Would you hire a personal shopper for your toddler?

By Naomi Greenaway

Last updated at 9:42 AM on 13th October 2009

Rails laden with designer clothes are being wheeled out in front of me by two very helpful assistants, while another adds more glitzy dresses, embellished knits and cashmere coats to the selection.

'How about the Fendi scarf? It would go perfectly with that Dior coat,' one of them suggests.

She then holds up a black sequined mini-dress: 'This is fabulous, but we'll have to see how the colour works - that complexion is begging for pinks and purples.'

Unfortunately, though, it's not my complexion they're talking about - and none of these luxurious coats and dresses is for me. In fact, I wouldn't even fit into them. The are all for my one-year-old daughter Mia.

Among the mega-moneyed mummy set, if you want your baby to look as exquisite on your arm as your Birkin handbag, a personal shopper has become the must-have accessory.

'One client recently came in for her baby daughter and left with an £8,000 wardrobe'

At Harvey Nichols, where I have come for Mia's first personal shopping experience, the stylist tells me: 'It's mainly high-powered working women who don't have time to do it themselves.'

Baby boom: Naomi Greenaway and baby Mia in £50 Juicy Couture
velour tracksuit and £40 mini-Uggs

Down the road at Harrods, she says, the clientele is more 'ladies who lunch'.

And it's not only in London. At Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh, a stylist told me that the personal shopping department sees 'kiddie' clients almost every other day.

A pre-school lesson in fashion or disgusting consumerism?Make up your own mind about that.

'Even when they're as young as three, they often have a strong opinion on their style - especially the girls,' one of the Harvey Nichols personal shoppers tells me cheerfully.

'And the mums we see often end up spending more on their babies than on themselves. The clothes are just so irresistible.'

Million dollar babies: Toddlers are getting designer clothes chosen specially for them by personal shoppers and yummy mummies

And, as I am about to find out, jaw-droppingly expensive.

I first heard about this astonishing trend at my local toddler music class when I happened to notice that Sophia, one of my daughter's friends, was looking particularly on-trend.

As all the mothers were helping their children to dance to Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes, Anna - Sophia's mother - lent over and whispered to me: 'I've got a personal shopper. It just makes life so much easier.

'They make it their business to identify the style gems of the season, so all Sophia's clothes for the next few months can be done and dusted in a one-hour appointment.'

Obscene: Naomi would rather dress Mia in H&M

The way she told it made this utterly ludicrous idea sound like a perfectly practical essential.

The celebrities have been onto it for years, and thanks to mini-stars such as Suri Cruise, whose £2million wardrobe of Cavalli couture and bespoke Christian Louboutins regularly makes an appearance in the media, designer kids are more in vogue than ever.

At Harrods, there is a non-negotiable £2,500 minimum spend for personal shopping - even for babies.

But considering its bestsellers this season include a £279 pink Dior blazer and £579 floral Cavalli dress, it's not hard to see how minted mums rack up a bill in the thousands.

'One client recently came in for her baby daughter and left with an £8,000 wardrobe,' a personal shopper from Harrods revealed.

So in demand is the service, it's booked until Christmas. Instead, I've come down the road to the equally popular Harvey Nichols. Before the trying-on session begins, I'm asked to complete Mia's consultation form.

Mini stars: Celebrity children such as Suri Cruise (left) and Zahara Jolie-Pitt
feature heavily in magazines and influence affluent parents

Figure considerations? 'Short and chubby', I write. Mia's favourite designer? Errr. .. H&M?

But H&M does not wash here in London's exclusive Knightsbridge. So off come her £10 jeans and on goes a scrumptiously soft purple Juicy Couture velour tracksuit.

'It's a fabulous colour on her - perfect for around the house,' the stylist says, which nearly makes me choke.

Surely that's the job of a £5 Marks & Spencer babygro, not a £100 designer outfit.

It doesn't stop with designer clobber. There are leather handbags, diamond jewellery, 'label' teddies, designer shoes and even posh feeding bottles

'All you need now is a pair of mini-Uggs or Converses,' she adds.

Another splutter from me - the mini-Uggs cost £40.

Next on is a £110 cream shift dress by Pinko, but the sleeves are far too long. 'That's actually the style,' I'm told.

I daren't point out the obvious difficulty this will cause in the eating department - and the subsequent daily dry-cleaning bills.

Fendi is the latest to cater for the nappy generation, chasing the success of rivals including Little Marc by Marc Jacobs, Chloe BeBe, Sonia Rykiel Enfant, Missoni, Burberry and Armani. Next season, John Galliano is bringing out his first collection for the under-fives.

And it doesn't stop with designer clobber.

There are leather handbags, diamond jewellery, 'label' teddies, designer shoes and even posh feeding bottles.

