More than £70,000. That’s the basic cost of raising a child to the age of 18 for couples in the UK, according to the Child Poverty Action Group’s latest “Cost of a Child” report. More than £70,000 per child, that is. Throw in additional expenses like food – which, somewhat bizarrely, isn’t classed as a basic cost – and childcare and that figure rises to more than £150,000 per child. Or £600,000 if you’re a mum of four like me.

Of course, we all know having a baby is expensive. But what I didn’t quite appreciate is the cost of having a baby (or four) to my career. Pre-kids, I was the news editor of a local tabloid newspaper group in East Sussex – a job I loved and had worked hard for. Arriving early and leaving late, I slowly but surely rose through the ranks from trainee reporter to chief reporter, before finally earning my editorship role.

At 30, and 38 weeks pregnant with my first baby, I reluctantly left my desk to go on maternity leave in 2011, confidently – and, in hindsight, naively – setting my out-of-office with a return date of just five months later. I was already looking forward to getting back behind my desk without the inconvenience of a bump.

But I never set foot in that office again. After becoming a mum, I simply couldn’t see myself in the job anymore. We had deadlines three nights a week and the culture was to stay in the office until the paper went to print. But I didn’t want to put a newspaper to bed – I wanted to put my baby to bed. 

I handed in my notice and went freelance. I started at the beginning again and slowly but surely built a new career as a writer around naps and nappy changes, then nursery drop off and pick up, and then the school run. It wasn’t about having a career any more, it was about earning enough money to pay the bills and put food on the table, while staving off the mum guilt that, for me, came hand-in-hand with working motherhood.