Pregnancy is an exciting journey, but it can also be a bewildering experience, especially if you’re expecting your first child. However, there’s no need to feel alone or overwhelmed at this exciting time of your life. Here are some apps and online resources to provide community support for pregnancy and early parenthood wherever you are.

1. Tinyhood

The online support platform Tinyhood has everything you need to support you during pregnancy. With expert-led classes on every stage of pregnancy and beyond, you’ll get help with labor and childbirth, breastfeeding, baby care, CPR and safety, and sleep.

Tinyhood In Session is where you’ll find a virtual community that you can join for regular small group sessions and discussions with others who are expecting or caring for a newborn. There are parenting experts on hand to give direct advice. You can also explore plenty more tech sources of prenatal wellness tips online.

2. BabyCenter

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BabyCenter is a free app that guides you through every aspect of your pregnancy with advice and tools to track your pregnancy and your baby’s development. It’s a fun and engaging app, including features such as a “bumpie” photo diary and a baby names finder. BabyCenter claims that it has been used by 400 million expectant parents.

Head to the app's Community section to find a support community. There are local groups here, but if none are in your area, you can still connect with others. Join the Birth Club with others who are giving birth in the same month as you. Look a little further, and you’ll find a wide variety of groups providing support for people trying to conceive, in their first pregnancy, experiencing early parenthood, and even coping with grief and loss.

Dads aren’t excluded, with peer support groups to support them, too. There are several other great pregnancy apps for expectant Dads to check out.

Download: BabyCenter for iOS | Android (Free)

3. Peanut

Peanut is a social network for women at every stage of motherhood. Over three million women have used this app to connect with others navigating the same journey.

Peanut encourages you to share advice and get support from other women at a similar stage of pregnancy. You can find other expectant mums located near you. Alternatively, there is a chat function and even video calling.

The emphasis is very much on safety, and every user is verified. That way, you are assured that Peanut is a secure place to find and connect with your community.

Download: Peanut for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)

4. What to Expect Pregnancy & Baby Tracker

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What to Expect is perhaps the world’s most recognizable pregnancy brand. It provides a comprehensive app to help mothers-to-be through every step of their journey to parenthood.

Like the other apps here, you’ll receive plenty of information and support from What to Expect’s extensive resources. However, it’s well worth exploring the Community element of the app. The What to Expect community is free to use and contains thousands of groups, with some categories you won’t find elsewhere. For example, users with Irish mammies or overbearing mothers-in-law will find their tribe here! If you don’t want to download the app, you can also access community forums on the What to Expect website.

Download: Pregnancy & Baby Tracker - WTE for iOS | Pregnancy Tracker & Baby App for Android (Free)

5. Meetup: Social Events & Groups

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Meetup is not only for parents and parents-to-be. It’s a social app with 60 million members that lets you join up online and in person with others who share your interests, whatever they may be. Some use Meetup to meet new people or forge a career network while others use it to pursue hobbies and leisure activities.

You’ll find plenty of groups to choose from if you're pregnant or nursing a newborn. You can connect with others directly, or join events online or in your area. It’s easy to browse and save anything of interest. You could even start and host events of your own to build your support network. Alternatively, try these platforms to help you make new friends.

Download: Meetup: Social Events & Groups for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)

6. Mumsnet Talk

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There are plenty of great websites for parenting tips and advice, and UK-based parenting forum Mumsnet has become one of the most influential online resources for parents worldwide over the last 20 years, with around 100 million page views per month.

Almost every topic you can think of is discussed here, as you’ll see if you visit the Mumsnet website. As you’d expect, there’s a real emphasis on pregnancy and parenthood, with plenty of experienced people ready to share their wisdom.

Download the free Mumsnet Talk app to get access to the community anywhere, with an excellent search function to help you navigate to the best groups for your needs.

Download: Mumsnet Talk for iOS | Android (Free)

7. Ovia Pregnancy & Baby Tracker

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Digital health company Ovia offers a pregnancy and baby tracker app that lets you record every moment of your baby’s development. It is one of the best apps for tracking fertility and ovulation and contains more educational content than some of the other apps listed here.

The Ovia app contains a supportive community of parents and parents-to-be where you can safely ask and answer questions about various aspects of your pregnancy. You can even use the app’s filters when you pose your queries to ensure they reach just the right people.

Download: Ovia Pregnancy & Baby Tracker for iOS | Android (Free)

8. The Bump

The Bump is a US-based pregnancy website that offers step-by-step advice for your journey to parenthood. This comprehensive resource provides product reviews and parenting advice from experts. Head to the Bump community for open forums where you can ask and answer questions covering every stage of your child’s development. US-based parents will find The Bump community particularly helpful, as it has local boards for every state nationwide.

Get Community Support and Advice With Your Pregnancy Journey

When you’re expecting a child, you understandably have many questions and worries, and if you don’t have a strong support network who can share the journey with you, it can all feel a little overwhelming at times.

There’s no need to let your cares and concerns dominate this exciting time. Whatever you’re seeking answers for, you can bet someone out there can offer the right advice. Use these community support apps and websites so that you won’t ever have to worry alone.

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