Antenatal classes being stopped

[Gina73]

Not sure if anyone else has heard anything about this or whether is it old news, but was advised by our nurse at work who is also a midwife. She told me the other day that they are going to stop doing antenatal classes and that if anyone wants to do them they will have to do the private NCT classes.

I personally found the antenatal classes that I attended a big help to me when I was pregnant with Mia, being my first child it was the unknown. I also made some good friends who I still see on a regular basis.

[lea-marie]

Yes, I saw this the other day on the news...

I also found the ante-natal classes to be a help, and also a good way of allowing the father to get involved too (if he wants to).


It will be very sad if they stop the classes

[Jenn]

OMG! That's ridiculous. My NHS antenatal class was full - about 30 of us and I wouldn't have known most of the stuff without it. I mean yes a few bits were silly but I reckon I would have needed to call the midwife out before the birth and the HVa lot more after the birth if I hadn't attended the antenatal class. Surely having more home visits from these people would end up costing more thanan antenatal class?

The NCT course was far too expensive and run over a weekend or in evening sessions, both of which I was unable to attend or afford.

This is silly if it goes ahead! I was really looking forward to going back and attending them again next time as I missed some of them before because William arrived early also the info was so valuable! I felt a lot more prepared about the birth, drugs available, feeding, clothing, sleeping well everything!

This is silly!

[Schmushe]

I never got chance to do them with either of mine, but I know lots of people who have and they found them invaluable, not only for the help during pregnancy, but alot of people have made new friends both during pregnancy and after the birth and they have stayed friends even now as the children are growing up!!

[rachel jane]

I went to antenatal classes with connie and made 4 of my best friends who i see pactically everyday and then we all went on to have our 2nd children not long apart so i never went with Ted. I'm not sure when this is coming into effect because when i went to see my midwife a few weeks ago she booked me in for my antenatal classes with this one i will be going on wednesdays 10-12. Maybe its certain areas i will ask a few midwives because i haven't heard anything like this and it will be really sad if that happens!

[XxJack~AcexX]

Ahh what a shame if they do stop these. When i was pregnant with Jack, as Gina said, i too found these helpfull being my first pregnancy. Dom also got involved too which was nice. x

[sheeina]

this has shocked me.

i found those classes great. i got looks of info and i was a lot calmer after speak with the midwifes and learning facts rather then horror storys from your mates. lol

it will be a great shame if this is the case. and i think it will led to a lot of uneducated people trying to have babies without a clue of what they are doing.

[BrandonsMum08]

I think these have already stopped in Havering. I was only given the option of the NCT ones when i was pregnant with Brandon and there was only 1 available before i was due to have him, which we were unable to attend. I asked my midwife to briefly go through my birth plan with me and the response i was given was "we cant do that, you are only allocated a 10minute slot so there isnt time. you have to go to the classes". Maybe if i had gone to any i would have been a bit of firm with what i wanted in hospital rather than feel like i had to do what they said. Also, i was lucky my waters broke first which told me it was 'time', if they hadnt i think i may have been up the hospital every half hour if the start of Rubys labour was anything to go by!

With Ruby i wasnt even offered the NCT option, however i had a different group of midwives this time round who spent as much time as needed with you at each appointment. Because i had been through it before, i pretty much knew what to expect and what to do, but having a homebirth was new to me but once all the problems with that were out the way, they really did help me and told me what to expect, although i wasnt expecting the start of contractions to be ongoing for 3 weeks lol.
I also had plenty of home visits from the midwife after she was born, and would have had more if she was my first. The health visitor has also done a number of home visits too and has given me her number so that if i need to see her for any reason but its inconvenient for me to get down to my clinic, she said to call her and she will do a home visit. (my clinic is totally impractical for those with a baby and toddler, or active children).

[weezypops]

This is such a shame. I didn't have antenatal classes here with Felix as he was born in Chicago but we did some over there and they were invaluable. It seems a lot of women make good friends at them so I felt we missed out on something there.

The ones we went to really eased my mind about a lot of the fears I had about labour and about dealing with a new baby. It seems odd that people are always talking about how new parents should be made to go to classes, yet here is somethign that is truly educational and useful for new parents, yet is at risk of being lost.

[janew]

I think these things come and go. There was nothing offered when I had my second baby, 10 years ago, although had great classes 2.5 years earlier.

There are other independent classes, other than NCT, for instance Happy Birth Days in Leigh.