The cost of bringing up a child to the age of 21 has reached an all time high of £227,266.
The price of being a parent has more than doubled in the past 10 years and has increased by £5,000 in the last 12 months alone, according to the Annual Cost of a Child report from the Centre of Economic and Business Research.
The research commissioned by the insurer LV=, found that while it may be free to send children to state schools, that doesn't mean education is cheap - university fees and the day-to-day costs of going to school (such as text books, uniform, lunches and school trips) remain one of the biggest costs faced by parents, who lay out £73,803 to improve their children's minds - an increase of 123.5 per cent since 2003.
The first year of a child's life has seen the biggest increase in costs - rising by almost 5 per cent. This is largely due to mums returning to work earlier, after just six months of maternity leave, and therefore having to rely more on childcare - the cost of which has risen by 4 per cent to £66,113.
A further £19,804 is spent on food, £10,935 on clothes and £4,553 on pocket money.
These rising costs, coupled with looming cuts to child benefit mean that many parents are feeling the pinch.
A survey carried out alongside the research revealed that the financial demands of raising a child have meant that 71 per cent of parents have been forced to make cuts and one in five parents are delaying having another child.
More on Parentdish