Mothers walk with baby carriages to combat loneliness at the "Mom Walk"

"What's the little one's name again?" asks one mother in Parc Milan in Lausanne to another who has just arrived. A few meters further on, between two baby carriages: "Did the birth go well?" or "Nice hat, I like it!"

"Sometimes there are twenty of us, sometimes there are two of us," says Bérénice Bohbot, the initiator of the project. A message wakes her cell phone: "Baby's too much stress, I'm not coming."

"It's very difficult to organize yourself as a young mother," continues the 33-year-old Dutch woman, mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. After giving birth, there is a huge change in a woman's life. "What's happening right now is huge. And suddenly you can't share it with anyone," says Bohbot.

Switzerland-wide meetings

Since February 2025, mothers have been meeting several times a month in Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Biel and Zurich during the postnatal period. There are now more than 3,500 mothers across Switzerland who meet regularly.

According to Bérénice Bohbot, between 65% and 90% of women in the postnatal period report a feeling of loneliness. In the most severe cases, this distress can lead to suicide, which is one of the most common causes of perinatal mortality in Switzerland.

Many of the mothers meeting for the walk in Lausanne at the end of May have only recently moved to the region, leaving behind friends abroad. Some are single mothers. Others are looking for advice on topics such as sleep, breastfeeding and bottle-feeding, but also on finding accommodation or how the Swiss administrative system works.

It's all about joy and friendship

The walks only become more complicated when the children get older and want to walk themselves. Until then, they are free and open to all young parents or relatives of the little ones.

If the organizer of a "Mom Walk" runs after her child who is jumping away, another volunteer mother takes over. The initiative is now organized as an association. Initial contacts have already been made with the maternity wards in the canton. The idea is to give every new mother the opportunity to take part in the stroller walks, says Bérénice Bohbot.

http://www.momwalk.ch/