East Leeds is where I currently live. It is a socially deprived area and is mainly council estates. There are a lot of young mums and single mums. I know this for a fact as I also work in the area as a teacher. There are some baby groups in the area but most seem to involve travelling elsewhere in the city. I lived in SE London before which was similar in a lot of ways but much more multicultural.

I lived in Woolwich for 10 years and one of the main reasons I moved out of SE London was to have a baby as I didn't want her attending any of the local secondary schools due to the gang culture and crime.

I live in Crawley. We have a little parade with shops near our house and the usual staples in town - Mothercare, ELC, Boots etc. If I want something posher or bigger like Mamas and Papas then it's a trip to Croydon, London or Brighton.

I had a home birth which was unusual I think but it's becoming more popular, and I was lucky that my NHS area allowed them. I think it's because we have 'posher' places like Horsham and Surrey under our PCT umbrella. From what I can tell from people I've seen and met, I'm unusual to be breastfeeding, especially past 6 weeks and even more so past 6months. I don't know anyone else who really follows AP but that said, I'm sure if I branched out a bit I might. The area in which I meet people through Surestart etc. is quite 'poor', well, the majority of people round here regard it as a rough/bad area but coming from Bolton I consider this quite nice!

There's a fair amount of stuff to do within an hours drive but as we no longer have a car I don't get to as many groups as I'd like. I want to do baby yoga, baby signing, music etc but it's in community centres across town that are nowhere near bus stops.

The other day my OH said something about how he was sad we were bringing our son up here (I think we'd just passed some chavs having a fight or something) but if we had the money I'm not sure I'd move as we have greenery on our doorstep, nice neighbours, and a good bus network.

I live in Dubai- UAE (Middle east). It's multi-cultural, & we usually mix with different races & nationalities.

Life here is convenient. U can find almost everything u want (apart frm a jumperoo! which is always out of stock).

U have to drive to a mall for ur shopping. U can find all the brands u'r looking for in a single mall. Dior kids, Moschino kids, tommy, Mothercare, Chicco, M&P, Toys r us, boots, etc.. & other cheaper unknown brands, & all r located in the same area in the mall. Everything is tax free.

The problem here is the weather. It's too humid & hot. There is nothing natural here, everything is artificial & man-made including parks & lakes. & we live in Towers with air conditioning 24/7.

Health care is a disaster, there r lots of hospitals & clinics but nothing is free. Medical insurance is private for expats.

Here also they promote natural birth (CS is not elective for 1st baby) & breast feeding. At the hospital when I asked for formula (which I am paying for), after 18 hrs with unsuccessful BFing, they looked at me as if I was asking for poison.

Working moms usually hire a full time nanny/house keeper (who stays with the family 24/7 with no days off) for their kids (much cheaper than nurseries & day care). & the maternity leave is 6 wks.

I dont depend on any cultural experiences in raising my baby. I just follow my instinct & my baby's lead. I do lots of search on the net & read some books. BnB helpt me alot as I dont have any relatives here & most of my friends r single with no kids.

Thanks everyone - this is really interesting. Cautiously poking my head out of my internet-privacy-freak closet, I am on the Southfields-Putney border so Putney was the mum-and-baby-central I was talking about....

I am from Toronto and it is a very multicultural city where there is a mix of everything.
Since it is a large city, there are many resources for mums of all income levels. Luckily in Canada the healthcare is free and maternity leave is a year which can be split between both parents if desired. I couldn't even imagine getting only 6 weeks as another poster suggested!
OMG! I wasn't in any way mentally prepared when LO was that young.

Theres lots of support for breastfeeding here - free clinics everywhere. If you choose to get a midwife rather than a doctor, they offer tons of help as well. During my prenatal yoga class about 1/2 of the students were going with a midwife and a few having home births. You can't get a midwife unless you have a low-risk pregnancy. They don't push for epidurals though - I had to specifically ask about it (though I didn't get one) - but they offer other types of pain relief including gas & air. They are in the process of building a birthing centre where I lived, but as of now I couldn't have a water birth unless I was also having a home birth.

I moved cities recently - still a largish city (for Canada!) but smaller than Toronto. Theres lots of resources here for mums too. Lots of activity groups and fitness for new mums. Lots of schools too - we live in a french area so many are french, but we won't be here when LO is in school. Though we would have no prob sending him to a french school.

Where I live now is beautiful! Lots to do - especially outdoor activities like X-country skiing (really great), kayaking, cycling, and hiking all within a few min. Good downhill skiing/snowboarding within a few hours. Also lots of mum/baby activities really close.

Breastfeeding is normal to see here too - you see it in restaurants and cafes all the time and I see it almost every time I go to ikea LOL. All baby stores have a bf room if you are more shy about whipping out the boob in public. Lots of babywearing and lots of cloth nappies too!

The only thing is its dang cold in the winter! I'm a hot-weather gal though, so all my friends are running to the ski slopes and out snowshoeing and I'm hiding under the blankets LOL.. Gets hot in the summer too (down to -30C in winter and up to +30C in summer) but I love it!

xx

ps: Seraphim - I agree - where you live sounds fab!

This is weird becasue I was just thinking about this very issue earlier today! The area where we live in Hampshire is very wealthy and middle class, which has its up sides and down sides. Many people here are actually pretty politically right wing and being a teacher I am a bit of a leftie which can make me feel a little out of place at times. BF is very much the done thing here - all the new mums I have met apart from one are BF, and there is a huge amount of support, I have been so impressed, there is basically help on hand 24/7.

