NHS or Private antenatal classes?

Question

Anyone else in the UK who are considering their antenatal classes now? 
I don’t know whether to just stick with the two classes offered for free on the NHS and one of their breastfeeding workshops or to pay privately for a longer 6 session group class?
Has anyone done either of these? Or combined some with their own research such as a book or dvd?
Is two sessions really going to be enough if I want to be really informed?
The private classes I’m looking at are with the NCT.
Thanks for any opinions!

Answer

I’ve been struggling with this. I just don’t think we can justify the cost of a longer course though, I’m going to look into online courses we can watch at home.

Answer

I think it really depends on a few factors:
- have you double checked that there will definitely be two antenatal sessions in your area on the nhs? I know this is what the internet says we get but some areas offer more, some offer less and some areas don’t offer anything at all.
- how much experience do you have with other children? If this is your first baby and there’s not many babies in your family and you don’t feel very confident then an NCT class may be best
- people often report that NCT classes help you find new mums in your area so you will make friends too, if this is something that appeals to you
- can you afford the NCT class? They can be a bit pricey. 
It completely depends on what feels best for you though, Good luck! Xx

Answer

Hey, I’ve done both actually. I had signed up to the NCT classes as just moved to a new area and know very few people, and always heard great things about meeting Mums at the groups as well as them being so informative. Me and my husband have very little experience with babies so we feel it’s definitely worth it. 
I’ve had 2 of the nhs ones as they have been good too but I don’t think you can compare them to the amount of info you get at NCT. It is a big coat for NCT so if it’s out of your budget then the nhs ones are obviously great too, I just feel it’s really worth it if you can afford it 😀

Answer

I did NHS hypnobirthing course, was amazing. 4 weeks long and only cost £50 for resources (books and downloads) they covered all labour info and is run by midwives so was very informative.

Answer

I had an NHS breastfeeding class when I was around 37 weeks. It was brilliant, staff were fantastic and it was so helpful for me. Haven’t tried anything else but would highly recommend the NHS breastfeeding classes.

Answer

My husband and I did the shorter (and slightly cheaper) NCT Essentials course as the longer one wasn’t available in our area. I was reluctant because I wanted to do a hypnobirthing course but my husband was very keen so I signed up to make him happy and I’m so glad that I did. Honestly, although it was expensive, it was money very well spent. It was really useful and informative. In my case I ended up being induced three times over the course of a week with both the pessary and balloon before having my waters broken,
the hormone drip and eventually an emergency caesarean. Thanks to the course I felt like I had enough knowledge about what was going on to stay (mostly) calm and in control. 
We were also fortunate enough to have a really lovely group of people and that’s been great for my sanity! We have a mums WhatsApp group and the dads have one as well and we’re in touch most days - although I have friends with young children there’s something particularly reassuring about being able to talk to people who are going through the same things at the same time, to let off steam when it’s a bad day and be able to support the others in turn. We’ve also met up for coffee and done a few things with our little ones which has been great for me as I would be too nervous to go to things with my baby by myself! The oldest baby in our group is only about four months old, and the youngest is four weeks, so I’m not saying these will necessarily be lifelong friendships but I’m so incredibly grateful for them now. 
 
Tl;dr it was well worth the money for the support network that it’s provided. If you can stretch to it, definitely do it.

Answer

Hi ladies,
I'm a FTM and don't have much experience with babies tbh. I've booked in to the NHS antenatal classes.
I'm just wondering what are essential topics that we should know about. I know labour and breastfeeding are of course important.
TIA

Answer

I didn’t do any antenatal classes as they were fully booked when I tried to book on. I had a natural, calm assisted birth with only gas and air and breastfed immediately and have done for 4 months now with no issues. So I hindsight I’m glad I didn’t book onto expensive classes but it’s each to their own. I knew my body would take over and it did

Answer

Thanks everyone for your comments!
We decided on the NCT essentials in the end and I’m going to book onto the NHS breastfeeding class in addition to this. 
Whilst I really want to be informed we just felt like the NCT signature would be a bit too much with us both working full time, it was 2 evenings and a Saturday morning each week!
The essentials is only one evening a week which works better for us.
Whilst it would be nice to meet people we would like to stay in touch with, it was never the main reason for us wanting to do the classes.
We start on the 20th March if anyone wants any feedback once we’ve started.
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NHS or Private antenatal classes?

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