Brixton/Camberwell/D ulwich EDD Feb 2013!

[magkath]

Hello,

I'm new to the area and due 28th Feb. I'd like to get in touch with other mums to be, mainly because I really need some support chain to gain some info on what's available.

We're registered with KCH and planning a home birth.

I'm not very keen on NCT classes (having read several reviews), especially that I was my friend's birthing partner 3 years ago and have already read and watched everything there is.

I'm also good with my own pain management (crippling period pains teach you a lot on that I believe).

I'd like a class that would focus on a role of a partner in childbirth and early days and breastfeeding. Mainly so that my husband can learn what it really is about as, unlike me, he hasn't been around newborns much.

Can anybody recommend something in the area, that does not break the bank?

[sillywoman]

Umm, ok, well Kings do a brilliant breastfeeding class so it might be worth getting him along to that. Otherwise I don't know of any classes that are specific to the role of a partner in labour/birth and early parenting? Maybe hypnobirthing for the labour & birth bit?

And of course you should join the Forum spring babies club as an excellent way to meet people.

[magkath]

Thank you, I'm currently trying to get through the posts there, quite a lengthy process :)

[esme]

I did the classes at King's and tho it was a drag getting there after work (pre mat leave) they were really well run and informative... plus I made around 4 friends after we had all popped :)

This is a fab area for families so you will find you make friends easily - I made one of my best mummy friends in the doctor's waiting room and others as I say at King's.

Once you have your baby you will find various parent & toddler groups, events etc. on this site and others.

P.S. I kind of wish I had done NCT classes too as I do think they are a great way of meeting people and also a great organisation generally for childbirth and support.

[oimissus]

NCt classes aren't just about the birth, my classes (run by Becky Byrne in Nunhead) covered home and hospital birth, breastfeeding and the first few days after the birth - but, almost as importantly, they are a great way of meeting people - 3 years in I'm still in regular touch with 4 mums from my class. And I think the dads found them especially helpful.

(Also, without wishing to lessen your period pains - labour pain is in a whole class of its own! Have you thought of doing pregnancy yoga - that's a good way to learn to mamage the pain - I found what I had done in my class so helpful when it came to pushing!)

[lucyA1308]

I was against NCT classes - mainly because of (for me) the prohibitive cost, but also like you, I felt confident about managing my levels of pain, and also I was in a situation where I had to return fairly to work fairly quickly. I felt vey envious of other mums who were going to be on lovely long maternity leave, and enjoying all of that side of thig, and so I didn't join.

I sort of whished that had done though, as so many people have kept in contact with their own NCT friends, and the kids all grow up together with a nice strong bond. I have heard stories of NCT parents swapping babysitting days and lots of other nice supportive things.

I might have quite enjoyed it had my own circumstances been different.

[mrs f]

You can go to private midwife led classes

[Carbonara]

Our little group of one mother and 2 birth partners attended the NCT classes together. It was a really good focus for the independent discussions we had afterwards, and enabled us all to talk freely about supporting someone in labour. We talked (in the classes) about new roles after the baby was born, what it was like for women on maternity leave, fathers or second motheres coming home to mess and an exhausted frazzled partner, about feeding, sleep, coping with a crying baby, our secret fears. The fathers learned a lot form each other and from being part of the classes. And we all made lasting friendships. The classes in the evenings have more fathers than the daytime classes.

We did go to the midwife led classes, but there were only 3, so we didn't develop the real social bond.