The high cost of looking after children means many working parents take a temporary break from work to have a baby before returning through financial necessity.

However, going back to work often means paying for childcare - and figures show childcare costs have risen 27% since 2009. As a result, two recent polls have suggested increasing numbers of parents are either unable to return to work because of high childcare costs, or are reducing their existing working hours or quitting work altogether to look after their kids themselves.

The new Annual Childcare Report by Findababysitter.com found that childcare policies have stopped more than 300,000 parents returning to work in the last 12 months, with cost being the biggest barrier to parents using childcare, ahead of safety concerns, availability or location.

Indeed, the poll found that a quarter of unemployed UK mums would like to work, but childcare costs are stopping them.

Siobhan Freegard, founder of the parenting site Netmums, points out that while more mothers are working now than at any time in history, many are being forced back into employment to meet their family's financial needs.

"Combine this with the ongoing baby boom and you have the perfect storm to force up the already worryingly high price of childcare," she says.

"The tremendous pressure on the childcare system means costs are now at an all-time high, creating a barrier for some parents who desperately want to return to work."

And as well as stopping parents returning to work at all, additional research by the charity 4Children has found that one in five working parents who pay for childcare are planning to reduce their working hours or give up work altogether because they can't afford childcare.

The 4Children survey also revealed that 28% of parents will be reducing treats in order to meet high childcare costs, while 16% admit they'll have to cut back on essentials over the next 12 months.

Anne Longfield, chief executive of the charity, says: "Childcare represents a huge financial challenge for most parents and our poll shows the real impact costs are having on family life - from giving up work to cutting back on essentials.

"Removing parents' choice as to whether or not they continue to work after having children is not the answer for families or for the economy."

With four months to go until the General Election, parents with young children (aged 0-4) in particular are in real need of support - with almost three quarters (73%) calling on political parties to offer them more help with the cost of childcare, and 62% believing it should be an election priority.

"Parents of the youngest children are feeling the pressures most acutely and are calling on politicians to do more to help, particularly with the cost of childcare," says Longfield.

"The family vote will be key at the ballot box in May."

Next month, the Family and Childcare Trust will publish its latest childcare costs report - and all the signs are that it will show an increase in already high costs.

The last Trust Childcare Report found that even part-time childcare costs outstripped the average mortgage - for a family of two children, the cost for one child in part-time nursery care and one in an after-school club was £7,549 a year, compared to the average UK mortgage payments of £7,207 annually.

"We think day nurseries and childcarers have got more expensive in the last year, although after-school provision has fallen in price," says Jill Rutter, head of policy and research at the Trust.

Childcare costs are currently subsidised through the part-time free early education, tax credits, employer-supported vouchers and a number of smaller schemes. But in September, employer-supported vouchers will be phased out and replaced by a new tax-free voucher, which is worth up to £2,000 per child per year to families. Like the present childcare vouchers, it won't be available to those who receive tax credits, although the Government plans to increase the level of childcare help in the new Universal Credit in April 2016.

While the Family and Childcare Trust welcomes the new help, it thinks thousands of families will be caught in a confusing system where they won't know which type of childcare support - Universal Credit or the tax-free voucher - works best for them.

The Trust says around 335,000 families may miss out on vital support because of the complexity and overlap between the two systems.

"It's incredibly complicated," says Rutter.

"We think there should be a single universal system which gives most support to low income groups but is progressive, and where parents really know where they stand."

But she stresses: "I think things have changed for the worst over the last year, and that's very strongly borne out in our next childcare costs survey.

"It's happening more and more that parents can't afford to go back to work."

Those parents may comfort themselves with the thought that their children are better off being looked after by them - but that's not necessarily the case, says Rutter.

"Even full-time childcare has a positive impact on children over the age of 18 months or so, as long as it's high quality.

"Long hours in very poor quality provision has a small negative impact, but it's very small compared to the impact of poor parenting."

Poor quality childcare is where there's poor interaction between a carer and child, a lack of stimulation, lack of consistency because of high staff turnover, poor leadership and no liaison between the care setting and the child's home.

Rutter advises parents looking for childcare to get as much information as possible about local options, by visiting settings, talking to other parents, and looking at Ofsted reports.

Local authority Family Information Services can help, and families can also get advice from the Family and Childcare Trust website www.familyandchildcaretrust.org

ASK THE EXPERT

Q: "I'm weaning my six-month-old baby and I'm scared she might choke. What should I do if she does?"

A: Clive James, training officer at first aid charity St John Ambulance, says: "Weaning can be a scary time for parents, but knowing what to do in an emergency can be a real confidence booster. While 40% of parents say they've seen their baby choke, 79% of them don't know what do if it does happen. Fortunately, the technique is very simple to learn.

"If your baby starts choking, check her mouth for any visible obstructions you could pull out, but don't put your fingers in there blindly - you could push something further down. Lay the baby face down on your thigh, supporting her head, and give her five firm back slaps between her shoulderblades. Check her mouth and if the obstruction hasn't come out, turn her over on your thigh and use two fingers to give up to five chest thrusts, pushing up and in to around a third of the depth of the baby's chest. If that doesn't work, repeat the back blows and thrusts until you've done three cycles of each, then call an ambulance. Keep going until an ambulance arrives.

"The technique is demonstrated in the St John Ambulance advert, The Chokeables, which you can see on YouTube."

:: For more first aid advice for parents, visit www.sja.org.uk

GIVE THE KIDS A BOOST

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