
During my pregnancy, like most first-time mums, I spent a significant amount of time trying to picture my life with a baby. What will it mean? Is it really the best thing I will ever do? (Absolutely). Is sleep deprivation REALLY that bad? (Yes.)
I went to approximately 104,503 weddings between the years of 2014 to 2016, which meant that the babies started popping up in close succession, and suddenly I was one of the only people I knew that didn’t have kids.
So when I got pregnant, I would pepper my friends with never-ending questions. To my surprise, hardly any of them went to mothers' group.
I’d assumed everyone went. I’d seen those pictures of babies making a circle with their heads on my Facebook feed for years. When I enquired, I got responses ranging from “I have enough friends” to “having to make small talk with strangers is my idea of hell”.
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The general consensus was that mothers' groups were bitchy, competitive, boring, and full of ‘yummy mummies’ trying to outdo each other (because a bunch of women meeting in an organised setting can’t be anything but, right?).
That it was hard enough to catch up with the friends you already had, let alone adding a group of strangers to that list.
After my son was born, I had a check up with a maternal child health nurse at my local community clinic. Because he was born on the 29th of November, by the time I got to my visit, they were closing down for the summer. I was absolutely devastated, convinced I’d missed the boat and that the six long weeks it would be closed would have ruined any chance I had at joining a group.
Thankfully, I was wrong. When Hudson was seven weeks old, we turned up for our first session and in no time, we were making friends (well, I was making friends, he slept through the whole thing.) What no one tells you before you have a baby, is it’s very easy to talk to other mums without any awkwardness - you’ve basically seen each other's nipples before you even know each other's names.
So, every Wednesday, while I was in the newborn blur, I had something to look forward to. A day planned that meant I got out of the house, where I could change his nappy comfortably, feed him when I needed to, and most importantly - there was air conditioning (it was a particularly brutal summer!).
Our first day at mothers' group. Image: Supplied
Top Comments
Hi Mel, thanks for your comment! As the author mentioned in the piece, early parenting support groups are still being run during this time and you can join virtually. You can see more information about groups in your area on your local Government Health website. Some face-to-face groups are still happening and many are set to reopen soon.
Thanks,
Mamamia Team