Is this really true about cost of having a child?

I think £600 is about right tbh.

We don’t spend £600 every month, but across the year it probably average out.

Also you tend to spend more as a family on things because of a child. For example we have an annual local farm/ swim pass we didn’t buy pre child. we do more ‘days out’ also.
I work less hours to save on childcare, so childcare is tiny, but I earn about 50% less than 5 years ago, so as a family that a huge ‘cost’.
Food bill is approx £50 a week higher now ( mix of inflation and extra mouth)
We upgraded to a larger, ie more expensive car to comfortably fit us in.

Holidays or travel cost more. Once child is over baby age you can’t just get double hotel room, so have to pay premium for suite for everyone to fit. That’s often double the cost per night. We also now more likely to pay premium to fly at better suited times rather than landing at 11.30pm with small child.

we live somewhere with very cold winters and very hot summers. So it’s often a full wardrobe change per growth spurt and season. They can’t wear snow boots in summer even if they fit, and I don’t want them outside frozen due to not proper waterproof/ warm clothing. Ds nursery and the school actually issue clothing grants for proper weather suitable clothing ( but you need to be low earning/ other reason to be eligible). So annual budget for that is fairly high. I have just bought several uv swim tops and sea shoes for summer which aren’t cheap but I don’t want him burning

You could always just...... not buy it. Or buy a sensible amount that's in budget.

They can have a punnet a week and the rest of time have a banana, frozen berries, or do without.

OP how much do you earn? Could you both work 4 days and have a different non working day each week so you only need 3 days childcare? Then look into tax free childcare. Or both change your hours to reduce the amount of childcare you need by working around each other. But it obviously depends on what your jobs are.

There's a huge element in the cost expanding to take up the amount of money available, which is why if you ask people with above average incomes how much it costs, they'll quote amounts that are ludicrously high to people on more average incomes.

You could always just...... not buy it. Or buy a sensible amount that's in budget.

They can have a punnet a week and the rest of time have a banana, frozen berries, or do without.

OP how much do you earn? Could you both work 4 days and have a different non working day each week so you only need 3 days childcare? Then look into tax free childcare. Or both change your hours to reduce the amount of childcare you need by working around each other. But it obviously depends on what your jobs are.

There's a huge element in the cost expanding to take up the amount of money available, which is why if you ask people with above average incomes how much it costs, they'll quote amounts that are ludicrously high to people on more average incomes.

I use frozen fruit - 3 bags of soft fruit is £7.50 per week and doesn't go off in the fruit bowl. So factor in 1.5 kilo of fruit a week is £32 per month

Yes, I definitely wouldn't be making any plans about the 30 hours.

OP, if your DH is a lower earner then it may make sense financially for him to drop a day for childcare. Especially if he also has commuting costs. The 5th day of the week is the worst paid. Modest earners often find they aren't making much, or anything, from working 5 days instead of 4.

Yes in terms of guaranteed places, that is why we reserved a place not long after the positive pregnancy test as a 2 year waiting list already in our area. However after an initial uncertainty and talk of a plan of a review is the scheme that caused an absolute outcry, labour firmly said on April 3rd that they would definitely honour the funding toward 30 hours for 9 month plus as has been promised in the budget. Even before all this childcare funding there was never any guarantee of a childcare place, personally I think they should offer the same in tax breaks for parents who want to stay at home and care for their children. I love my job so will be taking up the childcare offer but a shame other mothers taking jobs and childcare places when they would prefer to care for their children themselves

Tbh no one really knows how the 30hrs is going to play out. It all depends on the level of funding and the recruitment of childcare workers!

£100/150? Sometimes there's a charity day or a school trip to contribute to. Don't tend to require much new school uniform once the term starts. Days out and treats on the weekend tend to be low key unless it's half term or holidays. Your budget is equivalent to £150 a week!

Most people who have babies don't save for them you will be fine. In terms of childcare fees, use a childminder they don't charge top up fees in most areas so the funding is a actually funding. As others have said it term time inly so works out at 20 hoursish a week.

Our primary school age children do cost a fair bit. Per child:

£250/month wraparound childcare - 3x week each

Activities - £100/month for my older one who really likes being busy, this includes swimming, martial arts, two school clubs, musical instrument and Beavers. It's a lot less for the younger one who doesn't like organised activities as much

Food - really hard to estimate, I agree with PP that we make more of a conscious effort to eat well and a variety, we eat a lot more things like salmon and soft fruit, also one child has a dairy allergy so we spend on substitutes. I would say it's probably at least £100 more on food per month

Clothes - we get a lot secondhand but even so maybe £20/month, including school uniform. Less for the younger one as he obviously gets hand me downstairs

Then there's toys, books, misc technology (yoto player, tablet etc), birthday presents for friends, holidays etc

I don't think £600/month is far off actually.

