Attending antenatal classes alone

[Peasplease12]

My husband works away a few days a week and so wouldn’t be able to attend any of the NCT/ other antenatal evening classes in our area.

I’d quite like to go to meet other people due at a similar time to me / learn baby first aid etc as this is our first baby.

A lot of the language on the websites seems very couple orientated and my friend who is currently attending antenatal classes for her baby due in the summer said she wouldn’t go to them alone. I’m also quite a shy person and networking is definitely not my strongest skill.

I don’t have family near by and it seems like too much off an ask for a friend, so I would be going alone.

Does anyone have any experience of attending antenatal classes alone, either as a singlet parent or because their partner wasn’t available? Good experiences? Bad? Indifferent?

My NHS antenatal classes were in the day and majority of women were on their own. They formed separate WhatsApp groups for the Mums and the Dads that did attend. Was definitely a plus for the Mums as a network of people to meet up with during Mat leave. Was absolutely fine going alone. Same with NCT was mostly couples but there was a single Mum there and some of the Dads didn’t make the second session. Again it was absolutely fine, it’s quite involved and interactive so flying solo didn’t matter.

I went to a mum-only class - called the Daisy Foundation programme. It was good.

You need to go to something so you get added to the WhatsApp group and have someone to meet up with on maternity leave. So long as you get on the group it doesn’t much matter if you have managed to make friends during the classes.

I would go to NCT alone rather than not go at all.

I went alone to evening antenatal classes last time. The classes were small so I stood out like a sore thumb on my own with 6 or 7 other couples. The midwife tried to help me fit in but i stopped going after 3 sessions because I felt like an idiot sat on my own while they were doing back massage etc.
I guess if classes are bigger there's more chance of it being less couple orientated.

I did two courses, mostly in an attempt to expand my limited social circle. The Baby and Bump one was mostly weekends if it’s similar in your area that might be an option. In each case at least one of the Dads missed most of the course (one got freaked out by the first session and another was recovering from an operation) so you can still attend on your own. The NCT one sometimes divided the men and women for activities which would be OK on your own. There were a few bits like the massage or birth positions where you might feel awkward alone.

NCT was a complete and utter waste of time, the content was very basic (nothing you couldn’t get off Youtube) and our instructor didn’t even get the group to introduce themselves or encourage mixing. I would have felt a bit strange solo as I’m quite shy too.

I also did classes held locally with a midwife who was a solo parent herself and I definitely thought that was much more inclusive. If you are in Bucks/Herts I can recommend them.

In my NHS antenatal classes (there were only 4), there were 2 girls there with their mums. You don't have to take your partner

Out of my three antenatal classes my husband couldn’t attend 1 or 2 but I was fine on my own. For me it was more about making friends really.

I think NCT is mostly worth it if you want to make friends but maybe some instructors are better than others. It remains to be seen if it has worked for me (I'm also very shy and a bit socially awkward) but we did meet lots of other couples having babies who live pretty locally to us so I'm hopeful that some of us will meet up afterwards. The other course I did had people living over a wider area so it might be less convenient to meet up regularly.

Thanks for the comments everyone - I’ll have a look at the course content of the courses available locally and see (also hoping to be able to go to an in person NHS antenatal class if they are running- midwife said they might be virtual still)