Lonliness - how to make friends as a adult/parent

[tizzy13]

Honestly I feel like I’ve tried everything.
I’m on peanut, I go to 2/3 baby groups a week, I try and make conversations but it just ends with lots of small talk.
I still find myself feeling incredibly lonely. For context I have a 5 year old and 6 month old and have only got one true ‘friend’ - she lives 50 mins away so we hardly see each other.
I live in a GREAT town and would love to make friends locally but I feel like at this point it must just be me? I’m quite socially awkward (suspected on the spectrum) but I am a very nice person and would love to have even just one or two close friends to do things with and have consistent interactions.
I am a single parent and fairly young - 25 had my first at 19 - and I feel sometimes I’m not quite in the same category as other mums or they don’t want to be friends with someone like me. I wouldn’t care if my friend was 30/40/50 but I do find sometimes it puts a stop to conversations when they find out either my age or that I’m a solo parent.
HELP! I just want to find my people 😭

It takes time to make friends, or at least for me. Around a year with regular contact with very nice people.

Do you see the same mums in the groups? Can you persevere making small talk with the ones who are potential friends?

I hope you find your people soon!

I think it's really hard to make friends as an adult and a mum so already have lots of commitments.
Have you tried asking anyone if they wanted to go for a coffee/park etc after the baby groups. Or if you know of any other groups in the area then you could suggest trying a different one with some of the other mums?
Or what about suggesting a park meet up with some school friends either after school or in the holidays, keeping it informal might feel less pressure for them?

It took me a while to find some mum friends when my children were small and unfortunately when they started school mine went to a different one as I lived in a different area and we've drifted apart so I don't really have any close friends in the area only people I see through a hobby so know how lonely it can be. It also didn't help that I get very little support from my dp so rarely had time to socialise without my children either.

Also if anything is suggested like meeting for coffee, going to a group then go along to it even if you don't really fancy it.

You go to places where your age group mingles. Anyone can be avilable anytime. But you must be confident and make the first move.