MNHQ here: what do you think of this survey?

[AliceDMumsnet]

Hello all,

We've had a few press requests about a new survey released today. We want to know what you think about the findings that suggest that parents on average spend nearly £10,000 (£184 per week) in the first year of parenthood. For example, the survey suggests that new parents are spending £62 per week on food and £20 on nappies.

What do you think? Let us know!

MNHQ

[EDITED BY MNHQ BECAUSE WE WERE HALF ASLEEP WHEN POSTING]

[savagehk]

£62 a week extra on food for the baby or £62 in total on food?

If the latter, is that any different from what it was before becoming parents?

[MrsHathaway]

£62 sounds wrong - unless they're including money spent on formula milk I can't work out how you'd possibly spend that much on a newly-weaned baby, or that little on sleep-deprived parents

£10k extra? Is that including loss of earnings?

Sounds like bollocks tbh. Could you link the survey?

[Wtfdoipick]

£20 a week on nappies sounds quite high too. My dd was a very good eater from as soon as she was weaned but I very much doubt she got through £10 of food a week.

£10,000 as an average is possible but could be seriously influenced by a small handful of parents who spend an excessive amount.

[savagehk]

£20 a week on nappies makes my reusable stash seem completely bargainous even counting a few slightly-more-expensive-pretty-ones-we-probably-didn't-need :D

[BookShop]

In my experience you have those parents that buy out Mothercare for their first DC. You then have those that are a bit more sensible but whose spending increases marginally.

I think £184 a week is plausible with the first category. (I'm looking at you DSIL)

[NotCitrus]

That must be coming from loss of earnings and a few parents spending £20k doing up a nursery and buying three £500 prams, surely? Unless it's everything the parents spend in total, in which case you'd need to know what the increase was.

£20/week on nappies sounds a bit high even. Personally I wasn't meaning to be a crunchy hippy parent but apart from about £200 on equipment and visits to appts to help with breastfeeding, and probably £10 a week on extra coffee and cake, I spent almost nothing on the baby and thanks to being able to shop around and not need a season ticket, saved money over the first year.

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello all

The press release we've got doesn't seem to specify whether the costs mentioned are totals, or increases occasioned entirely by the fact of having a child - we'll let you know if we hear more. We also don't have a link at the moment but we'll put one up if we get one!

Sorry for being so unhelpful...

[MrsHathaway]

"What do you think of this number without context?"

"Not a lot, tbh."



Poor Alice!

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

When they say average do they mean mean median or mode?

[yaela123]

We spent a lot more on PFB than the others because we could reuse most things (cots, highchair, pushchair, monitors, etc.) and lots of stuff also turned out to be unnecessary.

[RowanMumsnet]

Sorry, sorry... £10,000, not £10,00

MORE COFFEE NEEDED

[pitterpatterrain]

On the face of it their nappies figure seems odd. Assuming 10p per nappy that is around 28 per day which is pretty enthusiastic going

Are they assuming all costs related to changing nappies in that - bags, changing mat / table, wipes, not sure what else would add up(!)

[pitterpatterrain]

Well, saying that I can see on Asda website that the price per nappy can be as high as 22p (Pampers) but that would still be a lot of nappies used per day

[WindyBottoms]

The nappies cost sounds high. Even a quick look on the ASDA website will show that for £16 you can buy almost 150 of their biggest size nappies for that. Even if the figure included wipes and nappy cream, it would still be high.

And formula and food for a baby would surely be nowhere near £62 per week?

If those two sets of figures are so inflated, I'm not sure I'd trust the rest of the figures either.

[pitterpatterrain]

Are they including childminder / nursery costs if people go back to work before 12 months?

[pitterpatterrain]

But in general: sounds like it may be a survey that they have cherry picked for some top-line numbers that match in with whatever they are trying to advocate / sell

[DermotOLogical]

10k?!

Who can afford to spend that? The nappies figure seems ridiculous. As does the extra food. What baby eats £62 of food per week!

[steppemum]

hmm, hand me down moses basket, and most clothes, EBF til 6 months, so that would just be the cost of nappies.

Seems a bit much.

On the other hand, my BIL and SIL bought lots of beautiful nursery furniture, and spent loads decorating the room, complete with every mod con for baby. She formula fed, so costs of formula plus bottles etc, and bought all new clothes.
She probably did spend that much!

[redshoeblueshoe]

MNHQ - may I suggest you keep away from

Delete this thread - and give Alice a verbal warning or a prize for the most stupid thread of the day

[EnormousTiger]

Full time childcare either nursery in London or nanny is going to be about £24k for a start so £10k sound utterly unlikely for parents who both work full time! Or else you give up one whole wage and that is going to be losing a similar amount if not more for many people.

A few baby clothes are neither here nor there when you consider childcare costs or loss of a wage.

[MrsHathaway]

But Tiger the survey is about the first year, the cheapest of all (if you don't count loss of earnings). That's what's baffling!

[pitterpatterrain]

EnormousTiger agreed once you start adding in loss of wage and childcare you could end up more than £10k

I could say DD1 "cost" me £7.5k in childcare in her first year but that's because I returned to work when she was 6 months ... if we add other stuff I am sure you could reach the £10k figure but I am not sure what the actual point of it is - a completely averaged out number which varies so much seems a little useless tbh

Mumsnet - why were they asking for a comment?

[GooseFriend]

I would imagine the stats have been skewed as the outliers haven't been removed. If the average earns are in the £20k region and most people also hsve personal debt I do t think there is the room in most people's budget for £10k extra spending.

[Neverknowing]

I probably spend £20 on nappies a month! No way my five month old has cost us that!!

[BillSykesDog]

I know when I had my first child we changed their nappy all the time. One tiny bit of blue line showing wee and we whipped it off. Took us ages to realise it wasn't necessary. Plus I can believe £62 extra on food too. Lots of microwave meals and takeaways when you're too knackered to cook.