Of course a lot is discretionary - we pay a lot for activities relative to many families.

And also a lot is in how you count these things - I see at least one person has said they don't have childcare costs because they are a SAHM, I personally would count the loss of that salary as the cost of the childcare but everyone calculates these things differently

To be honest we didn’t find it made much difference whether worked full time or part time financially, once tax, student loans, childcare, commuting costs and having no time to budget/search for bargains etc was taken account of. I suppose if you are on a super ambitious career path e.g aiming to be a consultant or want a pension that will enable you to be cruising round the world then obviously you have to decide what your priorities are

Not a joke in our house unfortunately a huge chunk is spent on the berries and the peaches, nearly everyone I know with kids wishes they owned a blueberry/strawberry farm ha ha.

In reality though there is never a perfect time to have kids, regardless of how much you earn there will always be months where you need to penny pinch a bit more or when you have unexpected costs/realise the car seat or pram you spent a fortune on is actually a bit crap and you need a new one/ the kids break something, you need a professional carpet cleaner etc etc. You make it work somehow. If you can learn to cut your cloth accordingly most of the time you'll be able to muddle through the times where you're a bit skint.

I find this thread so strange - the OP's partner is paid less than £30k and the OP is talking about the possibility of going part/time in the future, and everyone is saying it will be fine. I'm not saying that it won't be, but surely it would be more helpful to the OP to be able to properly consider childcare and all of the other associated costs.

In all honestly, whatever stage you are at you just end up spending what you have, you are clearly not going to be in abject poverty so I wouldn’t worry. Not even being able to buy enough food for yourselves and living in a damp infested flat is a world away from whether or not you can afford baby swim classes, 5 punnets a week of organic strawberries, baby yoga etc or driving lessons/help towards uni for your teenager. With the latter, if you can you can and if you can’t then it doesn’t really make a huge difference. My teenagers got a job and paid for their own driving lessons and cars. Having just above what you need for essentials really isn’t too bad a place to be in i.e. can afford enough decent food and clothes, garden toys from marketplace, the non expensive school trips, a birthday treat, transport to get to the nice park, cubs, general kids swimming lessons etc. Past those little extras I’ve really not found there to be a huge relationship between what we’re spending and their happiness

The soft fruit cost made me laugh because it’s true - small fortune!

Childcare costs are insane but if you work part-time you can avoid a lot of them.

I haven't spent anything like £600/month on my child for the first three years. Nearly everything was secondhand. You don't need to spend £2k on a travel system. Food isn't much higher than before, dc eats small portions. More like £200/month I reckon. I'm a sahm without childcare costs.

Full time childcare at a private nursery for 1 child was nearly 900/mth for us. This included all food, but we needed to buy nappies at an extra cost of a pack every 3 weeks. It did get cheaper quickly as we managed to potty train him between 1.5-2 and so i stopped supplying nappies.

I strongly suggest you follow baby led weaning and wean him on the same food you’d eat at home. It will cut costs significantly. To help stop cooking with salt and just add yours at the table if needed.

Can get a lot of baby and children's things second hand in car boots and charity shops. Also eBay or Facebook marketplace. Churches often run cheaper baby and toddler groups. Babies can snack on cheap things like rice cakes. You could make some purees while still pregnant and freeze them for six months. If you have a child then you will probably spend less on holidays, hobbies and evenings out so can make some gains.

I've spent about £1000 on school trips this academic year (for two children). Two residential trips plus smaller trips.

We're just about to start this journey with my eldest, the costs are astronomical!

I'd say it's not the early years/school age that is the most expensive (bar childcare, but that's at least a fixed amount per month) it's teens that cost a bomb. You don't want them to miss out on stuff with their mates, clothes, phones, trainers, they eat as much (if not more) than your average adult. Secondary school uniform, residential trips and leisure activities they actually want to do are all very expensive. Trips to the park just don't cut it for a 14 year old.

I’ve got 3 kids to adulthood/teens without savings of £10000. You just live accordingly. Babies actually need very little essentials and you have 9 months to buy.
Teenage years are definitely the most expensive for unplanned costs.

By not rising with inflation it will effectively become worth less and less over time til barely worth anything . it's not even properly funded now.

Depends where you are in the country but assume that childcare will be at least £1000 per month for 4/5 days. The ‘free’ hours in a private setting (eg not a council run place like joined onto a school) don’t actually cover the full cost of the hours so there will be still additional cost. And remember those hours only cover term time so unless you work in education and have school holidays, you’ll need to fund holiday clubs.

I think there’s all sorts of issues with the 30 hours from 2YO promise I would be surprised if it gets rolled out…

Christ how do you think people on benefits and low incomes cope? They have more babies than anyone. You just manage.