NHS vs NCT course, (or others??)

Question

Hi everyone.
I'm currently 26 + 4 and have been looking into birthing classes for myself and my partner. What would people recommend ? The nct courses sound great but are rather expensive. I'm wondering who has experience with which??? Thanks

Answer

Definitely NCT. It’s the one bit of advice I give pregnant friends. We did one almost 2 years ago and we still meet a couple of times a month - it’s definitely the friendships that were the most beneficial. We have a WhatsApp group and in the early days we would message in the middle of the nights with worries and it’s so reassuring to hear others going through exactly the same!

Answer

I don’t really agree with NCT classes, they’re mainly opinion based and you’re basically buying yourself friends. NHS classes are more fact based and more informative, save your money for something else and attend the NHS ones.

Answer

I was reluctant to do the NCT course because of the price but so many people recommended it and as I didn’t have any friends with babies I needed mummy friends!
It’s the best decision we made, the info was great especially the breastfeeding session and it doesn’t stop when the course stops - they are there after for advice and support.
I’ve got a nice group of NCT mummy friends out of it, we meet up regularly for a moan over coffee/walks and we have a whatsapp group that goes off at all hours of the day for advice/ranting! In don’t know what I would do without their support to be honest, I think I’d go insane! 
I have spoken to people who did the NHS one and it’s not been very positive, they all said “you get what you pay for” and the sort of people that went to the free NHS one were not the sort of people they’d choose to mix with after but you never know you might get lucky and get a decent group!

Answer

I have personally chosen to go with just the NHS ones. NCT classes put me off, I’ve heard so many people say they are a waste of money because it’s more opinion based and some of the information is really outdated. I also don’t really need to find mummy friends, but of course if you are alone or would like to make some new friends then it could be a great way to find a support network. 
They just aren’t for me and I’m not massively social so I just dread the thought of being almost ‘forced’ into being friends with people😬

Answer

I did both. NCT info was based on opinion a lot of the time and the lady leading it was useless and badly organised - I found the NHS parent craft classes much much more informative. I’ve made friends with people from both groups but we live in a very nice area so it wasn’t as though we were mixing with “unsavoury” types as another poster put it 😂

Answer

I did NHS but unfortunately it wasnt very practical. We didn't meet other couples either. My friend did NCT and did lots of activities and met a lot of new mum friends!

Answer

We did both.  The content is very similar and you definitely get all you need  information- wise from the NHS one. We did the NCT classes purely for the friendship thing.  We'd heard such amaziing things about these people who become your friends for life and we are very lucky to have had an amazing group of people for support. Two years on and still going strong.

Answer

We did nct. They cover labour and pain relief, basic baby care and a whole half day session on breastfeeding which was really helpful.
The info was good but it’s well worth it for the friends you meet - i imagine all course types are similar for that.’we did ours in August, baby was born 3rd September. We have s WhatsApp group for the mummies and communicate most days, which I’ve found very useful

Answer

I’ve never been to any personally but my network of friends have all said that the classes are helpful simply because of networking. I’m sure the content is pretty similar. 
I’ve booked for something called ‘baby and bump’ which take place really near me so hopefully good for making some friends.

NHS vs NCT course, (or others??)

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