NCT or Birth & Beyond at Royal Surrey Guildford

[buuuka86]

I'm hesitating between the two antenatal courses. Has anyone done both? Which one is better? I'm concerned that Birth & Beyond covers too big of a region to make social connections while there is a dedicated NCT course for my village. However, the content of Birth & Beyond is NHS-approved and the topics attract me a bit more.. Any thoughts?

Hello. Realise this is a late reply, but I am having exactly the same dilemma. What did you go with in the end? I'm leaning towards Birth & Beyond...

I had my second at royal Surrey, did local NCT classes, but with first did the equivalent nhs course at Chichester, the nhs was far more practical, better advice on feeding and after care. Our nhs group were nice but we didn’t stay in touch after around a year. However in the same town there are other Nct groups who 10 years plus on still meet up, have camping trips etc. If you can, I’d do both, but if money a factor I’d skip Nct.

Thank you! That's really helpful.

We ended up taking a local NCT course AND a few selected classes from Birth and Beyond. And I think it was the best thing to do.

Birth and Beyond was amazing - we learnt everything we needed to know from it. But we didn't get to know anyone there - the courses didn't really include introductions or anything like that. Maybe the full course does? But even if it did, people were indeed from all sorts of places and realistically, even if we spoke, I wouldn't have met with them - we all live too far from each other.

NCT was ok but definitely it's main benefit is meeting couples. We regularly hang out and trust me - you will need the support.