Motherhood in 2025:

Where did the village go?

Research from 2000+ women from the Peanut community

In 2025, Peanut and Nuna surveyed 2,250 mothers around the world with one pressing question:

“Do you feel supported in motherhood?”

The answers paint a portrait of a profound emotional crisis, with women feeling unseen, overwhelmed, and isolated in what is often billed as the most connected era in history.

1. Key findings

18%

Less than 18% of mothers feel fully supported.

70%

feel like they’re doing motherhood alone.

75%

feel they have less of a village than their mother’s generation.

77%

feel they have less of a village than their grandmother’s generation.

This report dives into the systemic failure of modern support structures and what it means for families, workplaces, and culture.

Modern motherhood is fractured. Behind filtered feeds and curated milestones lies a daily struggle for connection, care, and acknowledgment. Our findings reveal how widespread the breakdown is:

65%

have cried from feeling unsupported.

77%

avoid asking for help due to guilt or shame.

56%

say they feel less supported than they expected before becoming mothers.

“For someone to have checked in on me fresh postpartum - that would have made all the difference.”

Anonymous Peanut User |

"I wish I had a partner who could take on more of the mental load."

Connie |

New Zealand

The fourth trimester, a term meant to validate the continued intensity of post-birth, is emerging as a crucial flashpoint of unmet need. And yet,

20%

Only 20% felt fully supported during this pivotal time.

There’s a clear void. A cultural amnesia about how much support early motherhood actually requires.

2. Support vs. Isolation: A Compounding Crisis

Our data reveals a powerful, painful correlation: when we emotionally isolate ourselves, we have a supportless experience of motherhood.

7.95

Mothers who reported no indicators of isolation - no crying, no shame, no sense of loneliness - rated their sense of support at a high 7.95/10.

6.58

Those with one marker (perhaps they’ve cried once, or hesitated to ask for help) saw their score fall to 6.58.

5.21

For those carrying two or more isolation flags, the support score plummeted to 5.21.

Cultural expectations pile on top: the myth of doing it all, the pressure to bounce back, the lie that needing help is weakness.

“Social media makes you feel like you’re the only one failing.”

We now ask mothers to do everything while pretending it’s nothing.

It’s an emotional landslide.

Each additional burden, every tear cried alone, every time help wasn’t asked for, every moment spent silently coping, chips away at a mother’s sense of safety, visibility, and worth.

The worst part? Over half (51%) of all surveyed mothers had two or more of these isolation indicators.

It’s not a fringe experience. It’s the norm.

In 2025, for millions of mothers, emotional suppression has become a survival mechanism. Shame has replaced support. Silence has replaced sisterhood.

And the longer a mother spends in that silence, the less likely she is to believe help is even available.

This is what makes isolation in motherhood so uniquely dangerous: it doesn't just coexist with a lack of support — it reproduces it.

3. The Role of Work and Culture

Motherhood has always been emotional labor. In 2025, it’s also performance art, especially in the workplace.

65%

say they’d feel less alone in motherhood if their workplace were more supportive.

76%

say they feel they must hide parts of their motherhood at work.

“My boss was a mum - she just got it.”

Anonymous Peanut User |

“I left my corporate job after they refused flexibility even though I’d previously delivered flexible work successfully.”

Anonymous Peanut User |

Canada

“I was scared to tell my male-dominated workplace I was pregnant. But they were so understanding. That really mattered.”

Amber |

Australia

4. Rebuilding the Village

Despite the noise, the need is simple: real connection. A modern village doesn’t have to be dozens of people in a set radius, it’s one friend who checks in, one colleague who sees the whole you, one platform that helps you feel less alone.

We asked moms what they’re really missing from their village:

“One mum friend. Just one who I could text to say ‘this is hard’ without shame.”

Anonymous Peanut User |

Australia

“Someone to check in. A real human, not a blog.”

Lauren |

"Support from family and friends who check in, look out for signs of struggle, and a loving community."

Anonymous Peanut User |

This is the ethos behind Peanut: the (digital) village mothers were promised, but never handed.