Maternity hospital bag grant

rebecca82

I went to my Cwo this morning applying for the hospital bag grant as I am 34weeks pregnant only to be told that they don't do the grant anymore. I had a letter from my hospital. I think it's rediculous that its gone what if you r badly stuck all the little things add up and are quite expensive altogether

Rasmus

Put things in perspective. A hospital bag costs peanuts compared to what a baby and growing child is going to cost you...

leeomurchu

Hospital bag grant..:eek: No wonder this country is fecked

repsol

rebecca82 wrote: »

I went to my Cwo this morning applying for the hospital bag grant as I am 34weeks pregnant only to be told that they don't do the grant anymore. I had a letter from my hospital. I think it's rediculous that its gone what if you r badly stuck all the little things add up and are quite expensive altogether

I never even heard of this.How much money was it for what other grants does the CWO deal with for expectant mothers?

rebecca82

repsol wrote: »

I never even heard of this.How much money was it for what other grants does the CWO deal with for expectant mothers?

When I was around 17weeks I got a maternity clothes grant I got €100 for that I was told by the Cwo to go back at 33weeks to apply for the hospital bag which is €150 but now since the budget don't do it anymore. There's also one after baby is born to help with buggy and cot not sure how much this is.

VictorRomeo

rebecca82 wrote: »

I went to my Cwo this morning applying for the hospital bag grant as I am 34weeks pregnant only to be told that they don't do the grant anymore. I had a letter from my hospital. I think it's rediculous that its gone what if you r badly stuck all the little things add up and are quite expensive altogether

I think it's ridiculous that you expect this handout. After all, it was your choice to procreate.

snubbleste

What is/was the hospital bag grant..what goes in it..how much was it?

Rasmus

I keep laughing about this. A hospital bag grant - I almost can't believe it. Oh actually I can.

RedXIV

rebecca82 wrote: »

I went to my Cwo this morning applying for the hospital bag grant as I am 34weeks pregnant only to be told that they don't do the grant anymore. I had a letter from my hospital. I think it's rediculous that its gone what if you r badly stuck all the little things add up and are quite expensive altogether

Unfortunately OP, this is one of those things that when taken objectively does sound a bit over the top. As someone who has had two kids in the last 3 years while my partner was unemployed, we never even heard of this, and it wouldn't have crossed our mind to ask.

As we all tighten our belts here, think about all the stuff you have in the maternity bag, a lot of it you can get a loan of of pick up second hand. No way should it cost €150 to put one together?

Kerry_2008

This stuff p*sses me off big time. There is a grant for everything. My wife is due in a few weeks and between getting buggy, cot, car seat and other bits and pieces we have spent around 1400 already. I dont mind as we chose to have a baby. But, if you can't afford to pay for it don't have it.

Christ a maternity clothes grant, a hospital bag grand, a cot and buggy grant. No wonder the country is broke. Young ones getting pregnant (Not aimed at the OP at all here) to get a council house. Single mothers allowance. All these grants

PinkFly

Sweeping statement there

Sure it's just young single women striving for a council house that look for state help? Lol

sav1980

Is there actually anything you can't get a handout for in this country? Tired of paying taxes for this kind of crap!! If you can't afford a few things to see you through a couple of days in hospital, then how are you going to afford to feed, clothe and educate a child for the next 18 years?

minotour

seems like a perfectly legit question given the forum.

personal opinions shoudnt come into it.

Rasmus

minotour wrote: »

seems like a perfectly legit question given the forum.

personal opinions shoudnt come into it.

There wasn't any question.

joe316

I really cant get over this, no offence to the OP but no wonder we are in the sh*tter. Its your own choice to have a kid, go pay for it. Stop looking for handouts, go to Penneys for your clothes (you arent going to use them again) and Boots for your toiletries (3 for 2, etc.). It should cost you about 50 quid max. Thats what we did (baby was born last August), and we didnt skimp on anything for mother and baby, to date he has cost us about 15k.

rossit

crazy crazy stuff i cant believe this exsits

Bummppd

RedXIV wrote: »

Unfortunately OP, this is one of those things that when taken objectively does sound a bit over the top. As someone who has had two kids in the last 3 years while my partner was unemployed, we never even heard of this, and it wouldn't have crossed our mind to ask.

As we all tighten our belts here, think about all the stuff you have in the maternity bag, a lot of it you can get a loan of of pick up second hand. No way should it cost €150 to put one together?

I'm 38wks pregnant, And I also have never heard of this but I do understand where the OP is coming from, I've just finished getting everything for my bag and it came to well over 150euro.

RedXIV

Bummppd wrote: »

I'm 38wks pregnant, And I also have never heard of this but I do understand where the OP is coming from, I've just finished getting everything for my bag and it came to well over 150euro.

Really? Forgive me for prying but what exactly is going in these bags? Bedwear (all of €20 in pennys), toiletries (<€15, but seriously, you already have these at home), and a couple of baby things which really shouldn't count as "maternity bag" purchases rather than "newborn" purchases.

What drove our price up was the food (learned from the first time, 14 hours without even packing a sandwich), but even that might have pushed us just over €50, def not to €60.

