Ante-natal classes - thoughts and experiences

[NikNakF]

Hi there. Forgive me if this has been dealt with but I'm fairly new. I'm 20w, due July and going for NHS antenatal classes in my area.

Out of interest contacted NCT and they onyl have intensive course left in my area.

Do people tend to go to both? Is it work doing both? What about meeting people in your area - is it better at NHS/NCT or on longer courses?

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

I went to the NHS ones, which are free, the NCT classes are quite expensive, my SIL went to those and she has made friends which she sees regulary but its up to you if you want to pay or not the information is no different!

I went to both and found the information given very different.

NHS - very much gave an impression of the birth being managed by the mw's. It was also very much about labour and your time in hospital, not anything post-natal.

NCT - much more informal. It was all about giving you the information to enable you to make your own decisions. It also covered bf'ing in detail.

I would say go to both, but I much prefered the NCT classes. I think because the people there were mostly like minded.

I went to NCT ones in a slightly different area, as the ones in my area were all booked up. They were pretty good in that we got to meet couples at a similar stage to you, and I could compare/complain about all the normal niggles of pregnancy without feeling obsessed or boring the pants of friends or work colleagues who weren't interested at all. It also made me decide to change from having a hospital birth to a home birth and although I ended up being induced in hospital I'm glad the teacher opened my eyes to the positive side of home births.

However, I'm not sure it really prepared me for the birth or actually being a parent. The local, free, ones were probably just as good in that respect. Also I didn't really have anything to do with the other mums or couples afterwards. It might have been because we came from quite a wide area, but also I didn't really feel I had that much in common with them, once our babies had all been born. I made more friends at the postnatal classes that our health visitors ran. But I think those kind of classes are disappearing or have disappeared in many areas, which is a huge shame.

If you want to make friends it's probably better to go to ones in your area. If you're interested in the information I found some good online 'antenatal classes' on babyworld. And of course here on mumsnet you can always find loads of people willing to give information or their point of view. Plus you could check to see if there is a mumsnet meetup in your area.

oh quite a long post there sorry if it's waffly...

I did the NCT ones - was pretty much told the NHS ones were all booked up and go away and do NCT. I found them really useful for meeting people (we still meet with our toddlers, 2 years later). Provided you know some basic biology the birth stuff wasn't anything new, and I found the experience of being in hospital for labour wasn't something that they prepared me for at all. On the other hand, we did the most fantastically useful role-play about life with a new baby from the perspective of the dad (back at work) and the mum (at home with newborn). An exercise in seeing things from the other person's point of view, and really, really valuable. I still think about it regularly.

I went to NHS ones which I thought were great - the community midwives knew all the hospital midwives (in fact, there had been quite a lot of movement between the two groups) so that gave me lots of continuity - one of the trainee midwives working with my community midwife was the midwife who welcomed me onto the ward after giving birth.

Thank you guys, very useful! I appreciate it.

Ime, NCT better for meeting people (they spend more time focusing on getting the group to bond, as well as impart info) That said its a pretty expensive route, and you could always just join the NCT and go along to a coffee morning (assuming they have them in your local area) - you won't nec meet mums with babies of your los age then.
Also, the NHS ones will (if they are at the hospital) be drawn from the whole of the catchment area - so much more diverse.

I still see my NCT mates (ds is 4) -in fact we had a big meet up (one flew in from gibralter, one drove from wales) last week
(I'm in surrey)

Good luck with your pg

Yes, the post natal role play exercise was a bit peculiar in my NHS group - they found it a bit hard to find a role play exercise appropriate to the whole of the group so went for the LCD so as not to offend anyone. We had to imagine we were trying to buy wallpaper in Next and had to describe how to handle pram/lift/pooing baby etc...

I did an NCT course and am still friends with my group (2yrs later), was booked onto the NHS ones but when I turned up it was my NCT teacher doing them!

I did the NHS one... didnt really find it much good... being younger and on my own i felt the couples were looking down on me. Im expecting my second baby and I am going to try the NCT ones this time round. I doubt people opinions of a young mum will have changed but i would like to meet people and make some friends who have kids the same age as mine. Also if you go on the NCT website and have a good look around there is information that tells you that you can get a discount in the price for various reasons. If you earn under £15,000 a year you can get a discount and only pay £20 rather than £120. you need to register quickly as places go quickly and there arnt alot. Hope that helps. gd luck x

I have to admit a little bias as I am a trainee nct antenalal teacher. I feel that the information given in the nct classes is not different, but it goes into greater depth.

I have just observed a nhs class and the poor midwife had to cover labour, birth and everything to do with it (assisted deliveries, cs and induction)in one 2 hour slot. I have about 8 hours to cover the same things.

I have to say I did NCT and found it the biggest waste of money ever. If you are on MN you probably know as much if not more than the teacher. Met a few nice people, but to be honest would probably have met them if I'd just done the coffee morning thing.

I did the NCT ones and they did give a lot of fab information, loads of time spent of natural birth and even most of a class on c-sections. But its a bit rose tinted with the bf'ing, half of our class ended up with nightmare bf'ing experiences that the teacher never mentioned as a possibility so I'm a bit sceptical on those parts. Go if you can afford it, but MN can probably help you just as much.

Hi NikNak!

I did the NHS classes and they were excellent. Not necessarily the information but the meeting people bit. There were 8 of us in the group and 6 of us are still in regular contact, aged from 21-38 when we first met (all at around 32 weeks pg), meet up and have become really good friends. DS is now 3.4 and we've had shared bday parties, gone through immunisations/ sleep deprivation/ chickenpox/ 2nd babies/ relationship splits/ return to work/ house moves the whole lot together.

I think if you read lots of information/ surf/ esp come on MN frequently then you might not need the info bit anyway but the meeting folks bit was excellent. I looked into doing the NCT classes in our area (went to one of their bumps n babes events) but the other mums were sooo different from me that I just wouldn't have fit in.

I have decided not to do NCT cos I feel that my mum (four kids all BF) and three sisters (six kids all BF) can give me all the info I need - plus MN!

Also, for £150 you can buy lots of different types of books about different aspects of pregnancy and birth - I think my money is better spent that way. And I can do it at my leisure then.

Will be going to NCT coffee morning though to meet people - I think that is a good aspect of it. An expensive way to meet new friends though!

I mean the NCT classes are expensive not the coffee mornings!

I did do both - only went to two NHS ones, as they were so late I had DS before they finished (35 weeks). NCT ones were good, but I don't think I really learnt a lot.

Have to say that I didn't make any firm friends at either class - post natal group was better.