Congratulations!
You are pregnant and looking for an antenatal class or NCT course in Welwyn. There are a host of options you could choose from. From parents recommending NCT, to others saying there is no need to do antenatal classes at all. What do you do?! NCT course Welwyn.
Firstly, antenatal education is so important. I have written a blog about this that you can check out here. Or just trust me that the birth of your baby will have an impact on you for a long, long time and you deserve to be as prepared as you can be. NCT course Welwyn.
Secondly, let us look at the big player, the NCT. It is the company that everyone has heard about. Because it has been around the longest is the one that most grandparents to be will recommend. But is it any better than alternative providers? NCT course Welwyn.
What is an NCT course?
NCT stands for National Childbirth Trust, they are a charity and they run private antenatal courses across the UK. Often when parents to be attend private (i.e. not NHS) antenatal classes they are combined together under the heading NCT classes. But they could have attended any numbers of private antenatal courses. Daisy Foundation classes and workshops are one such private antenatal option. NCT course Welwyn.
Speaking to most clients who attended NCT, they will say that they booked because people suggested attending an NCT course to make friends in the local area. They did not look for alternative providers because they did not know that NCT is a company, not a genre.
Once clients have attended one of our pregnancy or postnatal baby classes they will say that they wished they had researched more. They wish they had discovered Daisy during pregnancy. We provide a friendly environment to make friends, but the class itself is of top quality. Delivering important education to you at a time when you need it.
What is Daisy?
Daisy Birthing is a weekly mum-to-be or birthing person only movement-based class designed to be done throughout pregnancy. We combine elements of pregnancy yoga, hypnobirthing and antenatal education to provide a unique class. Classes focus on how the process of labour works and how you can help move things along, and cope really well at the same time.
Daisy Parent is designed to be done in conjunction with Daisy Birthing but can be done alone as well. This is a 15hr workshop for mum-to-be or birthing person plus birth partner/s and is a comprehensive way to prepare for labour, birth, the postnatal period and the first few months with baby.
Or we have Daisy Active Birth Workshops. Can be done in conjunction with Daisy Birthing but can be done alone as well. This is a 4hr workshop for mum-to-be or birthing person plus birth partner/s and is an effective way to prepare for labour.
Four ways a Daisy class might be the same as an NCT class
1 – Both Daisy and NCT run antenatal classes.
That is classes for pregnant people and their birth partners. The NCT’s flagship offering are their antenatal courses that typically run over 15-18 hours (that time includes lunches and a 2hr postnatal reunion). Daisy’s flagship offering is our 9-hour movement-based Daisy Birthing class, but our Daisy Parent course is most like the NCT course. Daisy Parent runs over 14-15 hours, but every single moment of that is education. While there is more than likely a postnatal reunion and time for breaks within the course, these will come as additional time added free of charge.
2 – All teachers have been trained to the highest standards.
At Daisy we go through a year-long, 500-hour training pathway to enable us to deliver our classes and workshops. With assessments and checks of our teaching standards along the way. We have monthly CPD (continuous professional development) topics, so we are always keeping to date with current guidelines. We are also generally birth and baby geeks, so we’ll be enrolled in all sorts of courses and workshops ourselves to develop our knowledge even further to bring your more information.
3 – To quote the NCT website, we’re innovators, not imitators.
Our Daisy pregnancy and baby programmes have been designed using expertise from clinical hypnotherapists, midwives, health visitors and teachers. Our owner, Mama D (Sian Gilmartin) even won maternity innovator of the year in 2018 – nobody can say we are imitators!
We know our classes and workshops deliver the best education, at the right time. We have delivered to thousands of parents over the years.
4 – Both run “small” groups.
While the NCT limits to 9 couples, we at Daisy generally limit to 6 couples for our Daisy Parent classes and 12 pregnant women and people for our Daisy Birthing classes. From our experience, limiting to 12 people per class (12 individuals or 6 couples) means a truly individual experience. All questions can be answered and there is time for everybody to explore their own views on every subject. Smaller groups do not mean less friendships either, in fact it means the opposite. Because we extend our classes well beyond pregnancy, those who have joined us in pregnancy will be joined by others who have found a Daisy class after their babies have been born. And so naturally your community extends.
Five ways Daisy and NCT are different
1 – All admin contact, classes, workshops, meet ups and support is given directly by the Daisy teacher.
You can book online directly, we do not hide our prices. But we’re available to chat before booking if you’d like to. We do not have separate meet ups hosted by volunteers either. We give our time and energy to supporting our community 100%, and that means hosting free meet up ourselves too. You will be greeted and looked after by me in every class or meet-up you attend. That is amazing if I am your type of person, perhaps not if I rub you up the wrong way! (I try my best to not do that!)
2 – We are self-employed licensees of The Daisy Foundation.
That means we pay to have our own areas and serve the people of that community. It also means we are small players, with little to no marketing budget. We work so hard to get word of mouth recommendations. It also means that we are not necessarily a household name where parents and even grandparents know the name. It does not mean we are not delivering a first-class experience. But it does mean that we rely on every single person that has ever attended a class or a workshop. We need you to sing it loud and proud that they have come to a Daisy class.
3 – Our group education is standardised, our individual support is not
Because we are part of a licenced model, we are trained in not only general perinatal (antenatal and postnatal) education, but we’re also trained to deliver the same high-quality classes and workshops. This means that your education will be the same as someone on the other side of the country. You will get evidence based and truly unbiased education so you can make your own parental choices. You will not get education that your specific teacher deems relevant (although you will get added extras because we like to give everyone as much education as possible!).
Plus, we know that there are vital topics that need to be covered that you might not have any idea about. We do not leave the course planning up to you to choose the content. Any questions are always welcomed, they will either be answered in class or individually depending on the support you need.
4 – We offer a range of pregnancy classes.
From our movement-based Daisy Birthing pregnancy yoga and hypnobirthing inspired weekly classes, our 4-hour active birth workshop to our fully comprehensive Daisy Parent course. There is something for everyone as they prepare for birth, no matter what number child it is. Everything is available by every teacher as well, so your teacher will get to know you, and you will get to feel comfortable with them.
5 – We’re not just for late pregnancy and preparing for baby. Postnatally we are here too.
You can start our classes from 14 weeks pregnant and continue until your baby is 18 months old. Our Daisy Baby classes are perhaps even more sociable than the pregnancy classes, because those connections are even more important when you have a new baby.
If you are looking for your nearest teacher then click here.