Tell Fairy Non Bio about how you and your DC make friends - win a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

As part of our partnership with Fairy Non Bio, we’ve produced the Mumsnet Babies Podcast. There are ten episodes in the series and episode 7, which you can listen to here, is about making friends and being nice. When you get the chance, Fairy Non Bio would like you to listen to the podcast and share your thoughts - not just about the new friends you’ve made since having a baby, but also about how your baby socialises with other children.

Whether you go to parenting groups and classes in your spare time or not, making friends as a new mother isn’t always easy. Have you felt like it can be isolating, and that you have nothing in common with the other mothers in your area (apart from the presence of your tiny children)? Or perhaps you’ve found that parenting can be a reason to bond with other people, even if it’s just a case of having someone to grumble with about sleepless nights and dirty nappies? And of course it would be negligent to forget to mention Mumsnet as a platform on which mums can socialise and make new friends!

And then, as your baby gets older, their social life may become the minefield you need to navigate. Have you been mystified by your little one's’ ability to make best friends with complete strangers in the playground? Perhaps you’ve struggled to deal with getting them to share nicely with other children?

Whatever your experiences of friendship during early motherhood, post on the thread below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!

If you’d like to rate the Mumsnet Babies Podcast, please go to the iTunes store and leave a review.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Sports groups are a great way to meet other people and keep healthy while we are doing it.

My kids have always been sociable and find making friends pretty easy! I've never found it easy particularly when it comes to baby groups as none of the ones I went to were friendly. I live in a rural area which makes it doubly difficult and people here often move away after a few years. I imagine its a bit easier in a larger town or city.

Join the PTA, its hard work but worth it as at least you know when things are going on.

We are only a small town so easy to mix with local friends and local toddler groups, meet up in the park to play with others and library groups like sing and sign times are really good fun for the little one as well as the parents!!

At the school gates and at birthday parties.

We try to go to mother and child groups and partake in a lots of activities

When my daughter went to toddler group, I used to talk to the mum of whoever she played with. Now my daughter is older and we tend to invite back her friends and I chat to the mums when they come to collect.

I think it is easier to bond over fun stuff or organised events. You're so busy getting stuck in that you find by the end of it you've got together with others easily! You've just got to get out there!

Joining the local groups really helped me make friends, some of whom i have had for for a long time

Now my daughter is at high school there is no socializing around the school gates so have lost a lot of friends through not being on social media and my daughter starting a new school without her friends has found it hard to make new ones, but looking at others posts I will try some of their ideas

Attending local groups and actively taking part in PTA.

Usually at local groups or in the park.

I've found a have a new bond with the mums at work since having my own DD... If only because they'll let me talk about projectile poo and vomit soaking and respond with empathetic laughter, rather than the looks of horror I get from non-parents!

I'd say my DD is much better at making friends than me! She is generally pretty outgoing and sociable and wants to chat to everyone. I'm quite outgoing but shy and can feel awkward making friends. DD on the other hand just goes up and talks to people. I need to learn from her!

I've always found it really hard to make friends and its easy when you have kids to make excuses not to make any. For me, it's a matter of forcing myself out of my comfort zone.

My son finds it easy to make friends at nursery, then school and just out and about in general whereas I struggled as I was working when he was smaller so I didn't get to go to all the mother & baby groups and play sessions and found that mums could be quite clicky if thats the word, it felt like they all knew each other by the time my son started school and as such it was harder to immerse myself in that whole situation.

I met one of my friends at our local gym. We have two girls the same age. I started chatting to her when our girls started to play together. This was about 5 years ago now. Our daughters are still good friends.

I have made a couple of friends from baby/ toddler groups but it is hard to maintain friendships as a parent. The little ones have no problems making friends. They will go up to any child any where and ask to play!

I never thought id make friends at an antenatal class and thought nothing would be worse than talking about babies all the time! Yet 11 years on we still meet up and they will be friends for life and probably saved me from slight insanity in those early days!

Me and my daughter made good friends when going to my local baby and toddler groups. It helped that we all lived near the primary school so we could see each other often at the school as well.

I found it hard to make friends as a new mum because I'm quite shy. I met up with the NCT mums a few times over the first few months but these friendships gradually petered out although I still bump into them now and then and we have a chat.
I didn't really miss having mum friends though as I kept my friends from pre-pregnancy so I wasn't really lonely or isolated.
It's easier to make mum friends now DD is at school but I'm not especially close to any of them although we do chat at the school gates.

Having boys and a girl ive found it quite easy at swimming club , dancing groups and the football clubs my sons have been in. Also when we are out walking our little cavapoo he is a people magnet he looks like a fluffy teddy bear xx

We usually make lots of friends when we take our puppies (2 Jack Russell Terriers) for walks, the kids love stopping to meet other dogs on our travels

I found that our NCT group drifted apart after about 9 months when some of them went back to work. I'm usually too knackered at toddler groups to make the effort. Luckily, I have a great friendship group that is really close and not baby-focused!

DS thinks that the best way to make friends is either to lean right into another child's personal space and 'raar' at them, or else to force invite them to join his game. He seems to be having better luck than me, so maybe I'll try that at the next mums & toddlers group...

I have joined a local group made few friends and met up for coffee! I also feel a great way to make friends is get to know your neighbours chat to the kids it's nice to have someone close whenever you need a rant or five minutes piece from the kids!!