Budgeting for child care

Having a child is exciting and expensive! Child care costs make up about 18 percent of the overall spending for raising a child.
                                                   

To make sure you're not caught off guard, budgeting for child care should start even before your bundle of joy arrives.

New parents usually get the nursery, clothing, car seats and strollers ready before baby. And sometimes child care doesn't even cross your mind until it's needed.

"The moment you find out that you're expecting and you're gonna have a new bundle of joy, you should definitely start to budget. So depending on the type of care and your options and what you can afford, there are some great things that you can do. One of the first things that we recommend is that you stop off and talk to your employer," said Donna Levin, Co-Founder of Care.com.

There's one unequivocal truth about pregnancy: The minute you tell people you're expecting, they'll start telling you what to do as a parent. That includes when and how to take care of your infant when they're distressed. "Pick them up." "Let them cry it out." "Don't be frantic." All the unwarranted advice can become confusing, especially to new parents. But new research may give insight into how you respond to your baby's cries influences their attachment style.

A new study published in Child Development found that a mother's emotional and physiological response to an unhappy infant may predict what type of attachment style their child will establish, according to Psych Central. In particular, researchers discovered that, while most babies are securely-attached to their parents, about 40 percent of infants develop insecure attachments, such as infant avoidance and resistance, and are at risk for issues as adults.