Being yummy costs money

Here are some frightening statistics:

British mums are spending close to £6 billion a year on Botox, beauty treatments and body conditioning in an attempt to regain their pre-baby figures.

They spend an average of £939 buying the latest baby accessories and treat themselves to a £123 makeover after giving birth - making a total of £1,062 each.

In the survey for the online bank Egg, a third of mothers admitted they felt pressured to buy designer items such as Bugaboo prams, which can cost up to £599.

More than one in five said they bought designer gadgets or the latest technology for bringing up baby.

Twelve per cent bought designer highchairs, 8 per cent splashed out on designer baby clothes, and 7 per cent bought bespoke furniture.

Almost nine in ten (87 per cent) had their hair styled and bought new clothes after the birth, and a small number admitted to having botox injections or employing a personal trainer.

Around 15 per cent said they had visited the beautician shortly after giving birth.

This is my theory. As a result of women having children later in life (mid-late 30s) children have becoming increasingly precious and commodified. Mid-life mums have more money to spend and also tend to be more worried about regaining their pre-pregnancy identities after having a career for so many years prior to motherhood. As I said in a previous post, clever companies are taking advantage of middle-class mother anxiety by selling as many products as they can to assuage the guilt associated with having a body that doesn't 'bounce back' or a baby that isn't lavished with the best, most desirable designer duds. Coupled with a celebrity culture that makes 'bouncing back' look easy, the pressure to return to 'normal' and 'thin' is now the only way that many women feel they will regain their sense of self. When you think about it, 'yummy mummy' is the antithesis of everything we associate with motherhood. The classical maternal body is supposed to be self-sacrificing, asexual and pudgy. YM's indulge themselves, wear short skirts and look thinner than they did before they became mothers.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=490309&in_page_id=1770