Why flash an Avent label when you can upgrade to Dior for £24, Armani for £29 or Burberry for £40?

Lynne Crook, childrenswear buying manager for Selfridges, attributes the designer baby obsession to the media exposure of the 'Hollywood mini-mes'.

'Suri Cruise, the Jolie-Pitt clan, Violet and

Seraphina Affleck and Gwen Stefani's children Kingston and Zuma all feature heavily these days in fashion magazines,' she says. 'That influences people's shopping habits.'

Two pairs of Pinko jeans, four tops, two designer dresses, a poncho, a Juicy Couture tracksuit, one smart coat, one casual coat and, £1,010.50 later, and Mia is well equipped for autumn/winter 2009 - at least, in the eyes of the personal shopper.

Exclusive: Harrods department store in London's Knightsbridge,
where parents must spend £2,500 to get the services of a personal shopper

Down the road at Bonpoint, a children's boutique in Chelsea, the shelves are stacked with mohair, cashmere, merino wool, sheepskin and fur, including a rabbit-hair coat with an £800 price tag.

I hold the grey fluff against Mia, but before I can appreciate the pretty picture, I notice a piece of half chewed apple in her coat collar.

'Aaapaw,' she says clapping her hands with excitement at her ingenious storage plan.

With that, I hang up the dead rabbit, head for the door and thank God for creating H&M.

Perhaps if I had all the money in the world - and a lobotomy - I'd be tempted to buy it all. But the truth is that in three months' time, Mia would have grown out of every one of her designer outfits. And isn't it just obscene to spend this much money on a child anyway?

Source: Daily Mail 13/10/2009

Men & baby gifts - what are we meant to do, lads?

So, my brothers, we all know someone who has had a baby, or indeed is having one soon. We can share in all the joy, even if it is a little overwhelming, but then comes the question that we fear, a question that we ask ourselves with a vague sense of dread: What the hell do we buy as a gift? Now, there are those of us who may be able to delegate this delicate task to our better halves, our great girlfriends and, of course, mum! BUT... then there are those times when we are left to our own devices (cue, the sound of men crumbling around the nation!).

Can we really walk into delicate little shops, enveloped in our glorious testosterone suit of armour, and start to select dainty baby grows or playsuits? Woollen blankets or muslin swaddling blankets? Long sleeve or short sleeve? Alpaca, cashmere, cotton? Aaargh!

Can we honestly make the right selection of material, colour, style, design?

This is the moment when the little light on your Broadband router becomes a beacon of hope; a lighthouse in the storm - the internet!

Just as with our favoured flower shop, there are fantastic baby gifting sites on the web. Let's be honest - how often have you actually gone to buy flowers and spent ages deliberating over them, overseeing their arrangement or even tried to do that yourself, let alone deliver them, unless taking them home to your loved one?

Well, the same applies to your baby gifting needs. Why not let experts suggest fantastic, thoughtful gift combinations, arrange them beautifully in luxurious packaging and deliver with no fuss? OK, one could argue that in these lean times, one could save a few quid by doing this all oneself but... really? Just take a moment to think about the pain you would have to endure to complete this task solo.

Ultimately it is about the recipient being overjoyed at your thoughtfulness, and cooing over the wonderful gifts you have 'selected' for the little, whilst at the same time adoring the wonderful box in which all these amazing baby treats have arrived.

There are many gift solutions on the net, and a handful of truly superb options if you really want to impress.

So, fear not fellow (incompetent) men, start Googling now!

Winter's coming fast - what baby gifts to buy?

Well the famous British 'Indian Summer' came and went as quickly as... well. as the famous British summer!?! Boilers have been switched on for longer, jumpers are being pulled out of wardrobes across the nation and... babies need to be looked after to avoid the nasty, winter sniffles.

Whilst this will undoubtedly be handled with amazing skill by mothers across the land (and a couple of dad's too, for good measure), it does make the art of buying suitable baby gifts a little more taxing. Is cotton still acceptable? When it comes to baby woollens do you buy Merino, Cashmere or Baby Alpaca? Hats, blankets, booties!?!? Aaaargh!

Well, though they are no hard and fast rules, we take this view - cotton is always acceptable but not for all occasions. It should be a component of your gift, complimenting more seasonally appropriate gifts for the little baby.

Merino/Cashmere/Baby Alpaca?? Well, they're all good but whilst Merino is good and Cashmere is great (but expensive), Baby Alpaca is the choice of the season - it's lighter, warmer and softer than Cashmere, as well as hypoallergenic, naturally lustrous, and itch-free.

Now at the same time, let's not forget New Mothers and Mothers-To-Be who may be yearning for a little winter comfort. Mummy always needs a little pampering and a little bit of 'cosy' to keep her gorgeous smile. What better than soft, Alpaca bedsocks with hot water bottles in their matching, cosy covers?

