HOW do you raise a child in the middle of one of the worst recessions in modern times?

It seems the answer for many parents is to ask charities for handouts.

With the economy sliding back into recession, record numbers of parents are now being forced to turn to food banks to feed their families. According to the Office for National Statistics, food prices have risen by almost 5% in 12 months, but incomes have not kept pace.

The Trussell Trust, which runs the UK's only network of food banks, is helping to feed 6000 people in Scotland, and 129,000 people across the UK as a whole. Last year the Trussell Trust fed 2400 people in Dundee, 3362 in the Highlands and 375 people at its centre in Glasgow, which opened in December.

Anne Houston, chief executive of the charity Children 1st, warns that the number of people relying on handouts will rise as the economic situation worsens. She said: "One in five children in Scotland lives in poverty, which is unacceptable. As the cost of living rises, there is a real risk that more families could find themselves living in poverty.

"The news that the country has dipped back into recession will only add to the financial pressures families are facing. We know that financial worries have an impact on family life and can affect the happiness and wellbeing of the children living in them."

At this weekend's baby and toddler show in Glasgow at the SECC, the high cost of bringing up a child loomed large in the minds of many mums and dads. Among stalls selling everything from prams to toy insurance, parents anxious about the future spoke of their fears.

Robert Rutherford and Katherine Docherty are raising their first-born son, Cody, while his dad struggles to find work. Robert, 28, is a broadcasting student who works part-time in a supermarket while Docherty is a research assistant who is on nine-months' maternity leave and is paid just over £400 a month.

Rutherford said: "We are worried about what the future holds. We have been getting by just now, but that'll be different when I leave university.

"My student loan will have run out and there's not much work in the broadcast industry. We get child benefit but it's not much, only about £10 a week. One box of nappies costs about £10."

New mum Fiona Ritchie had to cut short her maternity leave following the births of son, Connor and daughter, Lucy. Ritchie, who works with the Fire and Rescue Service, said: "After Lucy was born I had to go back to work after 14 weeks. My wages fell to about £400 a month and it just wasn't enough to live on."

Sarah Mollins and Neil Ewart, both 32 and from Crieff, say the biggest issue for them after starting a family has been the squeeze it has put on their earning ability.

Mollins said: "My maternity leave has just finished, but I've extended it with annual leave. I had 18 weeks' full pay and then that dropped to the statutory level.

"We looked into childcare costs and they are about £40 a day. It would be like having another mortgage and it feels like the Government takes away more than it gives because we don't qualify for help. We get child benefit. It's not much, but it helps."

Both have full-time jobs and are fortunate their incomes are above average. But with 4000 more people unemployed than a year ago, support services are coming under an increasing strain, and charities warn they are being used as a substitute for government action.

John Dickie, from the Children's Poverty Action Group in Scotland, said: "We would be deeply concerned if it was ever seen that charities and food banks would in any way be a kind of replacement for a tax-and-benefit policy that ensures all our families have adequate incomes for the task of bringing up their children.

"This is an indictment of government policy and shouldn't be seen as an alternative to the kind of national action we need to prevent children and families living in poverty."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government wants Scotland to be the best place for children to grow up and we're committed to helping families to ensure that vision becomes reality. We're already taking steps to increase free, flexible and family-friendly early learning and childcare under the forthcoming Children's Bill, as well as devising a national parenting strategy to support families across Scotland.

"We'll also continue helping families through the £270 million Early Years Change Fund and the Early Years Task Force to make sure our children and young people get the best possible start in life."

The spokesman added: "We're also delivering on our commitment to a 'social wage,' while measures like the council tax freeze and free prescriptions are helping to protect household incomes."