NCT Early Days (Postnatal) Courses

General course outline

NCT Early Days Postnatal courses are for parents with babies up to 6 months of age. The group will usually meet over several sessions, and unlike most things with a new baby, the courses are parent focused and are there to provide a forum for you to talk about how you are finding early parenthood.  The groups are led by an NCT trained Postnatal Leader, and you will have a chance to discuss various topics such as

•    Expectations and the reality of parenthood
•   Ideas for settling a crying baby 
•   Modern parenthood
•   Changing Relationships
•   Returning to work (or not)

The NCT does not aim to teach you about how to care for your baby. Although trained by the NCT, our Postnatal Leaders are not medically trained and cannot answer medical questions. The Postnatal Leader’s role is to facilitate your group, to enable you to share experiences of birth, parenthood and more in a safe environment. Therefore, you may well find that many of your questions will be answered naturally by other members of the course group.

The aims of this course are:

•   To create a ‘safe’ environment where you can feel comfortable to discuss issues supported by a neutral facilitator
•   To help you meet other new parents, develop a support network and make new friends
•   To encourage the group to share ideas, stories and tips
•   To allow you to discuss issues that you may feel unable to talk about elsewhere
•   To recognise the many ways to approach parenthood
•   To increase your confidence in the parenting decisions that you have made and will make in the future

Who comes to classes?

Early Days courses come in many formats. Some are designed for couples, others for a parent attending on their own, and others specifically for women. We occasionally offer courses for parents with older children; in these instances we will try to organise the course in a location that has a crèche nearby.  NCT courses are open to all types of parents including young parents, women without a partner, same-sex couples and surrogacy couples. Classes are kept intentionally small to allow group discussion.

Session start and finish times

Your booking letter provides you with your course dates and times. If it suits you to arrive earlier, check with your course facilitator about when the venue will be open. If you find you are running late, please do still come when you can - we all know what it's like trying to get out of the house with a baby. Do let your Postnatal Leader know if you cannot make a particular session. It will occasionally happen that most participants are unable to attend, so it may be necessary to postpone a session.

Please be assured that if you are feeding your baby or changing, etc, you will not be asked to leave the moment the session has finished. You are welcome to stay and finish feeding your baby. You are welcome to feed your baby at any time, and there will be facilities available for warming bottles and changing your baby. Refreshments will also be available.

Here is some feedback from parents who have attended Early Days courses in the past:

"I enjoyed meeting people and finding out that everyone has issues/problems and no-one is the perfect mum"

"I really enjoyed sharing experiences and good ideas, and talking through problems."

"I most enjoyed meeting other mums, and sharing information in a relaxed environment"

"The best bit was talking about experiences with other mothers and trying to understand all about motherhood"

Course Dates

To find out about upcoming courses, please call 0844 2436 894, or email bookings5i@nct.org.uk. Please book early as courses fill up very quickly.