What are your thoughts on NCT classes?

[Littlebee1990]

First time Mumma to be here, due in May! Lots of friends with babies so I can lots off them but I’m tempted to sign up to a local NCT class for the educational and social aspect (even if it may be online still in March)

I’d love to get peoples thoughts and experiences.

Those with children- Have you done NCT and what did you think?

First time mummas - Will you be doing NCT?

The free classes aren’t being run in my area due to budget cuts so that’s not an option x

The course itself was next to useless for me but all these years later and I’m still best friends with some of those on my course and was some of the best money I spent. All comes down to what the others on your course are like though.

Depending on where you live it can be very expensive - it's £500 in my area which I think is a rip off. You can't meet anyone face to face due to covid so it's all online which would just be awkward and if you are intending on having a c section most of it won't be relevant to you.
To me it came across as very expensive online dating for mums to be - relationships which will most likely fizzle out anyway

Not worth it IMO. I didn't learn anything from the course myself, in fact I feel like it's more suited to people who have ZERO idea about pregnancy, labour and birth.

It's on zoom at the moment too which gets really tedious and boring quite quickly.

I'm saying this as someone who was also in a group of people who didn't really gel and nobody at all has kept in touch.

I wouldn't know. I was dissuaded from going. They didn't fancy a single parent in their clique group.

Oh it's also very much aimed at women who also want calm hypnobirths at home in water etc etc. It doesn't acknowledge mums who are consultant led or who have medical considerations - it just ignores women giving birth in hospital. In fact my course tutor spent quite a bit of time talking about how a hospital was the worst environment to give birth in, which really pissed me off.

I think it would have been useful to make friends in normal circumstances, but then I suppose in normal circumstances antenatal classes would have been on! In terms of information it isn’t the best, to be honest.

I couldn't justify the price. I did the online course with The Positive Birth Company. It was excellent.

I have signed up - due in Jan.
I went with a friend a couple of years ago and I think its really supportive and informative for the partner.
My husband has no interest to read books and talk about what kind of nappies we should use etc but with NCT its not as scary and he wants to make decisions with me etc.
Also they ram it down their throats to do the cleaning, cooking and looking after etc. Which my husband does but a lot don't!

for me it was the best thing we could have done. Once the baby was born I have a ready made network of people going through the exact same thing I was. We used to meet up, go for coffee and it kept me sane. 1000% worth it in my opinion

I'm a FTM and I booked classes for Feb as so many friends have rated them highly.
My area is around £320.
I had thought it would be face to face by then,but just confirmed yesterday it will be online and I'll get 15% back.
Seems a lot for an online class now and I'm worried I won't make friends as well online as you do in real life.

There are sites like Blossom Antenatal who run online classes free, others for £10.
No personal experience, but I've booked a free breastfeeding session based on a recommendation.

Awful don't waste your time or money. There is no guarantee you will meet likeminded people and for DH and I the nonsense spouted about natural births was too much. Due to long standing significant back issues I was always going to have a CS the leader said I should think about it abs she would discuss it with me in more detail on another class - err no thanks love I'll be taking the qualified orthopaedic surgeon's advice 🙄.

@mommybear1

Awful don't waste your time or money. There is no guarantee you will meet likeminded people and for DH and I the nonsense spouted about natural births was too much. Due to long standing significant back issues I was always going to have a CS the leader said I should think about it abs she would discuss it with me in more detail on another class - err no thanks love I'll be taking the qualified orthopaedic surgeon's advice 🙄.

I told my course leader I was having an elective section because I wanted one and she was wry supportive. She even found a video of a gentle c section to show us all and was very insistent the best birth was the one that suited the mother best of all.

I did NCT with DC1 many years ago and made some really nice friends (although no longer in touch with any of them now). It is pricey though. I've heard good things about Blossom antenatal classes.

There were only 2 other families on our course. I got on well with them, but they have since moved away so I don't see much of them any more.

Their support really came into its own when I ended up falling under consultant led care late in my pregnancy. My tutor was a listening ear and helped me find the words to ask the right questions so that I could be part of the decision making around my care rather than being told what would happen to me. As a result my induction which resulted in a csection was something I felt happy with and I was still able to personalise my care and environment.

