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Loneliness and parenthood

4 replies

Tiger99 · 19/05/2025 02:31

I I have felt lonely for a long time now. I have a small group of close friends but they all live far away. We see each other every few months but they aren't people I can just pop in for a chat with or see spontaneously at the weekend.
I live with my husband in London where he grew up and has big circle of family and friends here. I am not from here and have lived here for 5 years. We have a great relationship but I realise I can't rely on him for most of my social needs. However, I do feel misunderstood by him when I have brought up feeling lonely. He has a busier job and social life than me and feels like he doesn't get enough of his own time while I feel like I'm drowning in it.
I'm 17 weeks pregnant and as hard as the loneliness has been I worry it will be worse once baby arrives. I have never been bad at making friends but I have found it so hard here. I have joined sports clubs and groups to try be more social and it just never went anywhere. I felt like an outsider even after attending groups for a long time so I just stopped going.
A friend of mine recommended antenatal classes as a place to meet other new parents, which I will definitely do.
Did anyone else feel like his as a new/expectant parent and does anyone have any advice for making friends.

OP posts:
Havingaswimmoose · 19/05/2025 03:35

Hope you get some advice soon.
Sorry that no one answered yet. Things were different when my boys were babies so won't offer my out of date advice!

4kids3pets · 19/05/2025 03:46

If you feel lonely then you do need to get out there. For me I love my own company but once the little ones came along I made the effort to get out for there sake, but on my own I'm a happy loner 😊

Wishiwasatailor · 19/05/2025 03:59

honestly I've made more friends since having a baby than I did before. Antenatal classes, baby groups and classes especially during maternity leave. Everyone is in the same boat, all have something in common, always something to talk about. Yes some of the connections are superficial but hopefully you'll find some people you click with. Have you looked into the WI? London has many different WI groups with a diverse range of women many run special interest groups too

Tiger99 · 20/05/2025 21:25

That is reassuring. I am the first of my close friends to have kids so I also know that my friendship with them might change after kids. So making friends with other parents is important to me.

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