Mums seem to be spending all their spare cash on their “Designer tots”, according to our most recent research.
Despite the credit crunch, competitive mums are shelling out more than £600 a year EXTRA on expensive clobber for their kids.
Desperate to compete with other yummy mummies, a whopping 56 per cent of new mothers are buying top of the range clothes and kit for their little ones. This means that tots across the country are toddling around with designer label clothing, the latest baby gadgets and accessories.
Our poll of 2,500 mums revealed mums splash out £236.04 MORE a year than they intended to on baby clothes to impress others.
Almost every new mum in the UK will meet with other mums for coffee mornings and baby and toddler groups. These gatherings are a breeding ground for competitiveness and mums can't help but try to out do each other. The thing is that mums want to be seen to be doing the very best for their child, and providing the very best, and if this means spending more money than they had intended, so be it.
It also emerged that rather than buying items which are considered best for baby, 24 per cent of mums are so influenced by their friends they'll take their advice over reviews and product guides. Four in 10 mums won't buy something new for their baby without consulting other mums for their advice first.
In addition, mums will spend £198.36 a year on toys recommended by mums or toys they have seen other babies playing with. And an extra £184.68 goes towards impressive baby equipment such as the lightest pushchair, video monitors, the smallest travel cot, or the fastest breast pump.
Our poll also revealed that rather than being a sanctuary for mums, the traditional coffee morning is one of the most stressful events on the calendar. A third of mums feel the need to "put on a show" when others come to visit, and therefore pull out all the stops to make sure the visit is flawless. Sixty five per cent do a full spring clean before holding a coffee morning, 20 per cent bake an abundance of cakes and 34 per cent spends hours perfecting their make up. A further 18 per cent make sure baby is kitted out in its designer togs, 11 per cent lay out the most expensive toys, 19 per cent get in fresh coffee and 16 per cent prepare a mini buffet.
Mums have a great excuse for relaxing a bit with the housework and letting thing slide a little whilst they look after the children. Instead they are finding themselves going into overdrive in a bid to show others how well they are coping, and how their children are treated to the best of everything. The results show that regardless of the ‘credit crunch’, mums will always feel the need to spend any spare cash they have on their little ones.
As well as checking out each other's purchases at coffee mornings, 25 per cent of mums also feel under pressure to show that their little one is attending every class going - including swimming, gym lessons and dancing. And for 58 per cent of mums, coffee mornings provide the perfect opportunity to boast about their children's achievements. A third of mums felt it was important to boast about their child sleeping through the night, 41 per cent wanted to shout from the rooftops when their child uttered its first word, and 17 per cent were keen to show their child was the first to eat solid food.
Sept 25 2008
The results of the polls can be seen here:
Main Result
Regional Results
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Designer Toddlers
