The average cost of raising a child to the age of 21 now stands at £218,000, according to a report published on Thursday.
Educating, feeding and paying for the care of their children are the biggest drain on parents budgets.
Parents spend around £10,382 a year, £865 a month and £28.44 a day on their child's upbringing, insurer and retirement specialist LV= said in its Cost of a Child study.
The overall bill has increased by 55%, from £140,000 since the report was first published in 2003, and the latest figure is also a 3.3% rise on last year's total of £211,113.
Mark Jones, LV= head of protection, said: "With the coalition government cutting back on benefits and local services, and with university tuition fees set to rocket, the costs associated with raising a family look set to remain a pressure point for families across the UK."
Spending on education, including school uniforms, after school clubs and university tuition fees, has seen the biggest rise from last year, with a 5.1% increase, and is also the biggest financial pressure for parents, at a cost of £71,780.
The figures show that on average a child eats £18,667 worth of food. While on average parents give their children £4,337 in pocket money from birth to 21.
London is the most expensive place in the UK to raise a child, costing nearly £240,000, while the North East is the cheapest, at around £202,000.