The cost of nappies has nearly doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. 

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul’s Minimal Essential Standard of Living (MESL) report also found the cost of looking after an infant has soared by 22% over the past four years. 

Speaking on Breakfast Briefing, spokesperson Robert Thornton said the cost of caring for a baby is now nearly as high looking after a child in primary school. 

“Something we’ve really observed over the last few years is there has been a significant increase in the cost of infants,” he said. 

“Baby milk formula for a nine-month-old child has increased by 37% and nappies have gone up by 84%. 

“Which means over these last four years of high price increases, the costs for an infant have risen more than any other child age group.

“So, they’re up 22% in the last four years, which really brings them now to effectively similar costs to a primary school age child.” 

A baby girl plays with her food on a high chair.

Despite this, a child in secondary school remains the most expensive to look after - with significantly higher costs associated with their social lives and food requirements. 

“We’ve been doing this research for quite a few years now and we’ve consistently found over time that the cost for an oldest child are the highest of any age group that we look at,” Mr Thornton said. 

“Currently, at €149 a week in a household that would have a full medical card and be in receipt of social welfare. 

“So, this is about 60% higher than the cost of meeting the needs for younger children.”

Energy costs

In 2022, sanctions on Russia caused huge disruption in international energy markets and saw prices surge across the world. 

Since then, energy costs have slowly dropped and Mr Thornton said this has eased cost of living pressures. 

“This year, we found that social welfare incomes remain inadequate for a majority of the cases we look at,” he said. 

“76% of the cases had an inadequate income… and that’s an improvement from the position last year where it was 87% of cases. 

“Which was really driven by that spike in energy prices last year but nevertheless it’s significantly above the level of inadequacy that we would have seen prior to that.” 

A hand counting expenses of an electricity bill on smartphone calculator. Picture by: Sergio Monti / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Thornton credited the Government with a number of measures to help people struggling to make ends meet but said overall social welfare incomes have “lost their purchasing power” since the cost of living crisis began. 

“There’s free GP care for under eights,” she said. 

“There’s the primary school free book scheme that came into effect this year and then for… second level it’s due to come into effect in September. 

“Those are important steps and services are always part of the answer to reducing living costs and enabling people to have an inadequate income. 

“But an actual adequate level of income support is important too, so our analysis looks at what’s happened to social welfare rates over the last number of years in comparison to the cost of the minimum standard of living. 

“What we really found is [that] the real value of those core rates has fallen relative to the living costs due to inflation.” 

Further cuts to the cost of energy will kick in on July 1st.

Main image: Changing a baby's nappy. Picture by: Alamy.com