Our survey says…

No, it’s not a game of family fortunes. We spoke to over 600 of you and found that 89% of mums have felt lonely at least once since giving birth. With 40% saying they feel lonely, either most or all of the time and a startling 51% of women who felt loneliness said they couldn’t speak to anyone about it. This is heart-breaking reading.

Why it’s vital, we support mums

The Mum Club was set up to try and eradicate feelings of loneliness and isolation. Our founders, Jessica and Lauren started the club back in 2016 because they discovered the level of care for new mums was lacking.

 “We’d go to these baby classes, and while they were entertaining for the children, we’d leave having spoken to no-one and feeling emptier in a way. This experience drove us to create TMC – because we didn’t want anyone to ever feel like that”.

“We feel it’s essential to reach out to other mums and make sure they feel spoken to. Our end goal is that wherever you are in the country, a TMC group will exist – online or in person. We want you to be able to access the same love, support and laughter, with a TMC village in every possible corner”.

Working with PANDAS

We’re thrilled to announce that this month sees the launch of our partnership with postnatal support specialists PANDAS.

In the last year, PANDAS has noted a rise of 150% in requests for help. Plus, calls to their helpline have increased by a whopping 240%. In response to this, we have pledged to make PANDAS our 2021 charity of choice, and they will be supporting them with donations and helping to raise awareness for the foundation.

PANDAS provide free support services for parents struggling with their perinatal mental health. Their free helpline (0808 1961 776) offers support Mon-Fri. They offer peer to peer support for every parent, with lived, work and academic experience best placed to support families in their times of need. For more information, head to www.pandasfoundation.org.uk

Annie Belasco, Head of Charity at PANDAS says, “We are delighted to be joining hands with these superb women who have set up TMC.  Driven by their experiences in parenting, to create a strong network of mums who can help each other. Through their information and motivation this is a great new beginning for parents who feel lonely and want to connect with others in their parenting journey”.

Our survey also revealed…

85% of mums experienced low feelings, extreme sadness, anxiety or depression after giving birth. With 1 being the lowest, 32% of these women marked their feeling as 7 or above in terms of extremity.   

Shockingly, only 8% of women feel there is enough support for mums.

89% of mums felt anxious in the last year. 60% said it was a frequent experience, and 29% said it was the first time they’d ever felt anxious.  

53% of mums rated their self-esteem lower than 5 in the first 6 months of motherhood. (*based on a scale of 1-10). 47% of these mums didn’t feel they could talk to anyone about it. 

Surprisingly, only 8% of women said they felt there wasn’t a stigma attached to feeling depressed or low.

Overwhelmed and forgotten were two of the most popular words used to describe how mums have been treated in the pandemic. 

89% of mums said they felt hesitant to moan about their pandemic experience because others were suffering more.

The Mums biggest worry for their children is that they’re lonely.

To help us raise awareness of our findings, we’ve also been working with leading psychotherapist and empowerment coach Emmy Brunner, who describes:

“Throughout the pandemic experience, I have seen many usually high functioning women and mothers, hit a point of feeling completely mentally exhausted and yes, alone, despite being amongst our four walls with our families.  Surrounding yourself with other women at the same life stage and going through a shared experience, but in the structure of a proactive and supportive environment like The Mum Club is a positive way to receive validation for how you’re feeling, making you feel less alone”.

Lauren and Jessica say, “we were saddened to see these results, but also unsurprised. It’s important that now, more than ever, we look after each other and if we can do anything to provide a moment of light relief, or to let other mums know that it’s not just them, then we’ve achieved what we set out to do with The Mum Club.”