To think SMP isn’t enough?

The research shows that babies are better at childminders, It is about age 3 that nurseries start to benefit children.
Find cheap parents and toddler groups, church ones are often a pound or two.

I honestly think the only answer these days is to really plan your babies and save up in advance. I’m due our first baby in April and we spent the best part of a year saving up before we started ttc because I didn’t want to have any money stress while pregnant or a new mum, and we knew we didn’t want to put our baby into nursery until they were at least 1 x

It's tough, we saved to make it possible, and I am taking on extra freelance work to have some 'fun money' whilst on mat leave. You can continue to breastfeed once you're back at work, I'd google 'reverse cycling' which tends to occur if you continue once you're at work.

Saved before TTC so we had enough to cover maternity (only had 7 month maternity as ran out of money). Lived frugally.

Checked out cost of nursery's before TTC to make sure we could afford it, minimised nursery costs by changing working patterns so dh worked at least one day at weekend and had a week day off. Took accrued leave during maternity off as one day a week to reduce nursery costs in first year.

Went on waiting lists and took first half decent nursery available (which he loved).

Stopped at one child.

The baby/preschool years are expensive but short. The primary school years are a logistical nightmare!

We saved like mad before ttc each child to cover maternity pay issues. Maternity leave wasn't really a huge issue. Childcare costs were worse as they took all my wags and some of dh to cover them

Just an idea, but if you've already got experience of working with young children, would you consider the idea of registering as a child minder? That way you could stay at home with your baby plus have a steady income too.

SMP is crap. But some people get it from the get go and can’t afford their bills. The tax payer isn’t there to fund fun or savings

I had 14 weeks full pay with my first and managed to put off going back to work until she was 5 months old by saving up my annual leave for the year before. These days you accrue annual leave while on maternity leave, which should help further.

I echo what someone else said about breastfeeding. No need to give up just because you go back to work. Mine never had formula because while I was on maternity leave I pumped and froze lots of milk. Once back at work I continued to pump until she was 12 months and I continued to feed her myself until she 18 months.

I’m only in first trimester & having enquired many nurseries round here are full until our child will be 2.

Well obviously if you have a very long time off with your baby, you may find it tough. I went back at 4 months with my first when the money ran out :(

For me it meant a lot of saving and cutting back. We saved enough so that my side of the bills were covered each month. DH then took responsibility of anything else/luxuries which we both limited.

It's what you are prepared to give up and how you can save costs. We stretched out our mortgage to make the repayment less, we have one car, I boxed dyed my hair for the year, stopped any beauty treatments, switched to cheaper brands for alot of things, saved a fortune not travelling to work and buying lunches, no/less holidays, limited eating out, sold stuff on eBay/vinted.

It was tight at times but we managed it twice. I went back to work part time due to childcare cost so I still have a lot less money than I did pre kids. Some of the above things I'm still doing to keep cost down.

Buy as much as you can from Vinted baby wise and maternity stuff too.
Baby clothes hardly get worn as they grow so fast and people sell loads of nearly new or new stuff on there. I didn’t discover it till DC was 2 but I would have used it from pregnancy if I’d known!!!

You can resell stuff too, and use the money to buy the next size.

Well I bet these comments are cheering OP right up! So full of empathy!

It is hard but it doesn't last forever - our second and last child will get their 30 hours in April and I am basically counting down the days... Also, it's hard but somehow not as hard as it looked on paper before we had them. I really, honestly don't know how DH and I spent so much money before we had kids, but it seemed that £1k a month on childcare just wouldn't be possible - we certainly didn't have £1k a month left over pre kids - but somehow it is, if tight.

On not being able to find a decent nursery place - have you looked at childminders?

there will be nothing left at all for fun, emergencies or savings.

But should the taxpayer be contributing towards your 'fun' and 'savings'?

I admittedly take a pretty hard line in that I think people who want to add to the already massive levels of overpopulation should fund it themselves.

Yes, we're told we need ever more people to look after the elderly but at some point we need to address this issue rather than just perpetuating it - the carers will then need more people to care for them and it goes round and round. Resources are finite and don't care about arguments like "oh, but we need more people to cope with the overwhelming amount of people".

I didn’t go back to work childcare in London was far too expensive, we moved to the other end of the country bought a lot less expensive house. I got made redundant (so we have redundancy for a bit) and we lived very frugally. No holidays abroad, one car etc. Most of the other parents I know around here use family as childcare, a few use nursery or a childminder a few days a week. A lot of women in particular go part/time whilst their children are young to save money. Some even work nights/weekends, people do what they need to.

Also don’t forget your KIT days which you will be paid for, also will you accrue annual leave while on maternity leave and companies usually pay you out for this so you could go back on to payroll a month before you go back if you had a months worth of holiday.

Your life and expenses will change, no travel to work and associated costs plus less nights out etc.

Congratulations. I planned carefully, and saved up before my maternity leave.

Just as well, as I was 'made redundant' first day back after maternity leave and spent 11 months fighting an unfair dismissal case, so that money had to last until my ex-employer decided to pay me off, to shut me up.

I found there was no money for 'savings, treats or emergencies' until ds was 4, at school and I was no longer paying childcare.

Best get used to it. 🙂 And make sure you tick the box for family legal insurance when you do your house insurance renewal. My £21 saved my £60,000.

You will most likely find you current outgoings reduce, no petrol or commuting costs. No buying lunches at work, more time for cooking proper food, meal planning and learning when the supermarkets, reduce their stuff. It's not easy but families do it all the time

NHS etc (6 months full pay if I remember correctly, much more than mine anyway)

The NHS is pretty good compared to a lot of employers but it’s not that good! It’s 8 weeks full pay, 18 weeks half pay, 13 week SMP and 13 weeks unpaid if you take the full year.

It is not supposed to cover more than essentials. Cut back now so you can see what it will cover and save the difference. You might get child benefit too.

Saving, budgeting and, being realistic, having a child with someone with a well paid job. We also decided to stick at one, partly for financial reasons.

Save as much as you can and then spread that out over your SMP months or no pay months

Don't forget you get child benefit aswell which add £96 to your monthly income