I don't know whether I would have been able to build the same relationships over Zoom though.

We did NCT for the social side as we already felt pretty well informed, but I was surprised at how much I learned from the course. The leader was super knowledgeable and I didn't feel she had any particular agenda. Course was engaging, didn't get bored. I think she was more experienced than most though so I would try and get some reviews of your local course. Also ours was pretty cheap at £120 with the online discount, so don't be put off because of price until you actually know how much it will be.

Social side seems ok, they seem like nice people and we met up once in person before lockdown and once on zoom. Babies still to be born though so I think social side will pick up then.

It was amazing to have a set group of contacts all at once. To create a whatsapp group and have people to text middle of the night about all sorts. It's great having actual friends with babies, but when they're at different stages and not necessarily around the corner, it's really hard to remember what they were doing at exactly 3 weeks old. Also so useful in terms of discussing the local hospital, local groups and things.

It's hit and miss whether you make friends for life, but I've actually found it really hard to make friends in baby classes. Then covid came and thank God I have this group! Otherwise I would be so isolated.

I also think it's good for the dads as otherwise very hard for them to make dad friends locally.

The actual content? Not bad, depends on your teacher tbh. Ours was good but I generally found hypnobirthing better prep for labour.

I’d say if you can afford it, it’s worth the chance of meeting a group with similar aged babies to chat to / hopefully meet now and then. You might learn something useful just go being prepared to take some of the advice with a pinch of salt. Our leader was also quite pro natural birth etc and it did t work out that way for any of our group. The course should also discuss the alternatives and you just make your mind up - another one happy to be led by the experts and the realisation that your idyllic birth plan is likely to go to pot depending on circumstances!

I really liked ours and am very glad we did it. Even though it's online, you should be able to meet up for coffee once the babies arrive? I wouldn't say anyone bonded in the classes themselves, but after the births we arranged to go to the same baby groups and went for coffee after.

I think the class was better for my partner than me, but my leader was supportive of my elective section.

I enjoyed it and made friends that I saw quite a lot of when on mat leave but very rarely since everyone went back to work etc. Not particularly local.

Not sure if I would bother online unless it looked likely we could meet in person soon after.

Not sure if they still do them but my local health visitor organised “new parent” courses when baby was born. Course itself was rubbish but still see people from that group- they were far more local (walking distance) which helped a lot.

I'd say if your main reason for doing it is for education, then you're probably better off reading a book. But for the social side I think its money very well spent. I'll still good friends with a couple of the ladies from my group 3 years on and I'm the early days it was invaluable having other women going through it all at the same time.

Sounds like a few women here didn't have great experiences but I'd say they're probably in the minority as most parents I know have done it and have made long term friends from it.

I'm pregnant with my second and have signed up to do it again as we've moved location and I'd like some local mum friends again this time around.

I learned nothing from it that I didn’t already know from reading/ MN. But DH found it useful as he hadn’t done any of the research I had. We both feel it wasn’t worth it though.

Our group didn’t gel so it wasn’t worth it to ‘buy friends’ for me, either.

You basically are paying to make local mum and dad friends whose babies are born around the same time. We did it, it's been priceless and made the world of difference to us. Both my partner and I have made a good local parent friendship group which has expanded based upon NCT. The actual course is informative but you're mainly paying for local parent friends in the same position as you, going through the same experiences as you. Book on you won't regret it.

As others have said the course in terms of content is totally useless, but in our case at least the instructor was brilliant at getting us all to share things and mingle etc and the group became invaluable in the first few months of parenthood. So I'd definitely recommend. In terms of actual birth preparation I'd do a hypnobirthing type class instead.

The course didn’t teach anything I didn’t already know or could find online, and the leader was so ‘natural’ and way out that I found it patronising and annoying at times. The other parents were very pleasant but little in common and we didn’t stay in touch. Other people have found it wonderful. So much depends on the people you are with. If you can afford to do it then great, you may get lucky, you may not. Keep an open mind and be prepared to ask if you want to discuss a particular issue.

Course was useless but the group we had made it bearable and we had such a laugh. Now call off them (bar one) our best friends.

Totally worth it to have a group that's going through the same things as you at the same time.