Stress, uncertainty & lonely births: New research uncovers the anxieties felt by moms-to-be
The Peanut app has launched Bump Buddies, a new feature which connects women with shared due dates, and already engagement has risen 50 percent across the app
Expectant moms have shared tips and advice for coping with pregnancy isolation
Nearly three out of five (59 percent) pregnant women reveal they are suffering from extreme loneliness as a result of COVID-19, and over half (55 percent) admit to be struggling with their mental wellness, reveals new research from Peanut.
Shedding light on the vulnerabilities facing expectant mothers during the pandemic, Peanut, an app which connects women through all stages of motherhood, has found nearly half (45 percent) struggled with navigating pregnancy and preparing for birth as a result of in-person meet-ups being cancelled.
What’s more, one in three (32 percent) women admit to not coping well with feelings of isolation, and an unsettling 64 percent have fear of going through parts of labor alone and/or not being able to see family. Nearly three in four expectant moms have only seen their friends or family once or twice since March, if at all.
In a bid to help combat this, Peanut has recently launched an app feature called BumpBuddies, which is enabling moms-to-be to connect, build friendships, and share advice with women who have the same due date. Since going live with the new feature, engagement has risen 50 percent across the app.
Lonely in the labor room
Almost two thirds (60%) of those surveyed stated that they worry the pandemic and continued isolation will continue to affect their mental health after they give birth.
COVID-19 is dominating womens’ pregnancy concerns, topping popular topics like breastfeeding, birth plans and essential items, as follows:
- Partners being able to attend scans and labor
- Family being unable to meet their new baby immediately
- The impact the pandemic is having on their mental wellness
- Not having as much access to a midwife or professional support
- Being underprepared due to not attending prenatal groups
Pandemic pregnancy pals
Since March, Peanut’s community has grown to nearly 2M women, with 37 percent of new users being pregnant, as women turn to the app to seek advice, create friendships and chat in a time of social distancing and tightening lockdown. The birth of Bump Buddies comes after Peanut witnessed women setting up their own due date groups on the app.
Users are automatically added to a Bump Buddy group, such as ‘December 2020’, after updating their profile and stating how far along they are into pregnancy.
Michelle Kennedy, founder and CEO of Peanut commented: “At a moment in time where pregnant women are experiencing such a monumental life change, the pandemic has created more isolation and uncertainty than ever before. Do women have to go for a scan alone, will they labor alone, and outside of the pandemic, are their emotions, physical symptoms, experiences, normal? Pregnant women need more support.
Even the joys of pregnancy, the excitement, first kicks, buying that first baby item, can feel muted. Being able to connect women has never, ever been more critical to the wellbeing of pregnant women, and indeed our unborn future generations. We continue to build tools to make women’s lives better, and we’re particularly proud of this one – so too are our users given the engagement we’ve seen.”
Every day on Peanut like-minded women connect to seek and share advice on topics ranging from fertility and miscarriage to motherhood and sex. Positive stories of women having each other’s backs during the pandemic include one user providing last-minute childcare when another was giving birth.
Alongside Bump Buddies, women can also match with each other on Peanut by interests, personality types, neighborhoods, and more, as well as take part in community discussions and schedule virtual meet-ups.
To download and sign-up to the Peanut app for free visit: www.peanut-app.io/.
