NCT Antenatal course for babies due in mid-June to July

The course is for you and your birth partner - whether that's your partner, friend or relative. You're also welcome to join on your own.

Course outline

We’ve distilled all the magic of our traditional courses into a live, online antenatal course. You can expect this course to be practical, hands-on and friendly.

You’ll focus on all aspects of labour, birth, and early parenthood, helping you navigate the wealth of information out there and make the right choices for you. Our content caters to both your emotional wellbeing, and the practical side of things, from nappy changing, washing, swaddling, crying and safe sleeping.

This course also includes a breastfeeding session. Much of your breastfeeding session will focus on understanding what your baby needs and how they communicate, so even if you’re undecided about how you’ll feed your baby, you’ll still benefit. Partners are especially welcome to this section, as their support can make a big difference to how well feeding goes.

We completely understand that these are uncertain times, and you may well have lots of questions and concerns. We’re here to support you, now more than ever, so we’re including a minimum of four extra hours of support time with your course leader. Highly-trained and up to date with the latest information, your course leader will be able to support you at a time when other health services are stretched.

The courses will be just as social and fun as ever, with all the content you’d find on one of our in-person courses, tailored to your group. They will still be face-to-face, but rather than being in-person, they’ll take place in the comfort of your own home over Zoom.

We’ll be using group activities and facilitating fun discussions. You’ll get to know the other parents on your course and make friends for life. We’ll also set you all up with a WhatsApp or a Facebook group, so you can chat together and set up future play dates.

Everyone else on your course will live locally to you, and have due dates around the same time. So you’ll have a ready-made network when it matters most, and friends for many years to come.

What you'll learn

This course has the advantage of being personalised to the needs of the group. This means that the content can vary slightly, so this is a guide to the wide-range of topics you’ll cover:

Labour and birth

• Final stages of pregnancy
• Early signs of labour and coping at home
• Calling the midwife/going to the maternity unit
• Birth options and medical procedures
• Coping with labour: breathing and pain relief options
• Birth partner’s role

Becoming a parent

• Communicating with your baby
• Parenting styles
• Your emotional health
• Supporting your relationship
• Friends and families

Caring for your baby

• Crying, calming and soothing
• Safe sleeping
• Feeding options
• Feeding techniques
• Feeding patterns
• When to get outside advice

Frequently asked questions

Key features

Getting social

Making networks of local parents is at the heart of what we do, so we’ll be ensuring our online courses are as social and friendly as ever. We have smaller group sizes than our competitors. So, with up to nine couples, our courses are designed to give everyone the time to get to know each other.

Our course leaders will get you working in pairs, and chatting together as a group, so you’ll get to know the other parents on your course and make friends for life. We’ll also set you all up with a WhatsApp and Facebook group, so you can chat together and set up future play dates. And as ever, we’ll be organising a reunion session for you all, after your babies are born.

Expert course leaders

Our experts lead the way in birth support and parenting information. All of them are highly-qualified and are trained by NCT, in a partnership with the University of Worcester.

Evidence-based support

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the mountain of advice for parents. We won’t tell you what to do, but we will tell you what your options are, and what the evidence is. Then you can decide what to trust.

Frequently asked questions

NCT Membership

Become an NCT member and start saving now. We have all sorts of amazing brands on board including maternity clothing and baby brand Jojo Maman Bebe, or you could treat yourself to a discount on Foyle’s books, delivered to your door. You’ll receive information about local events and join a community of new parents all experiencing pregnancy, birth and early parenthood together.