Face-to-face mum and baby/toddler classes may be able to continue during lockdown after all

Updated 4th November:

If you’re a new mum or have an energetic toddler, chances are the news of a new lockdown left you feeling devastated that baby and toddler classes were cancelled.

Not only are they vital for getting you out the house BUT they’re also so important for mums in terms of getting support AND helping your little one’s development.

Today I’ve been working on a guide to the best online classes but we all know it’s not the same. They’re still fab for entertaining your little one but nothing beats face-to-face interaction.

Now thanks to the amazing Happity, it turns out we might not need to go online after all.

Happity have continued to fight for the importance of these classes: not only for the health of mums and babies but also support the many mum run businesses who put on the classes in the first place.

As of Monday evening, Happity updated that their fight has been successful (full post here) because they had received word that mum and baby classes will be allowed to continue.

The post stated “the DfE has confirmed that they will add an extra line to the updated guidelines when they are released this week to ensure it specifically states ‘baby and toddler groups and classes’!!!” as long it is less than 15 people and doesn’t take place in somebody else’s home.

The problem is that not every class provider was aware of/believed this development and a lot of big providers said this was not true; with some of you messaging me to express concern. However, the health secretary then tweeted this yesterday, appearing to confirm…

1/2 I am really happy to let all mums know that from Thursday 5 November children under school age will be exempt from the 15-person limit on support groups. This change will ensure that up to 15 parents can attend a support group with their babies.

— Nadine Dorries 🇬🇧#StayAlert (@NadineDorries) November 3, 2020

With pregnant than screwed posting this…

View this post on Instagram

Word up! Baby groups can go ahead. Not only that, but the maximum number of 15 people doesn’t need to include the babies. The last few days have been like a baby group Hokey Cokey – but Government Minister, Nadine Dorries, has finally announced that they are really eager for them to continue (see tweet, even if she did temporarily forget about the dads). We know some baby group organisers are having a right old fandango with venues, so if yours is sadly cancelled, that’s probably why – but otherwise – things are looking a bit brighter for the new mums today 🥳 More recent update – support groups are defined as: ‘a group which is organised by a business, a charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution or a public body to provide mutual aid, therapy or any other form of support to its members or those who attend its meetings.’

A post shared by Joeli #blacklivesmatter (@pregnant_then_screwed) on Nov 3, 2020 at 10:23am PST

Finally, the new government guidelines published today state:

So there appears to be multiple accurate sources stating face-to-face baby and toddler classes may be able to continue. As a mum of a very energetic toddler who will simply not entertain zoom classes, this is music to my ears but I do appreciate than many toddler/baby groups may not feel comfortable continuing face-to-face and there are other aspects they may not make it possible.

However, there is really no denying that many mums are falling through the net at the moment and groups for new mums in particularly are so valuable for mental health.

It seems like this will be down to the providers to be making case by case decisions; have you heard from yours yet?