Antenatal classes

[dana4nyc]

I am trying to decide if my husband and I should take the antenatal classes offered thru the NCT which you have to pay for or just go to the sessions offered through the local children's centre which there is no cost for. Can anyone give me any advice on which classes are better? This is my first baby and I am clueless as to what to do!!!

Many thanks!

I suspect it's a case of "you get what you pay for". I went to the free classes and got very little out of them that I couldn't have learned elsewhere. (Details specific to our local hospital were helpful; everything else I could have picked up on mumsnet.)

The women I know who paid for the NCT classes raved about them - met lots of local mums to socialize with and learned a lot.

I thought the NCT classes were brilliant, well worth the money. I don't know if our Children's Centre do classes but the NHS ones here were completely useless. Barely any information, really dumbed down, about 30 people in the room at once, midwife was useless (she was my midwife for a bit and I changed to someone else because she was awful) - someone asked "If you plan a waterbirth, does that mean you're not allowed an epidural?" And she said yes, that is correct! What she meant was you can't have an epidural in the pool (I questioned it) - which surely any idiot realises!

Any classes which take place over more than about 2 sessions tend to be the best for meeting people, NCT ones usually fit this bill, not sure about the childrens' centre, maybe you could ask. I mainly wanted to do the classes to meet a core group of people because I find it really hard to break into friendhsip groups and always feel like an outsider - but actually I found the information etc I got about birth was really good as well, our teacher was lovely and had 4 children herself, and her births had ranged from induction & epidural to natural waterbirth, so she had a lot of experience to offer and was very balanced.

But honestly it really depends on the area you live in and what is available there - if you can go along to any baby groups now (most do welcome pregnant ladies!) and ask people what their experiences were of different classes you should get a feel for what you have locally.

hi there- I am currently training with the NCT to become an antenatal teacher- so obviously I am a bit biased! BUT! I would really recommend the NCT course as you will get so much more info- learn about different ways to deal with labour as well as all the practical stuff. I went to my hospital free classes with my first baby- and they were not very good at all- mainly just concentrated on what pain relief the hospital gave. I only made a brief friendship with one other woman. I was really unprepared for labour- I realise now . At the beginning of the NCT classes the teacher will ask YOU what YOU want to learn/discuss- so the course very much reflects the interests of the group. There will be a postnatal meet up class, and you will definitely end up making some really good friends .
(I also have had 3 very different birth experiences- from epidural/forceps to natural home birth).

We have been to three NCT classes so far. They have been extremely informative- my head spins after each class!- and I definitely feel much better prepared for labour and birth. In fact I am not apprehensive about birth at all now and think that NCT is great for giving you a positive take on things in this way. Worth the money? Well it's certainly good value in terms of info-per-£.

There is a strong anti-intervention (ie medical) agenda though. I've always intended to have as "natural" a birth as possible so this suits me quite well. But epidurals, inductions etc are viewed as The Enemy. And one woman who asked if we could talk about c-sections, as she'd been told she might have to have one, was told by the NCT teacher in no uncertain terms that this would be a low priority as she didn't want to focus on "abnormal" (her word) birth.

I think it's great to promote natural birth- but the upshot of all this is that I feel that if I did end up agreeing to an induction, having more pain relief, interventions or whatever, I might feel as though I'd "failed" somehow.

The only other thing which (inexplicably) bothers me is that the whole thing feels very middle class. I'm hardly one to pass comment on this- takes one to know one!- but I do sit there slightly cringing sometimes because it all feels a bit.... smug. I can't really explain it. But there it is.

I also haven't struck up any friendships yet- but then, I am quite shy and find that sort of thing excruciating. Something I'll need to get over if I am to make all these "mum friends" people keep telling me I'll need...

Good luck!

Thank you all!! I was leaning towards to NCT classes as well but with my husband away at the mo (he's in the RAF and has 2 weeks left in Oman) I was finding it really hard to make a final decision!!

BertieBotts - I, like you, find it a bit difficult to break into friendship groups and I'm really hoping to make some good friends out of these classes.

Thanks again for all of your input! I'll be filling out my NCT application tonight and putting in the post tomorrow!!

I've just finished my NCT course - it was brilliant.

Still waiting to hear about the NHS ones though at 33.5 weeks, so glad I have at least done NCT. I'll probably have given birth before the NHS ones start.

blushes- I am a bit that your antenatal teacher wasnt really prepared to discuss c-section. Seeing as nearly 1-4 women will have a c-section then this is vital information! I personally feel that you should be given as much info as possible about all eventualities- induction/ epidural/ c-section/ forceps etc. In some cases all of these things are neccessary- however, in line with government guidelines- the NCT does want to see a reduction in c-section rates as it is considered too high at the moment.

Our teacher discussed C-sections in our NCT classes, without even being asked (nobody had a high chance of having one, 2 out of the 7 of us did have one) - so I think it does vary according to the teacher.

Yes I think it is down to the teacher. I know another NCT teacher personally very well, who said she wouldn't take such a "militant" tack.

Thanks to my relationship with this other teacher, I feel quite confident about my choices in labour/birth, but I can't help thinking that our NCT teacher's approach might be setting some women up to feel like failures if they- gasp!- opt for an epidural.

On the whole though, the teacher is very good and I'm learning loads. I'm just quite aware of what I personally see as an agenda (albeit a positive one).

I had two nhs ante-natal classes which were 2 hours each. I thought they were good and the MW was good but just not enough time. There were only 8 couples and lots of chances to ask questions, see equipment and i got a better picture of what the reality of giving birth might be like with all indignities! Not enough time to form friendships though. I think i will try going to some nct post-natal classes.