Happy Parents. Happy Baby. Antenatal Classes Reviews 

When it comes to the birth experience, there’s so much emphasis on how lovely it’ll be, just breathing and helping your oxytocin kick in. They make it seem like the easiest thing in the world. And woke nonsense like ‘abdominal birth’ instead of caesarean is really focusing on the wrong things.

The reality is we needed an emergency section after a long and gruelling labour, which has been incredibly traumatic for both parents. The course fails to prepare for you for the fact this is a hugely impactful major surgery, and will mean a lot of stress placed on the partner and wider support system.

You need to look at your curriculum and spend less time charging £250 to tell everyone it’ll be fine, when in fact it really might not.

HPHB was a brilliant experience for my partner and I, and we would definitely recommend to any first time parents. The online resources are very informative and easy to follow. The in person meetings were not only extremely informative, but also a great chance to meet other parents to be, as well as a chance to do some practical tasks. Sophie, who led our sessions, was fantastic - amazingly knowledgeable and a great presenter.

As a result of the course and the resources we now have, we definitely feel a lot more confident as we approach parenthood!

Our sessions were really well structured and Sophie who held our classes seemed really knowledgeable. I believe the group we had also made the experience great as everyone was engaged and wanted to get the most out of the classes

The course felt overpriced for what it offered. It wasn’t clear who the target audience was—whether it was aimed at basic information or those looking for more in-depth information. Although the midwife was friendly and approachable, the content felt rushed, sometimes sessions ended a bit earlier and I personally gained more from reading a book. Others in my group shared similar views.
Some important topics, such as tummy time and what to expect in the first few days after birth, were not covered. There was also limited opportunity to socialise with others, as most of the time was spent working with your own partner or in pairs, which restricted interaction with the other birthing partners which was important to me.
Given the cost, I expected a higher standard of content, but at times it felt quite basic—more like GCSE-level childcare. Activities such as mixing milk could have been replaced with more advanced or practical information. I had specifically chosen this course for its hypnobirthing component, but that aspect was quite limited as well as it lacked depth.
Our midwife didn’t come to our social which isn’t a big deal but the social wasn’t even booked out in the pub so meant our group had to divide into two which was a shame. I don’t think you can really include a “social” within the course as you don’t even get a free drink! It would have been nice for there to be more hospitality within the course.
The online Thursday sessions were the most valuable part of the course. Overall, I feel that much of the same information could be accessed through free NHS classes. The strong reviews and awards initially persuaded me to book, but I do wonder whether there is a lack of more balanced feedback, as it seems likely others may have had a similar experience.

My opinion is that this is a lot of money for what you get. There are four learning sessions working out at £50 per couple including the accompanying online content. For this I would have expected to at least be provided with some tea/coffee and biscuits or even snacks at the in person sessions but we were only provided with water. Considering there were 14 couples that's a lot of money made per session (£700) so a little more thought should be put into the hospitality. The sessions had great information, our midwife was lovely, but were a rush so there was little time to really get to know the other couples. Our first session also started over 30 mins late due to technical difficulties so the session was reduced to 1.5 hours. The session were held in a hotel conference room that was an awkward shape and felt too corporate compared to these lovely spaces advertised.
I felt that the sessions were so rushed that there wasn't actually much time to practice during the practical parts. Some things were missing at our venue too like the ability to make up milk powder. We were also given a large doll with a tiny nappy that didn't actually fit to practice with.

The online content is pack with info so good to look back on but not great for visual learners, it is mostly someone stood in a black t-shirt with a white background talking at you with very little demonstration or images to support the content. This needs to be improved as it is not the most engaging however there are some good resources included.

As for the social...well basically they just book you a table at a venue. No snacks or even a free drink and no information about what to expect provided beforehand. The social therefore can't really be included as part of the package.

I dont regret the course and found the social to be the occasion where we actually got to know the other couples but I wouldn't sing the praises of this course based on what was mentioned above. I look forward to the reunion to see everyone again but not sure what to expect from HPHB.

(March - Derby)

The course was a great opportunity to learn about newborn essentials and to bond with other parents in the area. Our instructor Siobhan was so friendly and explained everything in detail and made sure no one is missing out, we are grateful to her.

