A woman has faced backlash from a friend after bragging about her own popularity with her new social group after giving birth. The friend took to Mumsnet to explain that she has felt quite isolated in recent years after moving away to a place where she did not know many people.
In the post, she explained: "I have had a tricky maternity leave with an initially very challenging time, as my baby had colic and reflux".
"I also had a prolonged recovery from a very tricky birth. I was quite socially isolated for the first 6 months and my usual support system was scattered as they had their own stuff to deal with."
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She went on to say that she is not normally the type of person who leans on others for support, so felt this has been a difficult period of adjustment for her.
After a lot of personal stress, she was excited to find a new friend who was on maternity leave at the same time as her.
"We were quite close and usually saw each other every two weeks," she explained in the post.
"When the babies were born, we initially had regular meet ups and lunches, a few were stressful as my newborn was not happy at being out of our snuggly home.
"I suggested we met at my house and I provided cake and coffee etc, [it's] not as exciting as going out but I made or bought awesome cakes to compensate."
However, soon after this she realised her new-mum friend was always busy and not making any effort with her.
She said: "After a prolonged period of about 3-4 weeks of not really going out, with newborn colic issues, I contacted her and suggested we set some dates.
Have you ever experienced a difficult friendship? Tell us in the comments....
"She basically said she was busy for about a month and suggested a date in month and a half’s time."
But when they did eventually meet up, her friend had double-booked herself and was only able to meet up for an hour.
"Every time we text or talk she talks about her wildly busy social calendar and all these Mum date parties she’s organised and park meet ups etc. I’m never invited but she tells me all about them," she explained.
"[She is] bragging about the details and talking about the other mums like I know them. Today she text me and slipped in info about her next Mum party, which I’m not invited to."
In the post she notes that her friend does make sure to remember key dates and often checks in, but it is not long before the topic veers onto her popularity and her busy schedule.
In response, many Mumsnet users have been quick to support the author, with one saying: "She sounds like someone who's terrified of having to spend 5 minutes alone with her baby.
"I had a friend confide in me, when our babies were a little bit older, that they felt they could only cope if they were out of the house for majority of the day."
While another noted: "I think it’s mean of her. She sounds more competitor than friend. If it’s not making you feel good, drop it."
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