We could go on and on about our thoughts for this winter's gifting needs for baby and Mummy but we think b y now you're getting the gist of it. Just think about how you like to be wrapped up against the cold and then apply that same thought for what to buy as the ideal baby gifts.

Have fun!

Baby boom or bust - the pros and cons of having a baby during the recession

By Viv Groksop

As the recession takes its toll, many women are putting their baby plans on hold. But, says Viv Groskop, the downturn may actually be the perfect time to get pregnant

With the economy still unstable and many families struggling to meet mortgage payments, it’s hard to imagine a worse time to bring a new life into the world. Or is it? After all, for many people there is not much point in focusing on career goals or pay rises at the moment. While some couples postpone plans for a family, waiting anxiously for an upturn in their fortunes, others are throwing caution to the wind. So could the recession, in fact, be the best time to have a baby?

Anna, 37, from Yorkshire, has just had her fourth child, conceived at the end of last year. She is a stay-at-home mother and, although her husband’s job as a shop manager is not secure, they felt ready for another child.

‘If you weighed up the pros and cons, you’d never have a baby. Also, I don’t think they cost as much as people make out. I’m getting most of my equipment second-hand. Too many people worry about the cost of children, but the reward you get is priceless.’

However, with negative equity threatening to hit two million people by 2010, MP Harriet Harman has launched a review of how family life is being affected in the downturn. Traditionally the birth rate plummets at times like these. During the Great Depression of the 1930s the worldwide birth rate fell by a tenth compared with the 20s.

There was a similar dip in the UK in the 70s during tough economic times, and the same happened in the US in the early 90s over a rocky 16-month period.

Current statistics are showing mixed signs. On the one hand, the birth rate is rising among migrants: the number of births in England and Wales to non-UK-born women rose by 6.5 per cent last year.

But these were babies conceived at the end of the financial boom years: it’s still too early to say how the recession has affected the birth rate. The overall rate still stands at 1.96 children per woman, and not the 2.1 children required for population replacement.

Some women are finding that their roles are ‘absorbed’ by colleagues while they are off having their babies

Rhiannon, 32, from Manchester, is the single mother of a four-year-old boy and is having an anxious second pregnancy. She was made redundant from her accounting job at the end of last year, and is now in temporary work. A few weeks after being made redundant, she found out she was pregnant by her new boyfriend. She was horrified: ‘It crossed my mind to have a termination, as I wondered how we would cope, but I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.’

She decided to have the baby, but her boyfriend, also an accountant, is unsure how far he will be able to help with costs. ‘My family is supportive and my mum helps with childcare. But I often think, “Where will the money come from?” There’s no way I can get a permanent job at the moment.’

For working families trying to hang on to their jobs, another child means another childcare bill – an average cost of £167 a week, according to the Daycare Trust’s January 2009 survey. Nurseries are already reporting a surge in places for younger children: some women are bringing their babies in at three months old instead of six, as pressure to return to work earlier mounts. Rhiannon says she has friends who had been planning to have babies this year – but who put their plans on hold for 12 months.

Maybe they’re right to wait. Many women feel that now is not a great time to be announcing an upcoming maternity leave: they feel they need to be in the office as much as possible, fighting for their jobs and showing commitment. Others see it from a different angle: if you want a baby, maybe it’s as well to take the maternity provision while you still actually have a job and are entitled to the time off.

Many couples are also debating the merits of different family sizes – one friend told me that the recession has reinforced her inkling that ‘stopping at two’ is the only sensible thing to do: ‘I know that I couldn’t cope with another one. And the recession gives me a good excuse – that we can’t really afford it anyway.’

Breadwinner mothers face the biggest dilemma, as Lucy, 36, from Wiltshire, explains.
A publishing executive whose husband is a part-time artist, she remortgaged the house to fund her second maternity leave beyond the paid six weeks her company gave her. That’s no longer possible.

‘I’ve debated having a third child but we’d need another bedroom [which would mean a house move], and we could not get a bigger mortgage or afford for me to take time off work again.’

Then there’s the fact that, with recruitment freezes in place in many companies, some women are finding that their roles are ‘absorbed’ by colleagues while they are off having their babies. The concern is that they risk returning to find their job is more or less redundant. Lawyers and campaign groups confirm that cases of discrimination are rising sharply as employers, looking for ways to cut jobs and salaries, see pregnant staff and returning mothers as soft targets.

Rosalind Bragg, director of Maternity Action, says the charity has seen a rise in the number of pregnant women being chosen for redundancy, ostensibly for reasons such as the employer’s preference for full-time rather than part-time employees.