We were part of the Chapel Allerton December class and it was absolutely brilliant — we’d highly recommend it to any parents-to-be!

Our course was led by Anna, and she deserves a huge shoutout because she was incredible. As a practising midwife, she gave really knowledgeable and practical information across all the topics we covered. She was super approachable and encouraged questions at any time, which made us feel genuinely confident going into childbirth.

Honestly, I can’t imagine going to hospital when labour started without everything we learned. The hypnobirthing techniques and breathing through contractions helped so much, as did understanding the different pain relief options — when they’re offered, how they work, and possible side effects.

Having all that knowledge made us feel far more relaxed, especially knowing how things might unfold if plan A didn’t go to plan (which it didn’t — and that was okay!).

Alongside learning from Anna, one of the best parts was meeting the other couples. We still have an active WhatsApp group where we share advice and tips, and it’s lovely knowing we’ll all be meeting up with our babies soon. Being connected to people going through the same experience has been really special.

All in all, we wholeheartedly recommend Happy Parents Happy Baby. Thank you again to Anna and the team for such a fantastic course :)

We had three different facilitators across our 4 sessions. One of the facilitators was awesome. One was good. One of them (who we had twice) was really quite poor and didn’t seem to know what she was talking about.

They cancelled our reunion with one days notice, apparently because they forgot to book the venue. Very disappointed by this as that’s a key part of the package sold.

Great to meet other soon-to-be parents but you get that at any antenatal class!

Fantastic advice and there for any questions, the sessions were run really smoothly by Lauren!

Our course was led by Lauren. She was very friendly and approachable, but most importantly she was very knowledgeable and happy to answer all our questions. We also found the videos on the platform extremely useful and informative as well as the Thursdays’ Q&A sessions.
As first time parents we’re still nervous about the task lying ahead, but infinitely better prepared now having completed the course. Thank you Lauren!

Great class and resource BUT classes too big meaning our mum group were a little shy in communicating in the group (we had 14 couples in our group).

We really enjoyed our classes. There was lots of information and it really helped that the courses were run by a midwife so the hints/tips and advice were from experience. I really believe the course gave me the confidence to advocate for myself when needed. We really liked the remote sessions as well as a lot of the content being available to access for months afterwards

We really enjoyed the classes and we learned a lot. Thank you to Sarah for running the great classes!

Lauren taught our course and we found her extremely supportive, knowledgable and willing to help. She broke everything down easily for us, and we both feel that we learnt a lot over the four sessions and feel way more prepared for our first baby now. She was always willing to put in extra time to support couples with specific questions outside of the course content, supporting with birth plans etc, and she made the course fun and interesting.
The course was also a great way to meet other local first time parents and we were really happy with everything overall!

Top quality antenatal classes. The teaching was so clear and expert. It was really easy to follow and remember, and the supporting materials give you great on demand support. It’s managed in a very social way so we really got to know the other parents. The variety of experts available to answer all our questions was amazing. I felt really confident completing the course.

Having done NCT with our first child five years ago we needed a refresher so went with HPHB. We found the course to be much more realistic in terms of managing expectations of the birth and it was so helpful to talk to a real health professional each week. The social side is so great as well, it’s already evident that we’ll end up with some good friends from the course. Highly recommend!

Just finished our 4 week course (Epping) and found it so useful! Lauren was so informative and made us feel like no question was too silly or too obvious. She formed relationships with us all and showed genuine interest in how we were doing. The online videos on the portal are so useful as well. Feel much better equipped for the arrival of our baby. Will defo recommend to people!

The course was super informative without being preaching about how you MUST do things. They are very careful to cover all eventualities and preferences without judgment and rather with a focus on safety and information. The course leader was very approachable and engaging and again was judgement free when we maybe had some "silly" questions.

Abbie, our host, was absolutely amazing. She was so informed and put everyone at ease! The course itself is so informative and really covers all the things you need to know. The expert calls on Thursdays are also really useful and give you more of an insight. The course is really set up to build relationships with others in your antenatal class and I know we will have friends for life from this!

Really well thought out classes and delivered with care and attention to detail