How to find your own mummy friends

When you’re a child you make friends at school, and as you get older friends come from university or jobs. Then the one point in your life when you really need friends who know what you’re going through – motherhood – you get stuck. It’s very rare that your existing, local, friends are having children at the same time as you, so becoming a mum can be quite a lonely time.

The NCT can be great if you meet like-minded people, and are able to attend courses around work. But often the timings aren’t right, or you don’t click with the handful of people in your group. So what can you do to find mummy friends?

Mums with babies in the garden l How to find your own mummy friends l www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

Some new mummy friends with their little ones, thanks to Match-up Mums

You can hang around your local playground and pounce on any mums that turn up. But it can be a bit demeaning, and you might get a bad name for yourself!

Luckily there is a new option, a fantastic organisation called Match Up Mums, which is a bit like a dating agency, but for mummy friends instead of boyfriends. You enter information into a questionnaire about yourself – age, location, age of children, interests, education level, background etc and you get matched up with similar mums locally.

Match Up Mums was set up by Megan, a mum of 3 (twin boys aged 5 and a 3 year old daughter) who has been there relatively recently, and knows just how important it is to have that vital support network of mummy friends around you.

Mumpreneur at work l How to find your own mummy friends l www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

Megan, founder of Match-up Mums

She first had the idea for Match Up Mums after explaining to her pregnant sister-in-law how “hit and miss” traditional antenatal courses can be for making new friends.

They are hit and miss for a good reason, in that they are only based on your due date, not your personality or your interests, so it it is down to luck whether you meet like-minded people there. Some people make amazing friendships there, but sadly not everyone is as lucky.

Match Up Mums was founded in 2013 and the website went live in 2014. It has proven to be a huge success so far – Megan has matched up nearly 80 groups of mummy friends right across London.

As well as being introduced to local like-minded mums, members also benefit from a range of exclusive discounts, at partners like JoJo Maman Bébé, Mama Knows Best and Lulubaby.

I was lucky enough to be invited by Megan to try out Match Up Mums locally, and I have found it to be fantastic! The questionnaire was brilliant, really well thought-out, and I have been matched up with a couple of groups, including one with French mums, which is lovely as I do miss my mummy friends from France.

Mums and babies at a coffee morning l How to find your own mummy friends l www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

The mums I’ve been matched up with are definitely like-minded, with similar career paths, or backgrounds, or interests, and most importantly they’re local. So far I have met up for playdates twice and have dinner out later this week, sans enfants, with the French mums. And I’m LOVING it!

Pricing is ridiculously cheap, especially when you think how much antenatal classes cost. Membership ranges from £10 at Bronze level to £50 at Gold level (one-off cost), and there is currently a discount at the moment with free Bronze level and £35 Gold level. With the Gold level you get larger groups of mums, so more mummy friends!

Group of mums and babies l How to find your own mummy friends l www.FranglaiseMummy.com l French and English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings

Some more happy Match-up Mums with their little ones, and founder Megan (on right)

This is likely to be one of the best investments you make as a new mum, and I massively recommend it to all pregnant women and mums of little ones. If you want to know more or to sign up, head along to Match Up Mums and start meeting “your” mummy friends.

At the moment Match Up Mums can only offer their services to London mums, but I’m certain that it won’t be long before something this great expands right across the UK. If you sign up to the Bronze membership you’ll get all the benefits of the discounts, then when the company expands outside of London you’ll be ready and waiting!

All photos: © MatchUpMums.com

Disclosure: Megan from Match Up Mums kindly gifted me a Gold membership, in order to be able to test the services out for this blog post. As ever the words and opinions are my own.

Discovering these mummy friends has brought so much joy into my life, so I’m linking today’s blog post up with Share the Joy with Michelle from Bod for Tea. Click on the image below to read some more joyful posts:

Share the Joy linky at bodfortea.co.uk

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19 Responses

  1. What a fantastic idea! When I came back to the UK from China with our eldest it was the first time I’d actually lived in our rural village without commuting every day into London and I realised I didn’t actually know any other Mummys at all – this would have been such a great help. I do hope that they expand outside of London as I’m sure Mummys all over the UK would benefit. Fab post as always Sophie x
    Michelle Reeves recently posted…Share the Joy link up #3My Profile

  2. Julie says:

    Fantastic idea last thing you want is stalking mums at the park lol. Is it only in the UK?
    Julie recently posted…30 Free Lunch Box NotesMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I know – no one loves a playground stalker 😉 It’s just in the UK so far, but I definitely reckon they should expand, this kind of thing needs to be everywhere!

  3. This sounds very interesting! Shame there was nothing like this when I needed it.
    Mirka Moore @Kahanka recently posted…The Gallery: Play!My Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I know exactly what you mean – this would have been a lifesaver for me when I had our eldest.

  4. Mel says:

    That’s a great idea! I was lucky to have a few friends pregnant at the same time as me the 1st time round. The NCT was fab for meeting new mums in my local area. We’re still all friends 7 years later! x
    Mel recently posted…Mussels in Champagne SauceMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I was lucky to find some great NCT friends too, but I know so many people who couldn’t fit a course in, or who didn’t click with the people, so this is a great option in either case.

  5. What a fantastic idea. I don’t know where I’d be without the friends I made in the early baby days – a blubbering mess, probably. I did NCT and a couple of other groups. I’d definitely sign up for this if I was doing it all again.
    Nell@PigeonPairandMe.com recently posted…Oh, the places you’ll go…..win a night at a TravelodgeMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I was a blubbering mess with our eldest as I felt so lonely, so I’m so glad there is something like this for new mums.

  6. This is a great business idea, as you’re right, that it is so random who you get grouped with in antenatal groups and when you don’t live in London, you may live a fairly long drive apart, which doesn’t really work for spontaneous strolls to the park. I was so lucky with my three NCT groups and am still friends with all of them, and now the kids are at school it’s a lot easier, but this would be great for mums who aren’t so fortunate. xx
    Jess Paterson recently posted…The Precedent – The Parent’s Greatest FearMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I think NCT can be great if you click with the people in your group, but if you don’t then you’re quite lost!

  7. Honest Mum says:

    What an incredible idea this is-I was a little lost, being the first of my friends to have a baby when Oliver came along and I was the youngest from a group of older mums where we lived and although I made a few friends, the loneliness was palpable, this would have helped me so much. Thanks for sharing xx
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    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I know what you mean – I felt so lonely when I had Léna, this would have made all the difference to me!

  8. Jane Dieu says:

    Mums in the uk are so lucky to have these groups. I had my baby in Normandy and eventually set up my own mummies and babies group because none existed! I originally set it up for English speaking mums to get together and speak English around their babies, but I extended it to French mums too as there was a surprising demand from them to join us. I think that even though most mums in France go back to work when their baby is three months old, they still need to meet other mums like themselves, and sadly here I think being a new mum can be very isolating. I’m in the process of setting up a similar website here for French mums as I think they would really benefit from it.

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      That’s fantastic that you set up that group in France – I wish I’d been with it enough when I had our eldest to consider doing that. It was a very lonely time for me, and I’m sure I’m not the only mum to go through that.

  1. 28/01/2015

    […] Continue reading the rest of the post at its original source Filed under: Motherhood Tagged with: loneliness, mummy friends, NCT, new mums, Parenting […]

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