First-time UK parents spend more than £492 million each year preparing for the arrival of their first baby but just one in five have life cover, new research has found.
An Aviva study of 2,000 recent parents found parents across the UK spent over £492 million in total on baby essentials such as prams, baby clothes, cots, car seats. Meanwhile one in five new parents (20%) moved to a bigger house, with the majority paying around £40,000 in the process.
However Aviva found a "worrying" proportion of new parents could be risking their children's financial futures by not taking out life cover.
One in five said they had taken out life insurance or reviewed their protection needs at this time.
New parents were twice as likely to start a savings account for their new arrival, with two out of five (38%) saying they'd taken this step.
Aviva data showed almost two-thirds (64%) of families have no life insurance in place and the typical family only has £2,773 in savings which, without any other income, would last less than two months on average.
Louise Colley, protection director for Aviva said: "It's only natural that people want to give their baby the best of everything, particularly when they're about to become parents for the first time, but it's also important to think about planning for the unexpected. Life insurance should be seen as just as much an essential as the pram or the car seat, as it's there to protect your loved ones' futures.
"It's interesting that most new parents admit they've spent money on items they didn't need or never used. Life insurance is of course another thing that people hope they'll never have to make use of, but the peace of mind of knowing your family will be provided for, should the worst happen, is absolutely invaluable."
