Babies are not that expensive..

Maybe we could sell them to rich catholic yanks.

Sure babies are not particularly costly to support, particularly if sensible with hand me downs and breastfed.

They tend to grow though and it's when they get older, that they become expensive. A spike with any early childcare costs, less for a period in primary school and then soars again in teenage and college years.

Then they need to live at home as nowhere can be rented at reasonable cost and when they try to buy, assistance with mortgage.

But babies are cheap comparatively.

Provided you exclusively breast feed, use cloth nappies (line-dried), buy 2nd hand everything (buggies, clothes,toys), don't use a car (so no car seat) - and the kid never gets sick enough to need medicine (GP is free, the pharmacy isn't). then, yeah the first six months ain't too bad.

(Seriously do you know anyone who does ALL that????)

But then maternity benefit ends and ya gotta feed them solids and pay for childcare ... costs really take off.

That's if you can find childcare to take a baby before they are one. Friends of mine couldn't and had to take unpaid leave.

€90 on average for your first child seems low enough when you average out the cost of all the stuff you need to have for babies these days. €90 would cover two, maybe 3 days in crèche.

At a minimum, a baby needs a modern cot, a car seat (and it's advised to not buy second hand), food and clothes. For practical reasons they also need a stroller. Most expensive of all is the minding they require.

Other nice to haves are a travel system and travel cot.

It all adds up.

Prams, food, nappies, clothes, toys, cots, bottles, baby monitor, blankets

What planet are you living on?

I imagine you are a man. Maternity leave alone can cost so much money. I HAD to take 6 months maternity leave after having my children, despite my job not paying it. So I had a €240 per week state benefit per week for 26 weeks (then €245 per week on my subsequent maternity leave) for 26 weeks, which meant that my two entire pregnancies required a LOT of saving so I could afford to live while I was off.

You have to buy new mattresses and car seats per child for safety purposes.

Kids don't magically give up formula at 12 months either, some fussy feckers refuse cows milk or water so it isn't as simple as moving onto those at 12 months, unless breastfeeding. If a woman plans on returning to work, the child will need to stay hydrated so this will require a massive amount of experiment with various drinking receptacles and fluids. Lots of bottles and cups will be tested during this time.

I am a massive fan of Zero Waste/ Freecycle Facebook pages and second hand baby things (I also used cloth nappies) but there are some things that you cannot get second hand,like vests (they end up stained by poop or during the food weaning process).

I am budget conscious and could not believe how much I spent in the first few months of my kids' lives in the chemist- breast pads (I often used reusable but sometimes they were not sufficient), thermometres, teething gel, Calpol, moisturisers, skin creams, bath washes (all child specific so require some testing out!), nappy rash cream (I also made my own with breast milk), etc. I think I "did" my first year of motherhood as cheaply as possible but it still cost me loads!

Worth every penny of it, yes they are expensive - especially the older they get, but it is manageable. One earner household here so have no outgoings for creches etc... if the OH was to work, most of their wages would probably be gone on childcare costs, taxes, commute costs, etc... so not worth it. Kids are into a fair few activities and have to say the GAA is brilliant value for them to partake in. Irish Dancing is a money pit though.

I got all mine for free... Enjoyed it, too!

Cot from my sister, pram from a friend. (Their babies a bit older, had outgrown them) Breastfeeding, also free.

Luckily I had a washing machine so I washed the nappies! Clothes were constantly handed down to me.

Medical expenses was hard but nowadays most of that is free, too.

It can be done very cheap. I'm not into consumerism, I care enough that my children grow up to a livable planet. They're all healthy!

Jaysus - so much judgement in this thread. Judging that costs of children are cheap. Judging parents for buying items for children. Judging childless people who eat out and go on holiday.

You are advised to buy a new mattress though from what I can see many don’t. I have never seen advice that a new car seat is needed or seen anyone buy one for a 2nd child etc (unless needed due to closeness in age) - no reason at all for that. You are advised not to buy a second hand car seat as you don’t know if it’s been in an accident and compromised but you know the history of your own one. I wouldn’t do it but I see plenty buying second hand car seats also and loads are for sale online.

As for the cost of kids, I think some aspects can be exaggerated e.g. the old jibe about buying nappies etc which are actually cheap (even pampers or other branded ones). The big cost is childcare and college really also lost earnings if the mother doesn’t get paid maternity leave.

I don’t agree with the comment from the op about “choices” leading to needing childcare. Many/most women don’t want to give up on their career even aside from the fact a second wage is needed in most homes nowadays.

Boards is transforming into facebook.