To be bemused by the phrase 'young mothers'?

[ComposHat]

It sounds rather archaic, but I've still heard it used on here from time to time. However never been sure if it refers to

A) Women who had children at an early age

Or

B) Women with very young children.

Can anyone help?

This is used as a bitchness term by older mothers who think they are doing better and can pass judgment on younger mums I'm 23 as from last week and everyone calls me a "young mother" my kids are nearly 3 and nearly 1 but I can tell you I'm a better mother than most older mothers I know .. I think older mums can be just jealous and are bitchy about it ... IMO just depends your views on it

Btw I planned both my kids before anyone asks lol

It's interesting that these days a woman could still be classed as a "young mum" in her mid-twenties - in the world of midwifery in 1979, someone having their first child at age 26 would be known as an "elderly primip"!

I thought it was shorthand for mothers of young children - babies, toddlers, preschoolers.

When I had my first child I was a young mum and we had to use a special midwife clinic that had a social worker in attendance! For no reason other than it was for under 20's.

When I had my last child I had to go to clinic for old people!

I would say it means mothers who have children at a young age.

I was 21 having ds1, so would say I was a 'young mother'. I was 'generally' younger in age than others in my area/social circle when having their first child.

Young mother is definitely used to mean women who have children at a young age around here, rather than mothers of young children.

proudmummytodc2 but that's another issue - why do we have to justify ourselves by saying "I planned to have my children"? Why, when an 'older mum', whatever that means, has an unplanned pregnancy, it's always assumed to be a 'happy surprise' - but when a teenager has an unplanned pregnancy, it's always assumed to be a 'horrible mistake'.

I'm more than happy to admit that I didn't plan this pregnancy, nor did I particularly want to continue with it at first. I don't know if I deserve shame for that, but my age shouldn't even come into it as far as other people's opinions are concerned. It is your business and yours alone whether your children were planned - contrary to what many people think. When I announced I was pregnant, I had a few really heartfelt congratulations - mainly from other mums of varying ages. Practically everyone else's first response was "Was it planned?". Why is it acceptable to ask for conception details because the mum is young?

Gone off on a rant there sorry just want to make it clear I'm not having a go at you proudmummy, just wondering why we have to justify ourselves being pregnant to total strangers.

I think there's a big difference between 'young' and 'younger'

'Young' implies too young and all the prejudices that go with that.
Younger is younger than you/average - still unnecessary to say most of the time.

The same applies to 'old' and 'older' IMO

I also got asked if DD1 was planned - I began to get annoyed by the question and would reply 'yes would you like further details about our sex life? How's yours?'

Definitely agree about the planned/unplanned assumption. Everyone apart from my mum (who knew we were trying) assumed my pregnancy was unplanned.

Ian Hislop once referred to Mumsnet on HIGNFY as a site for "young mothers". In that case I suppose anyone of childbearing age could be considered young.

I think the young parents' groups at my local children's centre are for parents under 25.