Pregnancy yoga... NCT classes... hypnobirthing classes... which one?!

[glasshalffull0]

Hi all

I've feeling overwhelmed with the choice of classes and activities you can participate in when pregnant. I keep switching between wanting to do a yoga class to help relax and stretch out, to NCT to prepare for baby, to hypnobirthing to prepare for labour

I have a reasonably good salary but not that much spare to do all of the classes but I would like to join one. I'm leaning more towards the yoga at the minute, with the thinking being that I can learn/read/watch about hypnobirthing/preparing for a baby from other sources?

Has anyone had any experience of any of their classes and what was your opinion?

I'll also add this is my first baby too. Due at the end of June

I did yoga and nct. I did nct for friends rather than info. Made friends from both so depends what you're after. I did love yoga and am trying to find another class that works time wise atm. I didn't bother with hypnobirthing just because it felt like a lot of effort

Yoga is good for your body whereas NCT is for learning about birth and baby and meeting others. But you have ages to go? Surely you’re not even 12 weeks?

@Daisies12 I'm 12 weeks, just researching what out there as I like to be prepared

@janfebmarchapril I think I would enjoy the yoga more too! When did you start yours? There's a class near me that has waiting lists so I'd like to make a decision soon to get on the list for later on!

Did you learn much from the NCT classes or do you feel like you could have researched a lot of it?

I think I started at 15 weeks, it was really good for all those muscle pains I'm deff missing it this time round.

Yeah I don't think I particularly learnt anything. All the people I know who did it was purely for the friend side of things.

its my first peg now 23 weeks
I am doing yoga , which I enjoyed some me time and body feel great after class every time. Yoga could also meet like minded ppl.

I also signed up antenatal class - I sort of know the content not that helpful, like maybe most could find online. But thought it’s part of all the preg experience . I chose one with first aid , which not many classes offer . And also expect to meet like minded ppl.

consider hyno just to give myself more option, as I am planning about the birth plan now. Did hear some ppl from yoga class said useful. Will do more research and decide to sign up or not.

hope it helps !!

We did the NCT antenatal classes after friends recommended them - yes, they were expensive but I'm glad we did as we missed out on the free NHS ones. It meant DH was involved/more prepared and I'm still in touch with the other mums so it's helped with the support network side of things. They gave lots of pointers to relevant info out there which was handy but I wish they'd covered more on caring for baby rather than the birth experience.

Looking back I regret not trying yoga, think it would have been beneficial.

I regretted not doing nct. Do that.

I did the other two, they were both great. Especially Hypno birthing.

Hmm not much help.

Hypnobirthing as a priority, then antenatal classes. Pregnancy yoga is nice but hypno will help you more when you're in labour and giving birth.

I've done all three.

I did all of them and they were all worth it

If you aren't bothered about the social aspect to NCT, look up the Baby Academy. They do free sessions online that cover much of the same content. I found them really good. They do a hypnobirthing session which might be a good taster to decide if you want to do a course on it.

Have you done much yoga before? If you have, there are good videos on YouTube. I'm aiming for a short session every day (and not managing that at all, oh well!) but I'd only recommend that if you've got a fairly good idea of what you're doing.

I'm very lucky this time that my hospital offers free birth prep courses and yoga. Local libraries (should) have all the most recent pregnancy/ birthing books you could possibly need. Have a look and see what's free!

If nothing is free, you're aiming for a vaginal birth and you can only afford one thing, yoga would get my vote.

I’ve been doing pregnancy yoga since 11 weeks and really enjoy it. My class is run by a midwife and we start by going round the room to see what appointments everyone’s had that week and how we’re all getting on. Then at the end we get a bit of an educational piece so last night she was talking about birthing positions for opening the pelvis and how to use props if you’ve had an epidural.

My midwife doesn’t recommend the NCT classes in my area so I’m just waiting for her to get the NHS ones set up again but if they can’t be done in time we’ll do something online.

MCT is mostly for the social side but it is just luck of the draw as to whether you click with your group or not. It’s up to you if the cost is worth the gamble that you click or not.

If doing hypnobirthing and NCT, you’ll want to make sure that there is a balance on natural birth and interventions. Some NCT groups and hypnobirthing courses can be quite militant about if you are relaxed enough, you’ll have a trouble free labour. There are some births that are always going to end up with interventions or a c-section and setting yourself up that you haven’t “tried” hard enough if you end up with this birth means you will probably suffer with feeling like a failure, birth trauma and possibly PND.

Hypnobirthing 100000000%!!!!

It's basic, it's science, it's used everyday through pregnancy too, this is my 4th baby and the 1st time I've tried it and I absolutely wish I'd done it with my others because now I see what went wrong before and it's sooooo easy to correct!!

Recommend this book to start with honestly just this alone will make you feel amazing

Hypnobirthing then Yoga. NCT I didn't find useful as all info is readily available and we didn't click with any of the small group. My Yoga group covers topics like labour, interventions and breastfeeding as well plus you'll get the NHS classes.
The positive birth company hypnobirthing course is often on sale for £25.

A decent pregnancy yoga class will also touch on hypnobirthing. That would be my go to.

If you can then afford it, nct to make friends.

Also look at Baby & Bump antenatal classes, they're a bit cheaper than NCT

We did a weekend nct type class at our hospital when pregnant with first.Think it was free or very low cost at the time.Could be worth reaching out to the hospital you plan to give birth at. It’s more about caring for a baby etc. Pre Natal Yoga I did on YouTube at home it was great for me & defo helped with labour delivery! Hypnobirthing I did an online course through Positive Birth Company and would definately recommend it! It all helped during labour and delivery & doesn’t have to cost alot.