Motherhood has quietly become one of the most isolating roles in the world, with over 90% of mums reporting feeling lonely after birth. 1 in 5 experience postnatal depression or anxiety, with rising isolation being a key risk factor, and perinatal depression and anxiety is the leading cause of death of mothers in the 12 months after giving birth. and It doesn’t have to be like this. More and more, mum-lead platforms are creating spaces to make it easier for new mums to find and connect with their village. Motherhood isn’t meant to be experienced without community. The village may have deserted us, but these are the mums and platforms helping to bring it back. Mum Walk exists to end the isolation that comes with being a mum and connect you with other mums in the real world.
Mum Walk
What it is: Weekly pram walking groups for new mums.
How it works: Find and join a pram walking group in your local area, and if there isn’t one, start one!
Cost: Free
Their “why”: Mum Walk Founder Kimberly Kay felt hugely isolated after the birth of her first child. It was peak COVID times, and without mother’s groups or access to community, she quickly fell into postnatal depression. After her second birth, she decided she would not have the same experience, and put a call out on Facebook to see if anyone wanted to go for a walk. The response was overwhelming, and the first Mum Walk was born. Now, Mum Walk is all about connecting mums and getting them meeting up weekly and moving their bodies. “That of my most painful chapters, those long, lonely days, has turned into something that’s helping mums across Australia still blows me away. I never want another mum to feel the kind of loneliness I once did,” says Kay. Accessibility is super important to this platform so it is totally free and keeps the reliable format of weekly walks followed by stay-and-plays. There are currently over 60 Mum Walk groups across Australia, and then aim to have 100 by the end of the year.
Maggie
What it is: Like a Google Maps but showing only the best playgrounds, and free kid-activities near you.
How it works: Download the app (iOS only for now), share your location with it, and search your surroundings for the best playgrounds and free activities near you.
Cost: Free, and all the activities or places shown on the map are also free.
Their “why”: Mums Liv Luker and Eimear Colleran met and became friends at a tech start-up, but after babies they bonded over how they were filling their time with their busy toddlers, and why finding good, new playgrounds felt like striking gold. Surely this was part of the mental load that technology could help with? So they designed and built Maggie. There are currently over 5000 playgrounds, parks and activities across Australia on the app (and counting).
Wombee
What it is: A combination of Bumble and WhatsApp, but for Mother’s Groups.
How it works: Download the app, and share a bit about yourself, and the app will help you find the right mother’s group in your area (you can have multiple!). If you already have a Mother’s Group, you can set yourselves up to keep the chat going between park hangs without the overwhelming group text WhatsApp vibes.
Cost: Free
Their “why”: Wombee is all about keeping mums connected beyond the government mother’s groups or baby sensory classes, believing in the importance of growing through motherhood together. It isn’t all about newborn mother’s groups either, they have groups with toddler and preschool age mums too. So if you move, and can’t do the physical meet ups with your old group, it doesn’t mean you can’t get another. They also know that WhatsApp, Messenger and the like simply aren’t designed for mother’s group chats.
