In November last year our little boy was born. From the previous March when we discovered I was pregnant we cut back and saved as much as we could because we new our income would drop dramtically whilst I was on maternity leave. Four and half months on SMP does not even cover the mortgage repayments.
In hindsite we should have started saving before we new I was pregnant, we would have had a bigger pot to see us through the maternity leave period.
Do babies cost money? Of course they do. How much is very much dependant on what you spend, how much you are given in terms of cloths, cots, prams etc. Don't forget that babies grow very quickly and is it really worth paying for designer baby clothes when your local supermarket or discount cloths retailer does them for a lot lot less?