Please advise where I can meet other parents

[BumptiousandBustly]

Please can you advise where I can meet other parents, I am going to toddler groups already with DS - (DS2 due in a few weeks), I seem to have lost touch with the women I met when DS was born and am feeling very isolated at home with DS.

As I said I am going to toddler groups and also a music session with DS, adn while they are good, and DS and I both enjoy them, and chat to other mums, I don't seem to make the connection with people to meet up outside these settings.

Any suggestions about where to meet other mums?

local area MN meet ups !

Nomedeplume I tried that, repeatedly, they just never happened. One time it was all arranged, I got to the soft play area, and the only person who hadn't already dropped out never turned up. When I got home I found a post on the thread saying they couldnt make it - but posted well after I left home to meet them!

Bump

have a look on netmums their local meets are much more active than on here.

I found some mums and toddler things so clique.

After you've had DS2 ask your health visitor about post natal groups.

You coudl try your local NCT. Some area are really good, while some areas are dire, depending on local volunteers.

I know what you mean about not making a connection, but if you keep going for long enough, to enough groups, you will eventually find someone you click with.

I think sometimes you have to make the first leap, and invite someone round for coffee, or suggest going to a soft play or cafe. (I know that's easier said than done)

Do you go to local play parks where you could start up a conversation? Or do you live near someone with a similar age child who you could pop a note through the door of? Do you live in a town or rurally, it makes a bit of a difference.
I have heard that the Netmums local sites are much more populated than the mn ones, you could try there.
Sorry that you are feeling so isolated, maybe the baby's birth will set you up with a whole new cohort of mothers.

whereabouts are you?

i never had much luck on the mn meet-ups bit, but i actually met some people who lived near me just by chatting on here in general, and now have some very good friends.

Ladies

Thankyou very much for the suggestions. I have (whispers back) had a look at netmums, but what I found was meetups at local softplay areas, and the problem with that is that at 35 weeks pregnant I can't really run around softplay, and won't be able to run around after DS1 when holding DS2.

I know what you mean about making the first move with people at the toddler groups, and will try that at some point, just trying to work my way up to it!

Re the NCT, the local toddler group is not briliant, seems very clique, but I was wondering if voluntering for the NCT would help me meet more people?

I live in a London suburb.

Starbucks. My local one has a play area for kids at the back and it is jam packed with Mums all day long. I just get chatting in the queue, or when my 10-month old is crying because someone else's LO has cuddled him in the soft play area.

Definitely volunteer for the NCT. I did, and while most people weren't really my type, I did meet one woman 10 years ago who is still a very good friend to this day.

Does your GP surgery have a post natal club? Some areas do. Weigh ins at the doctor's surgery are also a good time to chat, when your next one is born.

As you know, when you have a very little one in tow it is much easier for people to come up and talk, so you may find the toddler groups more accommodating once you have DC2. If not, you could always widen the net and try a few groups in the next town.

After years of going to these, and having met hundreds of other mums,there are only a handful of people I really click with, such is life.

Good to see another Lynley Dodd fan.

we've recently moved to a new area, and I'm pregnant with no.2, so I've signed up for an NCT refresher course in the hope of meeting some other second time mums. Is it too late for you to do something like that? First time round I didn't do the NCT classes but I did find the bumps and babes group quite friendly when DD was small.

If it seems a big step inviting other mums to your house or for coffee, why not arrange to meet up in the local playground or something, particularly if your kids get on at the toddler group? Or ask what other groups they go to, then if you see the same people a couple of times a week a friendship might develop? It's tough making the first move!

Sometimes you have to be brave - a few weeks after we moved in we were snowed in and stuck in the house, so I knocked on my neighbour's door who I knew had a little girl the same age as mine and asked if they wanted to come play!