Despite their bad reputation, parenting group chats are – for some – the village that never sleeps

‘My chats never turned noxious,’ Wendy Syfret writes. ‘Instead, they became 24-hour, nonjudgmental spaces where I could ask advice, celebrate small victories or just vent.’ Photograph: MirageC/Getty Images

For the first few days after I brought my daughter home from the hospital, my house was busier than it had ever been. Family, friends, neighbours and even loose acquaintances crowded the doorway, plying me with food, gifts, hand-me-downs and advice.

But as the sun set, the crowds thinned. My daughter would wake for a long night of not sleeping and I’d retreat to my bedroom and, honestly, my phone.