There are lots of groups, places in town are very child friendly and at 32 I am one of the younger mums! Most people have done NCT and natural birth is the thing that everyone aims for although most mums I have met have not ended up with one! The Surestart Centre seems to be used almost exclusively by middle class mums.

On the down side, I am the main earner in our house as OH doesn't earn much, and I am very much in the minority in planning to return to work at 6 months. Most other mums are either taking a whole year off and then returning part time, or else not returning at all. It is the norm for men to be high earners and be able to support their wives.

On the flip side, I teach in inner city Southampton where the situation is very different. It has one of the higest teen pregnancy rates in the country and many of the young people I have worked with have been pregnant and had babies. I think from what I have seen, that Southampton is very pro active in supporting young mums and promotes natural birth and has lots of support for BF. I think the services in Hampshire from my experience are really very good indeed. I do think that my area and peer group has affeced my decisions a great deal.

I'm in North Shropshire, right on the Welsh border! Where are you moving to?
You might be surprised by the lack of baby wearing! I have Izzy in a pouch and I seem in the minority, I think I saw one other mum a while back but that was a newborn!

Hi this is interesting reading about different areas.

We live in Dundee in Scotland. Dundee is a medium sized city. There are alot of teenage mums here. We also have a fairly high drug population. Serious crimes though are not high here.

Dundee has everything that you need. All high street shops you would need. There are classes for babies from music classes, book classes, swimming groups, mother and toddler groups etc. There is a shortage of HV's here so they visit occasionally!

Employment is not good here at the moment due to construction industry collapse.

I don't think up here we take too much notice tbh of what others think or take notice of what other people do or are influenced by others. Pretty much we all do what we feel comfortable with and people accept it.

Oooh this is such an interesting thread i had to go get another brew! (even though i am meant to be going to bed )

We live in Manchester, and where we are i feel caught between two very different worlds! There are lots of council estates nearby and some incredibly poor and deprived areas but equally in the opposite direction we have extremely wealthy suburbs with parades of posh coffee shops and bars etc.

We have four, yes four sure start centres all within what i would consider walking distance of our house, and there is loads to do for new mums and babies, most of it free, although some things not affiliated with sure start, like baby sensory, baby signing, and baby yoga etc, you obviously have to have money for!

We live in a 3 bed terrace which we rent, and in this particular area i would say that's pretty common, it's mainly all terraces around here, and i'd say it's a mix of owner occupied and private rentals. We have a fair few primary schools although we're not at a stage yet where i could tell you how good they are?! And despite only being about 2/3 miles out of the city centre i would say we have a fair amount of greenery nearby in terms of trees, parks and playing fields.

I am not very good at judging age but looking around at baby massage yesterday i'd say i was the youngest mum there (i'm 25) and probably the poorest but again- not sure if that's actually true, could just be me assuming everyone else is better off, but perhaps they're all just playing at "keeping up with the joneses" and not letting on that really they haven't got two pennies to rub together?!

I do find it odd that sure start was really an initiative aimed at improving the early years of children in poorer areas but around here at least seems to be mainly accessed by people who appear comfortably off.

Anywho, all mine and OH's family and most of our close friends live miles away in Yorkshire/Wales/other parts of the North West, so it's hard for me to say what is 'normal' in terms of parenting

We chose to do NCT antenatal classes because of having very few friends who have children, but again we were the youngest (and poorest!) couple in the class (and i know that for definite this time! ) I do meet up with the other mums and babies from the classesnow, and tbh it's a mixture in terms of breastfeeding/formula feeding, some of us baby wear and others don't, only two of us had even heard of BLW, we all have posh prams (but we got ours in the sale Haha) we're all going back to work, although there are a couple who don't actually need to but want to, and a couple of us who i think would like NOT to but HAVE to iykwim?

The NCT classes themselves though were in the direction of the wealthy suburbs with the nice shops and cafes, and so aren't really representative of what is actually the 'norm' in my area. I can tell you that the HV's at baby clinic always look shocked when they ask if Toby is still exclusively breastfed and i say yes. But on the other hand at baby massage yesterday there were 3 out of 9 of us with our baps out at some point!

I don't think cloth nappies can be very popular as i've had lots of stares and questions about Toby's fluffy bum.

I should say that when i say "poorest" by no means are we on the bread line, before mat leave i worked full time as a nurse and OH works full time (although has applied to go back to uni this september so then things really WILL be tight! ) Like i say, i think we're caught between two worlds, there will be a lot of families round here living off benefits or minimum wage, but compared to the couples in our antenatal classes, they would probably keel over if they knew what our 'expendable income' is!

In terms of labour and birth, the hospital most local to us caters for all of central manchester and therefore has a large and busy consultant led unit but also now a MLU with one room with a birthing pool, so again it's a real mix, although looking at the statistics for the hospitals around here, the hospital i had Toby in does have a slightly higher rate of caesereans and also inductions compared to the national average.

In conclusion though (i feel like i'm finishing up an essay! I think i have waffled a bit haven't i?! ) I'm not sure if living here has had any impact upon my choices as a pregnant lady or parent, i think i always wanted to give breastfeeding a go, and aimed to have a natural birth (although didn't get one ) and OH and i always liked the idea of baby wearing and re-usable nappies, i think it's just who we are, rather than where we live having much to do with it (although i can definitely see how it could have an impact, perhaps we would have felt it more if the people we were close to lived more locally? )