Maybe its different if you are planning to spend a lot of time in the hospital afterwards? Think my better half spent about 36 hours the second time.

repsol

Just heard the 100 euro Gucci slippers grant is scrapped. I blame the feckin Troika!

Rasmus

If these grants exist, people will apply for them - no use blaming anyone for accepting something they are entitled to. Nobody complained when we received high amounts for children's allowance and the quarterly bonus or whatever it was. The hospital bag grant just should not have been there in the first place - 150 is plain nuts.

When I went into the hospital (a few years ago now) the bag I brought was something I already had at home (some kind of sports bag I didn't buy for the occasion) and the bits and bobs were stuff I had already being massively pregnant and awaiting the new baby.
I built up this collection over the previous months as the stuff you need in the hospital is the same stuff you need at home. What I did buy was a cheap nightie which I planned to get rid of afterwards.

Buggies, cots or what have you are all expensive and there is no denying that. If you truly need it, you will get help from your CWO but there should not be government mandated grants for everything under the sun.

Aphex Tim

Read the charter for this forum

6 - There is Zero Tolerance for posters being critical of those on benefits either individual posters or benefit claimants as a group.

Dr Turk Turkelton

leeomurchu wrote: »

Hospital bag grant..:eek: No wonder this country is fecked

Normally I stick up here for people on welfare as I believe a lot of hardship is caused by bad governance leading to huge unemployment that is causing hard times for people who want to be working.

In this case-wow are you serious?
You are bringing a chil into this world and you ant afford a couple of nighties and a packet of nappies?
You have obviously had kids before as you know about this grant when no one else seems to have heard of it.

This is a disgrace and a huge waste of public money.If you are going to procreate in the future save up for your child like everyone else.
I pity this poor child for the next 18 years if you can't afford it as a baby what are you going to do as it gets older and costs a lot more.

RedXIV

Aphex Tim wrote: »

Read the charter for this forum

I think most people are more annoyed with the presence of this particular grant than anything the OP has done. If anything, I'm a bit happier knowing its not accessible anymore even if it has made things slightly more difficult for the OP.

I guess it makes you think, what other under-the-radar grants are there we don't know about?

xLexie

Glad to hear this grant doesn't exist anymore. Typical ireland, get knocked up and be outraged when the government expects you to pay for your own child.

People not relying on hand outs from the state usually prepare for their child as soon as they find out there's one on the way, no? a packet of nappies this week, wipes next week, baby vests, burp cloths, whatever else you need. No sympathy for people leaving it til the last 7 weeks and then expecting someone else to pick up the bill. It's outrageous.

Bummppd

RedXIV wrote: »

Really? Forgive me for prying but what exactly is going in these bags? Bedwear (all of €20 in pennys), toiletries (<€15, but seriously, you already have these at home), and a couple of baby things which really shouldn't count as "maternity bag" purchases rather than "newborn" purchases.

What drove our price up was the food (learned from the first time, 14 hours without even packing a sandwich), but even that might have pushed us just over €50, def not to €60.

Maybe its different if you are planning to spend a lot of time in the hospital afterwards? Think my better half spent about 36 hours the second time.

Well all new bed and underwear, your talking 6pairs of pjs,2nightdresses,slippers, then you have maternity stuff like breast pads,maternity pads,cotten pants(sorry but you did ask:)), all toiletries more expensive than you think! And the vests,babygrows,nappies,cotten wool all have to be put in maternity bag so ya'd have to include those.I'm sure I've forgotten some too. I didn't get any help with getting this stuff but I understand how much pressure would be on the OP if she really thought she couldn't afford it.

uck51js9zml2yt

I was out of work 3 years. We had a baby in 2010 and made do with 2nd hand clothes. DS didn't know any different and we were glad to be able to clothe him.

We bought our pram and cot and went with functionality as opposed to fashion and a hefty price tag.

We didn't go with out hand out for grants and didn't expect them either.

Over 2 years on and most of his clothes are still bought 2nd hand. It would be impossible to keep him clothed at the rate he's growing if we bought new.

RedXIV

Bummppd wrote: »

Well all new bed and underwear, your talking 6pairs of pjs,2nightdresses,slippers, then you have maternity stuff like breast pads,maternity pads,cotten pants(sorry but you did ask:)), all toiletries more expensive than you think! And the vests,babygrows,nappies,cotten wool all have to be put in maternity bag so ya'd have to include those.I'm sure I've forgotten some too. I didn't get any help with getting this stuff but I understand how much pressure would be on the OP if she really thought she couldn't afford it.

Thanks very much for answering

I can see now why you would have spent more than we did.

However, and this is not an attack on you, you are more than entitled to bring whatever you want , but "all new bed and underwear", while nice to have, can be replaced with "existing", maternity stuff I'll give you, not going to even try to argue that :P but the baby stuff, as above I'd be inclined to call that "newborn" expenses rather than "maternity bag" expenses. As many people have mentioned already, the easy way is to pick up bits and pieces from the day you hear you are pregnant, thats what we did and hence why it didn't "cost" us anything to put baby stuff in the bag.

Again, not attacking you specifically, I was just looking to see what you had done to bring the value of the contents up.

P.S. Best of luck with the baby

cee_jay

People are reminded to read charter before posting.
I am at work at the moment so Don't have time to deal with this fully.
Thread locked.