Becoming a parent can be exciting and challenging. At NCT, we understand the mixed emotions you may be feeling.
That's why our NCT Antenatal course is here to give you practical skills, build your support network, and empower you with knowledge so you’ll feel confident and ready for life with your new baby.
Don't go it alone, join us and take the first step towards a confident and supportive parenting journey.
Grow knowledge, confidence and learn practical skills
With our 17-hour, comprehensive antenatal course experience
Meet other expectant parents
Build a support network and lifelong friendships
Smaller group sizes
More time to connect, ask questions and get to know each other
Independent, unbiased information
Delivered by our university-trained, friendly and caring course leaders
The antenatal course for all parents
Welcoming and supportive regardless of ethnicity, disability, religion, family status including single and same-sex parents
Flexible payment options
Including interest-free instalments and discounts for low-income households
Let's find your NCT Antenatal course
What you'll learn
An NCT Antenatal course covers a wide range of topics, including what to expect during the labour and birth, how to care for your baby, looking after your wellbeing and where you can go to find support.
Your course leader will guide you through our five overall themes and along the way spend the time addressing any questions or concerns you might have.
- Planning for a positive birth experience
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- Deciding where to have your baby, local options and care
- Changing hormones and going into labour
- Stages of labour & birth
- Induction of labour and when help is needed
- Caesarean birth and recovery
- Helping yourself & supporting through labour and birth
- Pain management options
- Meeting your baby & what happens immediately after birth
- Getting to know and caring for your baby
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- Your baby's experience moving from the womb to the world
- Understanding your baby's cues and how they sleep, wake and rest
- Learning what your baby's nappy tells you and how to change them
- Washing and bathing your baby
- Soothing and calming your baby
- Exploring where your baby sleeps and how to keep them safe
- Your relationship with your baby and how they develop and learn
- Feeding your baby
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- How to get breastfeeding off to a good start
- Understanding your baby's reflexes and cues
- Understanding how breastfeeding works
- Night feeds and sleeping
- Expressing
- How to tell that all is going well
- Different positions for feeding and how to try them
- Different challenges
- Where and how to get support
- Wellbeing before and after birth
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- Knowing what makes you feel good and keeps you well
- Physical and mental health after birth
- Relaxation techniques
- Coping with lack of sleep
- Changing relationships & adjusting to life as a family
- Sources of support for you and your family
- Making plans
- Your family, relationships and finding support
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- Becoming a parent
- Changing relationships
- Growing a support network
- Accessing professional help and support
- Negotiating advice and support from peers, family and friends
What to expect
With mountains of advice out there, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure.
An NCT Antenatal course provides evidenced-based information and sign-posting so you can explore all your options and navigate your own personal journey - whatever birth, feeding or caring decisions you make.
We’ll help build your confidence and know-how so you can make decisions that are right for you and your family.
- Modern, up-to-date information
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Our course content is regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it reflects the latest developments and best practices in the field. We listen to and learn from parents so we can provide the support they need.
We provide ongoing training to our team of over 500 course leaders so their knowledge and skills are always kept up to date.
- Expert, caring & knowledgeable course leaders
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Our course leaders are expert facilitators. They create safe and inclusive environments, so you’ll have a positive and productive group experience.
You’ll find our course leaders to be knowledgeable and approachable, ready to provide you with accurate, up-to-date information and resources.
All our course leaders have a university-accredited qualification in parenting education from the University of Worcester and are licensed to deliver our courses.
- Access to NCT Parent Hub - your digital course companion
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As part of your antenatal course, you'll get access to our NCT Parent Hub, an exclusive digital content platform, where you'll find evidenced-based articles, informative videos and links to useful resources all together in one place to support your learning.
Plus, you'll get access to a limited selection of hand-picked offers for families and babies, only for the NCT community.
Booking your course with NCT
Don't miss out on the most comprehensive antenatal course on the market
All NCT antenatal courses are 17 hours long but the number and length of sessions may vary between courses. Each course includes a postnatal reunion session which will be arranged on a date that suits your group.
Up to two people included in price
Choose to join on your own, with a partner, birth partner, parent or friend – it's up to you.
Flexible session formats
We offer courses with in-person or online sessions (or a mix of both).
Pay in interest-free instalments
Spread the cost with interest-free instalments when you book early.
Discounts available
Households earning less than £35,000 per year, Emergency Services & NHS workers may be eligible for a discount.
- Is this the right course for me?
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We use your expected due date to determine how suitable a course is for you.
Ideally we want the course to end 3-7 weeks before you're due, but that can be expanded to 2-9 weeks. You will see courses marked as ideal, good, ok and not suitable in the results.
Other personal factors you should consider are:
- Preferred format (in-person, online or mixed)
- Venue location (for in-person or mixed format courses)
- Date, times and number of sessions (these vary between courses)
- No courses available when you search?
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Please check that the postcode has been entered correctly. If it is correct, either:
- we haven't scheduled a course in your area, or
- all the courses are fully booked.
When you search and see no results, there's an option to join our waiting list. If we have enough interest in an area we may put on another course.
Alternatively, our booking support team will contact you to discuss alternative options - e.g. an online course.
- What is covered in each session?
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We can't tell you exactly what will be taught in each session because:
- the number and length of sessions can differ between scheduled courses, and
- your course leader will tailor the content to the needs of the group.
We can tell you that all our courses will cover the five overall themes, see What you'll learn.
- Can't make one of your course sessions?
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We encourage you to book a course where you can make all sessions, as we can't move you into a session on a different course.
Depending on circumstances, we can offer you an online replacement session that will cover one of the five core themes. See our terms and conditions for details.
- Need to change or cancel a booking?
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We understand things don’t always go to plan. You can cancel a booking within 14 days of confirmation without charge. There’s also options for changing your booking. Find out more.
- Do you have any accessibility requirements?
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We want to make our courses accessible to all. Please let us know in advance if you have specific accessibility requirements by completing the 'is there anything you would like to share with your course leader?' field when you book your course.
- Pricing, payment types and interest-free instalments
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Find the price of the course when you search.
You can pay using debit or credit card - we accept Visa and Mastercard - or by Direct Debit.
Interest-free instalments are available when there is enough time to have monthly instalments between the booking date and the start of the course - this will be indicated on the course when you search.
- Requesting a discount on the course price
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We offer discounts to households earning less than £35,000 per year, Emergency Services & NHS workers.
Find out more about our course discounts and eligibility.
To request a discount, find the course you want to attend and then get in touch with us via email, web chat or by calling 0300 330 0700 (option 2).
- Want to attend an online-only informational course?
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We regularly hold online courses for people who want to attend an NCT Antenatal course but:
- are located outside of the UK
- are located in areas where courses aren't scheduled, or
- would prefer the information and learning of practical skills over the social side of the course
If you are interested in one of these types of courses, please get in touch with us either through our web chat or email booking.support@nct.org.uk.
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