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

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I found that my sons, my husband, and myself have all made friends since the boys joined football teams. We've met some lovely new people, and we all socialise together outside of the football environment too. This has been especially good for my oldest son, who is quite shy,and would never make the first move in a friendship!

I didn't really make friends when my daughter was younger. I was a single mum and worked 2 jobs so my mum took her to play group etc. However when we moved when she was 6, she made friends with a girl in the street and I became best friends with the child's mum. I always found the school gates very clique. Xx

found it easier once they were school age to meet other parents

Living in a fairly rural area I think the physical number of mums and babies limited the friendship making but those that you do find you bond or 'click with' become a more valuable part of your life and less casual than if you met many. Today at our local clinic/drop in there was for example only 2 other mothers and children. However, as a foster carer I value the importance of socialisation and some of the children that I have cared for have great difficulties in this. I make a conscious effort whoever I go to smile and be relaxed. I go to as many various activities and clubs as I can that are appropriate even if it does mean travelling a little way.

i found it really hard to make friends when my children were little i didn't know anyone in the area i lived and up until my maternity leave i had worked full time in the village i'd grown up in so that was a 2 hour bus journey it wasn't until my little ones started school that i met other mums

Both of my children are much better at making friend than me! I am very shy and much prefer my own company, but it's amazing how quickly you can get chatting to other parents

joining sports groups or craft groups are a good way for your children and yourself to make friends x

Just walk over to the person and say 'Hello, my name is . How are you today?'

Taking the time to chat with other parents and DCs when we arrive at school & toddle groups

In adult life i have made friends through work and meetup.com

my son makes friends by just running round playing with children, my DD however is fairly shy

I go out for a coffee and usually get chatting to the people around me

To be honest I haven't mastered it! I just try lots of different groups, some structured, some not, all are different so have to find who is easy to talk to

It's hard at first with a newborn as your entire friendship circle changes. I find going to classes where you did something e.g. Singing, messy play and arriving 10mins early meant you got the chance to chat to others as they arrived without too much pressure to interact as the class would start.

I eventually found a local baby group but I had to keep going week after week to become friendly with others.
I also learnt to ask people for a cuppa instead of wondering why I'd not been asked; no one refused to meet me

I find it really hard to make friends. I have moved to leeds almost 10 years ago and still dont have any friends here. My partner is my best friend but it isnt quite the same as having actual friends

My children all seem to make friends really easy. They get on with anyone and are very caring about others so if they see someone on their own they tend to go to them and play with them

We meet lots of different parents and children at our local social club which has a three hour coffee and mingle group so that parents and children can make friends and have a play/chat. This happens three times a week and is a great way for us to make new friends

It can be difficult to make friends with other new mothers, especially when it's your first child and everything is new. What I did was attend a couple of mother and baby groups. From that, I found one or two people that I seemed to gel with and then we would meet outside of the group - be it at one another's home or at the park. As young children, whoever we met up with were friends but, as they grew older, the children would develop their friends independently, firstly at nursery and then school.

I have found that, with my eldest children, the best friends they have (and I have made) are through school - friendships at a young age tend to be very fickle and the person at the top of today's best friend list may not even be mentioned tomorrow.

A good local mother and toddler group was hugely supportive for me, as well as maintaining the friendships with others from my antenatal groups. I tried a number of more specialised groups (gym bobs, singing groups etc) but although fun they weren't places I or my child necessarily made friends. I valued more the places that my child could play and I could get time and space to chat and not feel isolated at home. Once at school the children made their own friends, although I met other parents in the playground and some became good friends over time.

we actually made friends through meeting other mums and kids at the school and taking pat in activities such as learning to swim and rainbows and hike it baby

We missed out on all the baby groups and things like that so I really struggle with the making new mummy friends. I lack confidence but what i lack my son more than makes up for, he is very bubbly and outspoken and has no qualms about going up to somebody and starting a conversation so he's my ice breaker in times of need haha

I was lucky most of my friends already had children, I did attempt to go to a baby group once but I felt like they was already friends

Just say hello - what's the worst that can happen!

We both made friends from baby and toddler groups. I really had to force myself at the time, as thought I was happy just being at home with my baby but boy am I glad I made the effort in those early days!

Ronan had been at home with me from birth until nursery age so i did have concerns about him making friends once he started nursery. He surprised us all, no tears, no worries, a very adaptable boy he was, kind, gentle and had an avoidance for boistrious children. He was always great at sharing and is still now ( at 7 years old ) incredibly thoughtful and kind.

He still avoids the boistrious children even at 7, and isnt a "rough and tumble" kind of boy. He is great at making friends still though and will always seek out the gentler children to play with an socialise with.

I found it hard to make friends with new mums when I went to baby groups with DD1- as much as I tried to get involved with conversations, I always ended up sat alone in the corner talking to the health visitor as everyone seemed to know each other already. It really knocked my confidence so much that it made my post natal depression worse. I lived far away from my family and old friends and tbh it really marred the first few months. I was dreading the same thing happening when I had my DD2 but thankfully the mums at the baby groups were totally different, so I was reassured it wasn't just me- people said they had had similar experiences, so it proves you shouldn't give up at the first hurdle. I had great support from mums at the second baby group with breastfeeding and sleepless nights. I kept in touch with 2 of them and as our children have grown up we've done days out and playdates around each others houses. The children seemed to have no trouble at all making friends, even from being small toddlers. We have had the odd squabble as toddlers do not like other people playing with their toys I have learned!

When DD was born I went along to all sorts of groups in the hope of meeting new friends with similar aged babies who I could spend time with on my maternity leave. The time spent at groups was good and DD enjoyed them and they got us out of the house (often for free) but I found it difficult to make any of the friendships stick.

I think there is an expectation for mummies to make friends on maternity leave but I often found that the only thing I had in common with any of them was that we were mummies and lived in a similar area.

Now that DD is nearly 3 I can see that she has my shy tendencies, although she will sometimes approach other children to try and play.