A new UK study has found that over half of grandparents help with childcare, but not all of them feel appreciated.

The study, which was published earlier this year, found that 57% of parents with children aged under 13 rely on at least one grandparent to help with childcare.

In Ireland meanwhile, over 29% of grandparents over the age of 70 provide childcare for their grandchildren, with 5.5% providing over 40 hours of support each week.

Irish Times columnist Jen Hogan told Newstalk Breakfast that grandparents in Ireland enable many parents to work.

Working parents

"There are lots of grandparents who are happy to help their kids out around childcare, especially given the times that we live in," Ms Hogan said.

"Without grandparents plugging the childcare gap, there will be an awful lot of women in particular who couldn’t go to work."

However, this puts some grandparents in a tricky situation, Ms Hogan said.

"It has become a situation that we have some parents so wholly depending on it that it isn't an option for grandparents to say 'No, I can't do this,''' she said.

"They'd be putting their children in a really difficult position where they can't afford to make ends meet."

Ms Hogan said parents and grandparents often differ on their approach to child-minding, which can cause friction.

Grandparents on a walk outside with their grandchild, Alamy.

"If you have a grandparent minding your child, it can be kind of difficult when they do things differently," she said.

"If you’re concerned your little one is going to be sitting there watching Peppa Pig or Bluey for hours on end, you might want to try and get that balance right with grandparents.

"There is a degree of ‘sucking it up’, but there is also a degree of having that peace of mind and the comfort that your child is going to be minded a certain way."

She also said there is "no harm" in paying grandparents for childcare.

"It makes it a bit easier to not quite lay down the law, but to suggest that things are done in a certain way," Ms Hogan said.

"It's a demanding job - you're asking a lot of someone."

Ms Hogan also said it is "perfectly legitimate" for grandparents to say no to their children, but said this can be "incredibly difficult".

Feature image shows grandparents with their granddaughter, Alamy.