NCT Essentials antenatal course - £121.55. Is it worth paying?

[DJBebe]

Hi all. Is it worth paying £121.55 for the online NCT basic course? My partner will probably be unable to attend due to work constraints so it would be only me.
I'm readying books on pregnancy and children development, also do my online research and talk with friends about their experiences.
Will the midwife not cover what the NCT course covers?

I wanted to do antenatal classes but I felt nct charged way too much for what they offer.
I’ve spent £20 in total and the classes are great, the presenter is fab and a current working midwife so it’s brilliant. I can highly recommend.
Her link is here: www.letstalkbirthandbaby.co.uk/

Following this!

Check out the positive birth company. They do online courses in hypnobirthing and a post partum pack that discusses feeding, sleeping, recovery etc. They are usually £37 per pack but the post partum one has been reduced to £20 atm.

The main part of nct is making friends but that is hard to do atm when you cant meet face to face.

Do they not do antenatal classes for free now? 😳 you have to pay?

NHS ones are free NCT are not.

I paid for NCT as I wanted to meet mums in the area who I could socialise with when the babies were born. Best thing I ever did. Still friends 12 years later.

I would do the NCT course if you also want to meet mums. It’s not ideal at the moment as it’s online, but you’ll still have a WhatsApp group and hopefully you’ll be able to meet up at some point!

However, if you just want information, I would suggest you find a free NHS course or another course online.

I did NCT partly to make friends, and 3 years later we’re still texting several times a day and, pre lockdown, meeting up very often. They are true friends and were a huge support in the first year, which can be hard!

I was very sceptical about NCT until one of my husbands friends said "Just do it" (He'd seen both outcomes with friends of his).

I'm SO glad he did! The women I met were a lifeline to me. I'm sure will be friends for life (we are 9 years in) I know not everyone has this experience, but I would say unless it's really really hard to afford, just do it. It's worth the risk to try it.

There was something priceless in going through all these new experiences for the first time (especially the tough bits) alongside people who truly understand. Good luck with it all!

It's not always that much. Depending on what you earn it can be free at NCT.

I enjoyed mine and felt the network of new mums very valuable. I didn't pay full price though due to income.

As @CrumpetsAndPuzzles said it depends what you’re aiming to get out of it.

We just completed ours and overall I don’t feel like it was worth the money in terms of the information.
It was all via zoom due to covid so perhaps if it were in person it might have felt more worth it. We have ‘met’ some mum’s and dad’s to be from it and have a WhatsApp group where we can chat, but we shall see how useful that is once all the babies start arriving.

In terms of course content it was pretty abysmal. Perhaps this is just because I had researched a lot around birth already, but I really didn’t feel like we learnt anything.
This wasn’t helped by the fact that our course instructor was a bit of a technophobe and therefore a lot of the additional information materials were difficult to read etc.

I have found the Positive Birth Company digital pack much more informative and excellent value for money.

I've known these 6 for a year now and whilst the lessons were laughable it was worth every penny for the friendships! Seriously don't know how I'd have coped without them! X

NHS aren't running courses due to Corona. I've had mine cancelled. I did a local alternative to NCT but was part way through and it was cancelled. The positive birth company digital pack has been a bit of a lifesaver for me, mainly to help get through the mental struggles with covid and the impact it's had on my birth. There's other ways to meet local mums to be if that's what you want plus as partners or visitors aren't currently allowed on the postnatal ward it means new mums are chatting much more and making friends there.

As with others I mainly joined to meet people - and I'm so pleased I did!

A year end and I think maybe half of the group are people I'll be in touch with for a long time which I think is pretty good odds for a bunch of strangers!

The course content was ok, very focussed on 'natural' births - I guess good for me as I went home and did some reading on other related topics.

I wouldn't use The Positive Birth Company
They believe in "fed is best"

@PatricksRum and what is wrong with “fed is best” exactly?

I'm cynical about online classes as I don't think you will get anything better than what you get watching free or cheaper tutorials. Obviously when it was a class you can attend that's different.

It's wrong. It's offensive to bf and ff mums.
It downplays the importance of breastfeeding and dismisses the struggles mothers faced who could not bf.
Fed is only best when compered to starvation.
Informed is best.
I had an emergency c section and I get really pissed off if I hear "at least dc is healthy" totally dismissive of MY feelings and the fact that a c section is not the best birth for most babies.

@PatricksRum I think the whole point is to relieve the pressure some mums face who want to breastfeed but can’t for whatever reason, to remind mums that at the end of the day so long as your baby is fed, that is what matters. It doesn’t matter if it’s boob or bottle and all mums should feel supported in whichever way they end up.

They are just trying to fight against the ‘breast is best’ narrative, I don’t see how it’s offensive.

It actually wouldn't be a bad thing to find a group that matches your feeding philosophy in some ways whether it's Fed is best or EBF at all costs or wanting information on both so you can make an informed choice.

Also, the positive birth company have and are doing amazing things to support women, especially those giving birth during this pandemic. I don’t think it’s fair to completely write off an entire company and their helpful work, purely because you don’t agree with their stance on babies being fed.

@Gigitree How can you not see how it's offensive?
Throwing a bone to ff mums "it's ok, you've fed your baby" like it's an accomplishment.
Then what about the bf mums who go through comment after comment, look after look? Will you be stopping soon? Give them a bottle, they'll sleep longer.
'fed is best' was made up to advertise formula.
It's nonsense and offensive.

linktr.ee/positivebirthmovement
I've heard good things about these people ^^

@Gigitree

I’ve done both.... I think the best thing about the NCT classes is the friends I’ve made. The first group was 15 years ago and I’m good friends with 3 of the ladies from our group. I have no idea who anyone was and had no lasting friendships from my nhs classes.

@PatricksRum I can’t see how it’s offensive because it’s ridiculous to insinuate that supporting a mothers right to feed her child in the way that makes the most sense to her specific situation, is some how then not supporting bf mums. It’s inclusive whereas ‘Breast is best’ is not.

The whole point is the the emphasis is put on the outcome and not the method.

Fed is best is there to reduce the horrific pressure some mums feel to continue bf even when it’s to the detriment of their own mental health and the health of their newborn.

Your comment ‘throwing a bone to ff mums like it’s an accomplishment’ speak volumes about how you feel about ff and clearly your perception of ‘fed is best’ is going to be warped with a dogmatic attitude like that.

Who cares where the phrase came from and what the original intent was, as always things evolve and change over time and what is important is the physical and mental well being of parents and their child.

@PatricksRum we can both pull up examples of mothers who’s mental health has suffered as a consequence of the overwhelming pressure put on them by themselves and society. The one excerpt from one mums experience doesn’t prove that there is a problem with ‘fed is best’ it proves there is a lack of mental health support for mums.

17 years later we are still friends with out NCT group only 2 couples but best thing we did.