Cambridge teen mum: 'I felt like the only person to have a baby'

Mollie and 13-month-old Torin have found friendship and support through a charity's young parent group

A teenage mum who had her son during lockdown felt she was "the only person ever to have had a baby" as "none of my friends were having babies".

Mollie, now 20, met other young mums through Romsey Mill Trust's young parent support group in Cambridge.

"We've all had babies in a pandemic, we're all younger than normal, it's just nice to get that help," she said.

The programme is one of thousands funded by the BBC's annual charity fundraising TV special Comic Relief.

Young dad Ben has benefited from the young fathers' group

Mollie said having a lockdown baby made her feel even more isolated as "you couldn't go out and meet anyone".

There was none of the usual support new parents get from ante-natal classes and parent and baby groups.

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"Finding out you're going to be a parent and not really having anyone to talk to was like - 'ooh what am I going to do?'" she said.

Her son Torin is now 13 months old.

The charity's co-ordinators, like Judith Cork, offer one-to-one support, antenatal classes tailored to young parents and support with further training, education, employment

Judith Cork, Romsey Mill Trust young parents programme coordinator, said: "Young parents are increasingly a real minority within society because generally people are having babies older and older.

"If you are 18 or 19 and having your first children, that does feel very different to a lot of the rest of society."

The charity also runs a young fathers' group.

Ben, who looks after his son Brodie, said: "You realise there's no right time to have a baby; it's when you're ready, and you never know when you're ready until you have a baby."

Romsey Mill's young parents programme provides personal, educational and parenting support to under 25s in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.

Mollie enjoys seeing "all the other girls like doing their thing, living their lives"