Our virtual antenatal classes have been up and running for several weeks now and with nearly 500 sessions under our belt, we’re well into our stride! Our team are really enjoying the new style of teaching and we can’t quite believe how similar it all feels to running the classes in-person. Our greatest priority when moving onto Zoom was to maintain the social element of the sessions and ensure it was a place where friendships are formed – features like the breakout rooms really allows us to do that and we’ve been blown away by the response so far.

One of the awesome things we’ve noticed is how quickly and enthusiastically Bump & Baby Clubbers are embracing their WhatsApp groups at the moment – people are really keen to connect, perhaps now more than ever before, and ensure they have their local mates (and playdate buddies!) lined up for the day the social distancing restrictions are lifted. What a moment it will be when everyone comes together in-person for the first time with their new babies in their arms!

It has been a transformational few weeks at Bump & Baby Club and we’re so proud of our new course and to be able to continue to help expectant parents during these uncertain and challenging times.

Thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to share their feedback – it’s been so lovely to receive your messages and a fantastic boost to our instructors, many of whom are also currently working on the frontline within the NHS. We’ve shared some of your kind messages here…

‘I just wanted to say a big thank you for all that you did to make this time a little less stressful for us. We don’t underestimate the amount of time and thought that went into taking the course online in such a short space of time and we couldn’t have had a better experience and don’t feel like we missed out at at all in not being able to do it in person. Sharon you were absolutely amazing! Both Albert and I have been telling everyone how invaluable the virtual course was to us and you were the perfect combination of informative, empathetic and fun. It didn’t show at all that you were new to zoom and the little touches like the break out areas meant that we really did feel like we met everyone in our class and are looking forward to meeting them in person when social distancing has been lifted. We’re now looking forward to our virtual group tea hampers! Again, a big big thank you to you all and we hope you are all doing as well as can be in all this craziness.’

‘Hello! I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you for our recent antenatal course here in Brighton. But I mainly wanted to commend you on how the Covid-19 situation has been handled. We were only a couple of classes in when the pandemic became as severe as it is now, and the rest of our classes were done virtually, and we are postponing our Gails tea until we can all see each other again. I wasn’t sure how the classes would work virtually, but they were absolutely brilliant. We were kept so informed and supported throughout, and our antenatal teacher- Alexis has just been incredible. I really feel like we haven’t missed out in any way, and felt the whole situation has been managed very professionally and in a very positive way. Our group are all staying in close contact via what’s app, and Alexis has been so fantastic, calming and informative and just lovely! THANK YOU!’

‘Adelle was fantastic and so knowledgeable. She gave us great practical tips and had everyone participating and learning. She really facilitated the group in gaining knowledge but also sensing that we are not going through all this alone (social distancing at the end of our pregnancy). She really brought the group together and I can imagine we will certainly have friends for life.’

‘We had our virtual Infant Feeding class last night with Chris (we’re on the Cambridge February course). Chris was brilliant and we are so grateful to her and you and the team in light of everything that’s going on for getting these up and running so quickly. Our Bump & Baby experience has been so positive – we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone’

‘Afternoon Tami! Will and I just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you for the past 4 weeks. There is no doubt I was a little sceptical about online Bump and Baby but I seriously think that it was amazing! You were incredibly professional, non biased and an excellent course leader. Will and I have both learnt so much but the way you delivered the sessions made that even more so. Despite the fact we weren’t actually together each week, I felt that Zoom allowed us to all listen to one another and hear other attendees ask questions which we maybe wouldn’t have ever thought about. A huge thank you again. I am sure all of us wish you were our midwife when it comes to D-Day!!!’

‘Cathy was fab, we learnt loads and met a lovely new group of friends. Thank you to the Bump & Baby club for giving us such a great experience in these unusual times!’

‘Just wanted to also say thank you so much for the sessions you’ve run. We were a bit skeptical about how they’d work over Zoom but they’ve been fantastic. You’ve totally kept the right balance of information and keeping them interactive. We’ve both really enjoyed them!’

‘Lucy, I just wanted to say an enormous thanks from the both of us! You’re ridiculously good a hosting these sessions – So informative, engaging, smiley and helpful. It was made a lot harder for you with the online only sessions, but you absolutely smashed it and we’ve said about 20 times that we properly lucked out with you leading it.’

‘The class on Thursday with Cathy was so great and surprisingly personal, warm and fun considering the fact that it was virtual. Thanks so much again for dealing with it so well this in those difficult times.’

‘We absolutely loved our first session with Emilie and are so grateful that it could still go ahead.’

‘Virtual Bump and Baby was great. I did some other virtual antenatal stuff but this was the best. Emily was fantastic.’

‘Just emailing to say Anna was great last night on Zoom and we thought she was brilliant throughout the course – very lovely and honest which was a great combination. We’d highly recommend her and the group to any our friends.’

‘Hi there, I just wanted to feedback as Emily did great on our class last night in Streatham. She was really personable and managed to make it as interactive as possible. I particularly liked the breakout room that we did so you can break into smaller groups and chat. Thank you for allowing us to continue with some normality over this bizarre unsettling time :)’

‘Hi Fran, Just wanted to send you a quick email to say thank you so much. We found your sessions incredibly useful and informative. No questions were dismissed and you gave really detailed answers, which really helped to reassure us. We were hesitant before the sessions started as to what to expect and whether we would find the information useful or just another opinion to muddle through. We have honestly taken so much from these sessions so can’t thank you enough. Also we thought for your first zoom session last night, it went incredibly well. You clearly have a wealth of knowledge and we will be sure to recommend to friends. Possibly see you in the delivery!’

‘Hi there, Just wanted to say a huge thanks for transferring the class to zoom. Everyone was so lovely and it worked really well. We thought Sharon was great. She was very calm, kept everyone engaged and took us through everything without any judgement or personal opinion, which I’ve come to learn is very important in pregnancy!’

‘I’d like to say I’ve been so impressed with Bump and Baby Club. Our course leader, Kirsty, was absolutely brilliant. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Please do pass on our thanks for her very thorough course and her patience – she was so helpful, answering any questions we had. Our group has also gelled really nicely and I am so pleased my husband and I found ourselves on the course with this group of people. Our final session was last Monday but we are continuing by ourselves this Monday!’

”We still continue to reminisce and tell every expecting parent we meet about Bump and Baby Club. We found the course to not only be extremely informative but also very welcoming in format and structure encouraging people to interact and make long lasting friendships. However, what truly made the course a standout experience was our wonderful instructor, Cathy! Anyone fortunate enough to meet Cathy will quickly see as we all did in our first session the exceptional instructor she is. Highly knowledgeable as well as extremely engaging means that the attendees are gripped from start to finish. She soon became a valuable information source as well as a part of our support network with many of the group continuing to interact with her. Many thanks for running the Bump and Baby programme. We really value everything we’ve gained from it and will always remember the experience and what it added for us in the run up to the arrival of our first child.”

‘We just wanted to say a huge thank you for the antenatal course we took over 10th and 17th May. Lucy, you were just brilliant, we couldn’t have wished for a better instructor. We really appreciated how open-minded the course content was, and we feel really well informed without being completely overwhelmed. Thank you so much for making this possible via Zoom. Taking the course has been so reassuring for us in the lead up to baby arriving, and we would have definitely been quite apprehensive without it, so we really do appreciate your efforts in making this possible despite lockdown.’