It’s illegal to be made redundant because of pregnancy (or because of any issue related to it, such as poor attendance) – but in the experience of lawyer Camilla Palmer, a partner at Leigh Day & Co, which specialises in pregnancy discrimination, ‘If there are ten people in a department, including one woman who is pregnant or on maternity leave, then she is the one who gets made redundant.’

Most people, however, are unlikely to change plans about family size just because money is tight, argues John Macinnes, professor of sociology at the University of Edinburgh. ‘The recession may have some very small immediate effect, in that redundancy or mortgage problems might lead people to delay a birth.

But in the medium term – when such [delayed] births will eventually take place – the fertility rate will be correspondingly higher.’ So even if we see a dip in the birth rate in the next 12 to 18 months (which looks unlikely), we’ll then see a matching rise shortly after. Most people will just delay slightly.

The climate is encouraging people to prioritise and invest in fertility

This is what Amanda, 37, is doing. A teacher from London, she would like another sibling for her daughter, four, and son, seven, but thinks this year is too much of a financial gamble. Her husband’s job in banking is not certain and they are reviewing their decision each month.

‘Things are enough of a struggle with money and childcare as it is. But I don’t want to leave it a few years and have trouble conceiving. And who knows how long this recession will last? So then I think, “Just do it, there’s no good time.”’

Becci, 22, from Hull, has similar worries. The mother of a two-year-old boy, until recently she was planning to have another baby this year. She and her partner both work in retail, but Becci now works only when needed, and is concerned that this soon won’t be an option.

‘There are fewer hours available, so I’m getting worried. We don’t know if we could afford another child.’ Becci isn’t confident about being able to live on statutory maternity benefits. Two members of her family have already been laid off, she adds. ‘The truth is, no one is safe.’

But interestingly, the climate is also encouraging people to prioritise and invest in fertility. At the beginning of 2009, IVF clinic Midland Fertility Services reported that the number of IVF enquiries were up on the same period last year. A record 38 couples attended an information event earlier this year.

This seems counterintuitive in a recession, but the clinic’s medical director Dr Gillian Lockwood thinks the economic climate has focused their minds: ‘A lot of the women we see in their late 30s are aware that time is not on their side and they can’t afford to wait for the recession to bottom out.’

There’s another factor too: ‘The fragility of consumer life has been brought home to lots of people. They’re thinking that family is more important than trading up property.’

Dr Lockwood has even heard people arguing that having a baby is an excellent recessional activity: ‘Some patients say that their career is not going anywhere exciting over the next few years. The opportunities won’t be there as their companies are cutting back. So if they’ve got a good maternity package, it can be a good time to have a baby.’

Business is also good for midwife Zita West who runs a London fertility clinic. She counsels couples who want to maximise their natural fertility before going down the IVF route.

‘When there was a lot of money and loans around, people would think, “We’ll give IVF a go,”’ she says. ‘Now they are asking about everything else they need to look at first – weight, nutrition, alcohol, fertility awareness.’

In her view, during the good times people were more likely to shelve plans for a baby: ‘A few years ago I saw lots of women in banking who were worried about getting pregnant because they had bonuses coming up. They’d delay things for a year or so to fit in with work. Now they are thinking, “OK, I’ll have a baby.”’

Other considerations can make it easier to ignore the economic outlook. It all depends on what’s most important to you, says Sarah, 28, from Bedfordshire, a part-time administrator with a three-year-old son. Her partner Ian, 29, works for the RAC. Although she worries about money, she didn’t want her son to be an only child. Their second baby was born this summer.

‘We didn’t want a big age gap between our children, so we decided to go with the flow. You have to be cautious with money, but you can’t not do things because you’re worried about what might happen. Whatever money you’ve got, you manage to get by somehow.’

But Sarah does feel anxious. She was the last person employed in her company: ‘If it’s “last one in, first one out”, then I’d be in trouble. And they’re making redundancies at the RAC.’

They were more careful planning the second pregnancy. ‘This time we had a gender scan, because if it was a girl it would give us time to sell our boy things. Knowing it was a boy eased the money worries as we’ve got everything we need.’ This is typical recessional family thinking: you can afford to do what you want to do, as long as you plan.

Professor Macinnes argues that people are far more affected by relationship factors than by money anyway. ‘Economic circumstances play a minor part in people’s fertility decisions. Far more important are finding the right partner and personal preferences for smaller or larger families. Affluence makes having a child easier, but it also provides more alternatives to having children.’

The lack of affluence, then, has the opposite effect. When people can see that luxury holidays, fast cars and all the other trappings of a glamorous, child-free life are out of reach anyway, they’re more likely to see the benefits of a messy family life. So perhaps, instead of a falling birth rate, the early signs point towards a carefully budgeted baby boom…