£214 for antenatal class...eek! 2 August 2013 at 9:50PM in MoneySaving mums 41 replies 4K views

Miss_Ratty

Hi All,

I just wondered if this seemed reasonable? To be honest, I really thought that the hospital or local authority ran them, and didn't expect them to cost this much, I'll be honest! It is for an 18.5 hour course...with the NCT.

What are your experiences with this type of thing! Is it worth it? I'm a first timer and would like to go, but it costs a lot more than I thought it would! X

shortdog

The NCT antenatal courses are excellent, well worth the cost. They are very pro-breastfeeding, and push for natural birth, so if that's not your thing, either think twice or keep quiet during the class!
Your local NHS should offer antenatal classes too, ours are 6 hours over 3 weeks, but they are nowhere near as comprehensive as the NCT ones.
If you are on certain benefits, the NCT will lower the cost - I think it becomes about £50 then, but I could be wrong. Might be worth looking into though.

GwylimT

We did them, but as my wife had to have a cesarean we only attended classes on breast feeding and we were allowed to pay a reduced rate to do this, at ours the breast feeding sessions were attended by people from the LLL and demonstrated lots of different things, they were local and left their information so if you wanted extra breast feeding support from them they would come to your home.

peachyprice

It depends on your area, I would suggest actually meeting the NCT group before parting with any money, some are very militant, very anti-formula feeding, very anti-pain relief and altogether not very nice if you express differing views. Others are perfectly nice ladies.

Classes should also be available through your hospital for free.

System

How did people manage to produce young before the invention of ante-natal classes.

How were mothers-to-be scammed before they thought of charging £200 to teach what comes naturally to the rest of the animal kingdom?

jacques_chirac

NCT classes are marmite, great if you subscribe to their point of view, a pretty scary experience if you do not. There was an anaesthetist in the group I attended - it was quite nice to have someone to present a more round viewpoint to the group

hawk30

The best thing about my NCT group was the friends I made - it's been great having the support of others. Followed closely by the fact it explained everything that could happen during labour, which meant nothing came as a surprise, even when things didn't go to plan (e.g our group covered natural labour, induction, c sections, pain relief, etc). Nothing militant went on in our group.

OP, check whether the fee includes membership of the NCT. You don't have to be a member, but they automatically include it and you can ask for It to be removed.

I also did the NHS class offered in our area (half a day) and although the more medical view was useful, the NCT classes were more useful.

chunkychocky

!!!!!! wrote: »

How did people manage to produce young before the invention of ante-natal classes.

How were mothers-to-be scammed before they thought of charging £200 to teach what comes naturally to the rest of the animal kingdom?

As in many mammal groups, humans evolved for the mother to have help from the other more experienced women in the group, receiving expert knowledge and guidance from grandparents and aunts. This generally doesn't happen in modern society.

lowlitmemory

NCT classes were £300 in my area :eek: I decided not to do them, and did the free NHS ones instead. This was more than adequate and to be honest I learned more from chatting to other mums on baby forums, and doing my own reading and research. It was helpful for my husband, but there's no way he'd have been able to attend all the NCT ones anyway.

I see the classes mostly as a way of finding friends before the birth, which is fine, but I don't make friends easily so didn't want to spend £300 on that. After baby was born I did a postnatal yoga course which was much cheaper, got me doing some light exercise, and I got to meet some mums too. Plus there are always groups on at the local SureStart centres/1'o'clock clubs.

peachyprice

chunkychocky wrote: »

As in many mammal groups, humans evolved for the mother to have help from the other more experienced women in the group, receiving expert knowledge and guidance from grandparents and aunts. This generally doesn't happen in modern society.

I really don't get where people get the idea that in 'modern society' communications within families has broken down. There's this picture being painted that suddenly daughters no longer listen to their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, mothers in law, which just isn't so. It's still the default situation, it's still how it is for the majority of women living in their own country.

The only difference is that women nowadays don't feel compelled to do as their elders say and aren't frightened to speak up for themselves.

Miss_Ratty

Gosh, thanks so much for your views on this. To be honest, I do think it is quite a lot of money that I would prefer to spend on little one, but as its my first time I wasn't sure if it was the done thing. I think i'll look into the NHS ones (even though bizarrely the NHS website only really mentions the NCT course in our area!).

I'll speak to hubby as well, but I can imagine his jaw will hit the floor when I tell him how much it is! Thanks so much for your views on this, it's much appreciated.