Making Mum Friends Locally

[ml01omm]

Hi

I am due in Aug, and I don't know anyone locally who has children.

I have completed the NCT course ( via Zoom) and we have a whatsapp group, but none of the women are engaging with it very much ( I might post once a week to just ask how people are etc, and I get one or two replies, from one or two people, but conversations never get going) so I think that will die a death pretty soon.

Just worried I am going to feel really lonely and isolated on Mat leave without other mum friends to meet-up with ( out doors at a social distance etc) esp if baby classes aren't running either.

Oh no that's a shame about the WhatsApp but maybe it will pick up when the babies start arriving! You could start a buggy walk facebook page for your local area. I did this and met a lovely bunch of girls (my next group were rubbish). So I just said I'll meet you in the park at 10 every Thursday and went from there. You can social distance! Walk round the park and chat. It was a lifesaver. Good luck x

I set up a group myself in my local area via Facebook. I posted about the group in the local baby buying/selling pages etc and got a few members and then it got round via word of mouth.

Pre-lockdown, I used to post on the group, I’m going to be at x location (usually a cafe/garden center etc) at x time and if anyone wants to come, please come along. It was hard because I am naturally an introvert but I wanted to meet mum friends. We started out with a handful of people, now we have about 15-20 at each one. It doesn’t take much organizing and it’s really helped bring mums together.

We’re about to have our first socially distanced al fresco meet up next week!

Maybe you could try setting something up in your area?

My NCT group was similar - until the babies actually arrived. I'd suggest not dismissing the group yet. The NCT mums are practically the only people I saw while on mat leave. Lots of walks in the park and coffee meet ups. And 2am texts for advice.d

We did an antenatal course at the end of last year, and there was very little interaction until the baby arrival announcements began...

Since then we have shared advice, recommendations and lots of baby photos, so I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point

Hi @ml01omm 😁
Have you used peanut ? It's an app you can download.. basically like tinder for mums haha but you put a little bio about yourself and a pic location etc and you can set some preferences like distance from you , age group babies so your matches with mums that are in the same area as you and either expecting the same time..
I've used it since March just after lock down and have been speaking with some really lovely girls and hopefully plan on meeting up once babies are here! I'm 40+2 today 😩x

It may be worth checking out now if there's any local baby groups nearby or things like baby swimming classes, baby singing and play groups as chances are they will post on their websites or something when they re open following restrictions being lifted. They're a great way to get out and about and meet people x