Childless couples now account for more than 40 per cent of family households in the UK, official statistics have revealed - but parents are taking to social media to reveal how having kids has made them lose friends and soured life-long relationships.

Becoming a mother or father 'really does show you who your true people are', influencers have revealed, as they got candid about the lack of support often becoming evident in their circles.

'I'm just the best friend who has a baby,' Shannon Allman (@shannonallmanx), from the UK, shared in a TikTok from April last year.

She opened up about feeling as though she 'doesn't exist anymore because she has a baby' and 'not getting invited anywhere'.

Shannon, 25 - who has two sons - added that she feels like she just 'changes nappies, makes bottles and waits to be included'.

'I'm just the best friend who has a baby,' Shannon Allman (@shannonallmanx) shared in a TikTok from April last year

'If I don't text first will I even hear from you?' she questioned.  

What's more, outside her friends' perceptions, the parent also deals with societal motherhood pressures, such as being seen as not loving her baby if she has an evening to herself or being told certain clothes are 'inappropriate' for her to wear in settings with her friends.

And Chelsea (@cheleseamc_x), who is in her twenties and had a baby in November, recently shared her own experience too.

'Once you have a baby you realise that not everyone is actually your friend,' she said in a December TikTok.

'They all can't wait to be 'auntie' and promise you throughout your pregnancy they'll always be there for you but once you actually have the baby they are no where to be seen.

'No texts to check up on you and baby, no one bothers to make plans with you and most "friends" leave you by yourself at one of the hardest times in life when they promised to always be there.' 

Elsewhere that month, parenting influencer Sophie Harris (@looking_after_mum) shared a post about the 'grief' many feel over lost friendships after they become parents.

'No one talks about the grief you feel over lost friendships when you become a mum,' she wrote.

'Sometimes it's friends who you always thought would always be there who don't show up.

'Other times it's you who is too overwhelmed and exhausted to reach out to anyone and you become isolated.

'Either way, it's one of the bigger transitions that you didn't expect about postpartum.' 

Sophie, a Pregnancy and Postpartum Therapist and Coach, who is also a mum herself. added: The early parts of motherhood can feel lonely as you lose and find your identity, and lose and find your new friendships.

'Some people meet a bunch of new mum friends. Whilst others don't find their motherhood tribe.'

However, it would appear not all friendships suffer so dramatically, as the social media app is also filled with pals who are overjoyed to care for their bestie's baby.

'POV: your best friends has a baby so you can now finally live your cool aunt era,' Sabina (@sabinaxdx) said in a video enjoying a London outing with her friend's little one. 

'Doing life with my new bestie,' she added. 

However, on the other side of the divide, people have also opened up the disconnect they feel when their friends have babies and retreat into parenthood.

'It becomes us vs. them. On one side: People With Kids (PWIKS: frazzled, distracted, boring, rigid, covered in spit-up; can't talk about movies, only about how they wish they had time to see them),' Allison P. Davis wrote in a viral essay about the issue for The Cut.

'And on the other: People Without Kids (PWOKS: self-absorbed, entitled, attention whores, grumpy about life's inconveniences even though their life is easy).

When those slights go unaddressed, it becomes all too easy to pull away.'

She also dubbed babies 'adorable little detonators' which for many felt like a ticking countdown to an explosive end of a friendship. 

Speaking to the Huffington Post, one childfree New Yorker also opened up about how she manages the feeling that her friends are slipping away.

'I think for me it has been about the ease of making plans. In the past, there was an ability to grab drinks on the fly, or plan a girls' trip or get together easier,' Tiffany Dyba, 41, told the outlet.

'Now it is definitely more juggling and more work to get things on the calendar.'

She has however worked to give 'grace' to her parenting pals, and refocus how she sees them. 

'I find myself being more flexible,' she said. 'Sometimes you have to schedule catch-up time or wait longer for a response back to your text. That doesn't mean they don't care or don't love you. It means they are doing their best.'

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were an additional 469,000 families in the UK last year, compared to 2013 - and two in five had no children in them.

The figures were released as part of the ONS's annual bulletin on the composition of families and households throughout the UK.

It defines a family unit as a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple, living with or without their single children.

There were an estimated 19.5 million families living in households in the UK, last year.

The increase was around 1.1million (6 per cent) compared to 2013 when the ONS estimated there was around 18.4million families.

It reflected the general growth in the UK population, which stood at 6 per cent for the decade 2012-2022, the most recent data available.

The figures also revealed a third of young men aged 20-34 were living at home with their parents, last year.

This compared to less than a quarter (22 per cent) of young women.

They accounted for 3.6 million young people living at home with their parents – 28 per cent of all young people.

It was an increase of 2 per cent compared to 2013, although the trends were broadly the same.

In 2023 less than half of men were living with their parents by age 25, an increase of one year compared to 2013.

The trend was the same in women with less than half living with parents by age 22 in 2023, again an increase of one year compared to 2013.

And there was increase in lone-parents with adult children.

There were 3.2 million lone-parent families in 2023, a 200,000 rise compared to 2013.

But among those families those living with adult children accounted for 130,000, more than half of the increase over the decade.

The ONS defines adult children as 'non-dependent', meaning they are over 18-years-old but living with parents and they do not have a partner, spouse, or child.

It also includes 16-18-year-olds not in full-time education.