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

Parent WhatsApp chats can be fraught spaces for new mothers. But for Wendy Syfret they were a late-night digital sanctuary

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or 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.

Late-night descents into the digital abyss have rarely been fruitful for me. I’d fall into some paranoid void of content, commerce or conspiracy, only to emerge, hours later, exhausted and anxious.