask without being judged.

I had this in the guise of "hypnobirthing", a very well experienced semi retired midwife in my area offers group and private courses. By the time I found her online I was too late to join a term that fitted in with my due date, so we had a private course at home. The hypnobirthing was part of the sessions but mainly it was talking thoroughly about everything that happens, loads of time for questions and a nice relaxation at the end (my husband always fell asleep), she also loaned out a birth pool for our homebirth and we had a debrief after the event, where I told her I forgot all the hypnobirthing, gave birth in the pool with minimal gas and air, and a lot of swearing. We had 4x 1.5 hours with her, along with books, mantras, and mp3s and loved every second of it. Midwives have such a special gift - calming us mums during our most primitive time - most would bite your hand off for face to face time with you

It wouldn’t appeal to me. I (and most of my friends) did NCT to ‘buy’ friends who would be going through similar experiences at similar times so the social aspect was the primary draw. The information was useful but nothing I couldn’t have read in a book.

We would absolutely be delighted if such an option was available in our area. I am not a huge fan of groups, a lot of our friends just had babies or are on course of having them right now, like we are so I don't feel deprived in that area, but I have so many questions that go beyond general information that can be found in books and online and would prefer direct advice from an experienced midwife to browsing forums to find other people's experiences.