As told to Sophie Wilkinson and Vicky Chandler

No one ever prepared me for the loneliness of motherhood. When I first became pregnant and started antenatal classes, I was excited at the prospect of meeting other local parents who were going to have children at the same time as us. But I quickly learned that ‘local’ in London – where I’ve lived for 10 years – is very different to local elsewhere. Some couples live a 10-minute walk away, others a Tube ride away and some as far as 40 minutes away.

During my maternity leave, everything was fine. Even when I returned to work part-time after three months (I’m a content creator, YouTuber and consultant), I was still able to join in and make time to see others who were enjoying their mat leave. But during the second year of my son’s life, things changed. Suddenly everyone was returning to work full-time, and it seemed impossible to see one another unless you booked months in advance.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of friends living in London, but we live all across the city and many don’t have kids themselves. When I was child-free, I thought nothing of travelling an hour to see them or meeting in central London for dinner. Once I had a child, I thought this was a chance to make friends more locally, but unfortunately, this didn’t happen in the way I hoped.

“I’m a new mum and I’ve never felt lonelier. Why does no one talk about it?”