Innovating motherhood via the internet
In the early stages of a baby's life, new mums inevitably find that their opportunities to socialise are reduced.
Laura Morris launched her website meetmums.co.uk shortly after she had her baby daughter. The site aims to encourage mums to start new friendships. Laura was the first of her group of friends to have a child, and explains the attractions of the internet for new mums:
"When you do have children it is quite hard, especially to start with, to gain a routine and to get out and about again, and some mother and baby groups can be intimidating. Especially when you maybe worked full time before you had children, and then all of a sudden you're not having any adult conversation, you start to find, and I certainly found, that you get quite shy and lose some of your confidence. So having the internet there at home...I really think it's a way forward."
Laura believes the opportunities on the internet for Mums to relate their experiences could encourage a more realistic vision of motherhood.
"It's such a huge change having a family, and I think we all kind of build up a picture of what it will be, but it's always much harder than what is portrayed in the press and everything else."
"You don't realise what such hard work it's going to be, and I think these sites are offering you the chance to change that."
The mothering community has been quick to take advantage of the growth of the internet, and there are a variety of sites which cater for parents. The links on the left investigate some of the different types of sites on offer.