NCT as well as Bump & Baby Club?

[MrsKT123]

Hello,

I was hoping for some advice from those who have attended any online NCT sessions as to if you thought it was worth it? Not just based on the content, which I see gets mixed reviews, but also from the perspective of meeting other parents-to-be.

As a bit of background, I've lived in my town for around 2 1/2 years now and I don't know anyone local! I work in the city (and from home the last year) so any socialising I do tends to be in central London with existing friends I've met through work, or seeing my friends from my home town up north.

I've currently already signed up to in-person Bump & Baby Club sessions about half an hour away from where we live as the sessions where we live were already fully booked.

There is availability (one space!) in my local town for online NCT classes that would fit around the Bump & Baby club ones. I've enquired and the cost would be £272. I've paid £200 for the Bump & Baby sessions. I'm aware that a lot of the content would cover similar themes, perhaps from different angles, but the main reason I want to attend the NCT online course in addition to Bump & Baby Club would be to meet people.

I'm happy to pay the extra cost if it would increase my chances of making more 'mum friends', especially more local to me (I can drive or get the train to where the Bump & Baby Club sessions are and happy to meet people this way, but would also be good to have people more local).

Otherwise, would I be better off saving the money and waiting until baby is here and meeting people through baby groups and classes or perhaps some of the walks and things offered through NCT? The only thing that worries me about this is that I have seen on some threads on here that people can be quite cliquey from their antenatal class.

Any other suggestions of meeting people would also be really welcome!

Many thanks! :)

Hello,

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I decided not to attend any classes prior to the birth. The plan was always to put the money towards classes once the baby was here … and then the first lockdown happened (argh!).

Some of my friends loved NCT, whereas others found that they had nothing in common with the group, other than the fact they were expecting a baby at the same time. The friendships in the latter group soon faded out.

It will partially depend on how willing you are to put yourself out there and what classes will be open in your area. I’m naturally a shy person but I spoke to anyone and everyone in the playground over the Winter. It was hard work but I have made a few wonderful new “Mum” friends.

In terms of meeting people, things are starting to open up again and so hopefully you will have lots of options when your baby arrives. Church hall stay-and-plays are a great way to meet other local Mums and sensory classes.Websites such as www.happity.co.uk will list classes happening in your local area.

Two classes seems a lot especially if you think the content will overlap. I’d personally be tempted to drop the baby and bump one (could you cancel and get money back)? Because the nct one is closer so it would be better for meeting local people. But I’m not sure what baby and bump actually is!

I'd go with the in person ones. I've done an online one recently and it's not the same at all, people attended from quite far apart so it wasn't the local group I wanted and it was really missing the informal chats at breaks.

If you do the further away looks that's in person you'll be confident in knowing a few people Then go to some closer groups when baby is here.

I did Bump and Baby club. It was online but when we booked it looked like it would be in person and very local - so we have been lucky to get a local group who have met up lots (outside so far). We've also signed up to do lots of the baby classes together - not everyone, but a different mix. I would say our group is pretty like minded and I can chat to most of them but I don't see it as friends for like - there are only one or two who I reakon I would make an effort to see post maternity leave - however I have lots of local friends and family so I'll have super limited time once I'm back at work.

Based on a friend's experiences of NCT online - similar to PP they ended up with a group which wasn't really that local so limited meet ups (even before covid times I imagine what you would do together in the week to ease the boredom is mostly just walks and coffees). Pre covid I have friends who did it and made mates for life and others who quickly ditched them all - it's pot luck. I do think it's partly geography dependent - the ones of us with good experiences tend to live in areas where there are just loads of young families so I guess similar mindset etc.

Be aware with spending your money on mum and baby groups - you might get lots rocking up like the ones I go to where we all already know each other! One I do is composed of half an NCT group of babies slightly older than mine and then me and my (non baby group friend) with a baby who I've known for years. We're friendly but I guess if you wanted to actually make friends you'd need to be quite confident. How outgoing are you? Like how willing would you be to ask someone you dont know to go for coffee? If you're not up for this I think do all the bump and baby and NCT you can because it's easier to approach in that context. Sadly I think with this stuff you can have a pretty lonely experience sometimes through no fault of your own.

Also - if you have a supportive partner I might just try post tiny baby phase to pursue a hobby where you might meet like minded local friends because I reakon these can be more long-standing than the baby ones - you'll actually have something in common other than the baby!

We cancelled our online NCT classes as there was an expectation that we would use WhatsApp and we were uncomfortable sharing our details with strangers before getting to know them. They also combined our group with one in a different area so the whole idea of meeting locals became a moot point. Not doing any antenatal course now.

I should add, ours were supposed to be in person and I intentionally booked it for that reason.