ADVICE - Child maintenance when still together

[usernameannonymous]

Hi there, hoping to get a bit of advice about child maintenance money.
I'm expecting my first little one soon, babies dad and I are still together but we're not living together yet. Would I be unreasonable to ask him to pay child maintenance?
Has anyone else ever been in this situations and could give me their experience?
Thank you in advance

If you aren’t living together then yes, he should contribute because he isn’t contributing to your household in the way he would if you lived together.

Use the governments calculator and he should pay that, that’s actually the bare minimum he should pay btw.

How much does he look after the child? You and he should be working together as a team to look after and pay for your child.

Do you normally work? Are you on mat leave? Is he taking any parental leave?

i dont know if my situation was similar to yours at the mo, however i had a baby in my teens and remained living at home with my parents, my boyfriend and i were not able to live together for many reasons. cost being the main one but also we hadnt been together long either. he paid me £135 a month towards the baby (his parents charged him quite a lot of rent as well) this was 20+ years ago though so id prob ask for about £200 a month. sorry if im totally of track.

@memememe
No it's really helpful to hear someone's experience firsthand.
Like another pp said, I understand having a baby is more of a commitment than living together but for various reasons, we're not able to live together.
But no, you weren't totally off track, you were quite helpful

OK so under the circs I'd agree that everything you buy now, you split but be sensible. If money is tight, second hand is perfectly good enough. Work out how much of each stuff you need for clothes in sizes up to 3 months, blankets etc. Look around for the big items and split these.

Then I'd do the maths - cost if nappies per month, cost of formula if you don't breast feed (i have fat 4 month old twins, we spend just over £100 a month on formula and £20 on Aldi nappies). Baby wipes say a tenner. So maybe £70 a month for shopping.

Then do a big shop for the next size up clothes and split it, it's when you buy little bits frequently that the costs spiral and are harder to track. Also means if people gift you clothes you don't overbuy.

Not sure if you're entitled to extra benefits once baby is here as you presumably won't be entitled to jobseekers equivalent.