Hi everyone,

Just to let you know that there's another antenatal course option in the area... Bump and Baby Club.

Our popular antenatal classes take place in Clapham Old Town. We are very proud to include baby first aid as part of the package, as well as some fun touches - an afternoon tea for the girls, some beers or a lunch for the boys (during the second part of the breastfeeding session), and a reunion once all the babies have arrived.

Our experts are engaging, unbiased and very lovely! And they're available on email for support during your first few months with your new baby.

Our groups continue to meet up regularly after the course is over and many people become great friends. It's not uncommon for the dads to form their own WhatsApp groups too!

For more info... www.bumpandbabyclub.com

Yes! I found the classes themselves a little boring (you just go through the motions, maybe picking up one or two tricks) but it is the friendship and support you are really buying into. We had 8 couples in ours, the babies are now coming up to 3 years old and we are still going strong as a group! Meet ups vary between dinner/drinks for the mums to playdates on weekends. Sometimes it's every couple of weeks and sometimes maybe not for 2 months. But everyone is there on the end of an email whenever you need support. I would thoroughly recommend signing up. The first year is especially fun when you're all off work together

HI
We would definitely recommend that you do an antenatal course- not only to learn about your pregnancy, birth and new baby, but also to help make a network of new friends in your area!
NCT are not the only providers of antenatal classes.
We run The Doctor and Daughter's Guide to Pregnancy and offer antenatal classes in the Balham area!
Our classes are taught by a top London Obstetrician (NCT courses are taught by a lay person with NCT training) and we have some amazing Lactation Consultants taking our dedicated breastfeeding sessions (you do not always get this with the NCT)!
If you would like any more information feel free to send us an email
info@doctoranddaughter.co.uk
Good Luck with your pregnancy

I'm overdue and bored of waiting for this baby to arrive! And just thought I would come back on here now I've got a bit more time to say thank you to everyone who replied to my question. In the end I did both NCT and Match up Mums and thought they were great! Match up Mums especially as it was really good value and we have a lot in common. It has been so great to meet up with people while I wait and know that there are people to meet when the baby is born.

Lulubabies runs courses in Wandsworth now so you can meet mums in local area

If you're with Thurleigh Road practice by any chance, they do a parenting course for parents with newborns (1-3 months ish) which runs once a week for 6 weeks. I haven't done it myself (planning to next time) but have a friend who made some good friends through doing the course - and it's free and probably more useful!

I definitely think it's useful to have a group of mums with similar age babies who you can meet with and not worry about boring them with talk of poo and feeds etc as they will be going through the same... But i can't help but feel there must be a better value way to do this than NCT classes - since most people agree the course itself isn't that useful.

Definitely join NCT. Even if you think that you don't have much in common with the other girls to begin with, everyone naturally becomes really good friends. It's lovely to have people in the immediate area to connect with, get support from and send 3am What'sApp message to after baby is born. Take the course itself with a grain of salt - it's pretty "natural" focused, so it isn't everyones' cup of tea.

My neighbor regretted doing Lulubabies - although she loved the course content - because it was with mums in Fulham, Chelsea, South Ken, which is just too far to keep in regular touch with.

I know several people who didn't love the NCT course itself but loved the friends they made after.

Yes - i agree with previous posters - i did NCT and it was great - for friendships only really - i didn't find the course particularly useful. I've heard about Match Up Mums - a new service which is like NCT but focuses on the friendship side of things rather than the course (which you could do at the hospital).

Hope that helps!

I'd definitely recommend NCT too. It is pot luck what sort of group you have and whether there are any kindred spirits but if there are then it's really worth it. I made wonderful friends. The content, as others have said, is nothing you couldn't read in a book BUT I do think it helps to get the dads in the zone. If possible, try and meet as a group to get to know each other a bit before you all have your babies as it can be a couple of weeks or so before you feel like it afterwards, and the births are inevitably staggered over a few weeks as well. It is expensive but I wouldn't hesitate. Ideally do the one spread over a few weeks, not the weekender course - not enough time to bond. Good luck!

I would recommend NCT too. I wanted to meet other mums in the area & found it to be the best option. I also did a hypnobirthing course & prenatal yoga (not specifically to meet mums) & haven't really had that much contact with those mums.

Agreed that the course itself presented childbirth/breastfeeding differently to my experiences & it is expensive. However I found it invaluable as a first time mum to chat on what's app & know that I'm not crazy & what's happening is normal! We met up a few times before our babies were born which I think really helped & now 7 months later we meet weekly & sometimes more.

I did it with my first and it was ok. What I also did with my first was an NCT early days course which was amazing and so much more useful. It was every week for 6 weeks from when they're around 4 weeks old. It was great to chat about everything that was going well (or not so well!), have a moan, a cup of tea and some practical advice from the NCT person.

I don't know if they still do these courses but if they do I would highly recommend that over the antenatal course.

I would definitely recommend NCT, although it's not everyone's thing, I did find it useful. Although my group wasn't particularly successful, I have friends who swear by theirs.

However, had match up mums been around when I had my two, I would have joined that, because I like the fact it matches you based on interests, rather than just due dates... I've already heard some great things about it.

So I would say if you were in it more for the friendship side, rather than anything birth related, give Match Up Mums ago-especially as they have some really good offers on memberships at the moment-in fact the Bronze level is currently free!

Good luck.

I would definitely recommend doing it. Whilst the content isn't anything you can't read in a book / find online, it's nice to have some dedicated time to think about it all and have the chance to ask questions. But I would definitely agree that the main advantage of the course is the social aspect. Yes it's not cheap and my husband and I regularly joke that we effectively "bought" ourselves a great new set of friends, but it was definitely money well spent in our case as we had a fantastic group. 2.5 years on, we are all still in touch and some of us have been on holiday together etc. I think often the key to groups staying in touch over the long term is the Dads getting along well and socialising on their own (without the mummies) a bit, so maybe chat to your other half to see if its something he fancies doing. I think the Dads benefit from the moral support just as much as the Mums do!

Yes ! I've done it twice (large age gap between children, so second was a refresher course) and both times we were so fortunate in the lovely group of parents we met. The Dads are now friends, Mums definitely so, and families moving away from London and living abroad hasn't dampened our fun - more places to go and visit with the excuse of getting the kids together.

I'm so pleased we did it, mainly though because I had a difficult time after my second was born a little poorly and these ladies were my absolute rocks - more so than some family and longer-standing friends. Worth their weight in gold for me.

I did the NCT classes quite a while ago and although my children are now into double figures we are all still in touch and have reunions even though half the group no longer live in London. In the early days my NCT friends were the ones who got me through the difficult times as they were going through excatly the same things at the same time - mastitis, sleepless nights etc. Not sure I could have done it without them!