£52,000 - the bill for a baby

FORGET the countless hours of lost sleep, the stagnant social life and the once svelte figure that is seemingly impossible to regain. The real cost of having baby is £52,605.

Parents will spend the staggering sum on their son or daughter from pregnancy to playground.

Research by the magazine Pregnancy and Birth shows the cost of raising a child up to the age of five is roughly the same as the price of a comfortable two-bedroom house in Burnley, Lancs.

More than half of the £52,605 bill goes on childcare, with working parents spending an average £30,150 on nursery care and childminding over the five-year period.

The total bill includes essentials such as a cot, pushchair and car seat. It also features stretchmark cream and preg nancy testing kits. However, missing from the total bill are the 'hidden costs' of giving up work, buying a family car and buying a bigger house.

For would-be mothers the spending starts early, with vitamin supplements and organic foods ensuring they are in tip-top condition while trying to conceive.

The Cost of Having A Baby 2005 study estimates that when they are pregnant, mothers-to-be spend an average of £680 on extra fruit and vegetables. By the time of the baby's birth, parents will have paid out more than £4,000 and the spending will have only just begun.

Turning the spare room into a nursery can easily swallow up £1,000 or so. And it costs £1,126 for a three-year supply of nappies.

According to the magazine's figures - gleaned from a survey of 2,000 readers and extensive market research - the child will get through £2,935 of food by their fifth birthday.

Clothes, toys and parties add an extra £4,100 to the bill. Clothes alone cost £450 a year for a boy and £530 for a girl. Parents may want to open a savings account for their newborn, take out extra life insurance and perhaps change their will - all at a cost.

Pregnancy and Birth's editor Kaye McIntosh has some advice for those who wonder how they can ever hope to meet such a bill. She said: 'If money's tight, parents shouldn't despair because ultimately the only equipment a baby must have brand new is a cot mattress and a car seat.

'Baby won't know if their outfit is cotton or cashmere. It may sound mercenary, but you will find that friends and relatives will shower you with gifts when your baby is born, so why not direct them to something you really need.'

She added: 'Babies change your life financially in a way nothing else ever will, but having a baby is the best thing that will ever happen to you and you can't put a price on that.'

The magazine also calculated the next 11 years of a child's life - up to the age of 16 - cost another £56,958.48.