Formula feed, how much does it cost you?

[sunlover1123]

Just reading an article from UNICEF on formula feeding and the wide discrepancy of costs with formulas even though they are much of a muchness and it got me thinking. How much does it cost you to FF your baby each month and if you've had babies in the past what was the price back then?

Have started those ready made bottles but Christ they are expensive, will need to move to powder asap!

www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/infant-formula-price-rises/

My DD is 5 in January and I think when she was drinking formula, it was £10.50 for a box of Cow and Gate?

Based on Hipp Organic, where I believe the scoops are about 5g…

One 800g box makes 160oz formula (sorry for mixing metrics!).

Based on 5oz bottles, makes 32 bottles.

Baby drinks around 6 bottles a day, so one box lasts 5.33 days.

Need 5-6 boxes a month, at on average £13-14 each, so about £75 per month 😱

I would add to that unicef list, far better information on costs to be given to all pregnant women, but especially to those in a vulnerable financial position and far better breastfeeding support. Too many women do not realise just how expensive it is to bottle feed and by the time their baby is increasing their appetite they can no longer switch to breastfeeding. Combi feeding should be presented as a good option too, too many women think it's one or the other.

I must have saved £2k + as formula was $15 a small can even 25 years ago in the USA, one of my DD's would have needed special formula too

We combi feed but the ready made bottles probably do cost around £10 a week as she has one overnight. Formula is expensive and you can’t donate it to food banks either.

@aubergineman my weekly good shop for me and DP costs around £90 surely a baby shouldn't be costing around the same price? Assuming the price goes up as they get a bit bigger until they can have cows milk?

At our local baby bank you can now get formula - they don’t advertise it but it’s there if needed. They’ll give enough to allow for 1 tub a week (unless you have multiples then it’s more)

@sunlover1123 you're mixing up week and month, so it's £75 per month.

At the start they have lots of small bottles, later they have fewer larger bottles. The volume of milk starts to decrease once they are weaning but they don't move to cows milk until 12 months old.

The Hipp Organic feeding guide suggests 7-8 2oz bottles per 24 hours at 0-2 weeks (16oz per day) and 4-5 6oz bottles per 24 hours at 5 months (30oz per day) which is their peak formula consumption month.

Based on my calculation it's 8.5p per oz they drink, so it would be £1.35 per day as a newborn and £2.53 per day at peak consumption,

That said, Hipp Organic is far from the cheapest formula on the market, just what worked for us and a midrange option. You can get 900g of Aldi's Mamia formula for £9, and nutritionally it will still give your baby everything they need because formula is heavily regulated.

We used Kendamil. They offer a monthly subscription service on their website so I got 7 800g tubs a month for £84 when he was drinking the most.

Expecting twins this time so will obviously be more expensive but worth every penny. Breastfeeding isn't for me, especially with twins.

£13.50 a box for me, also on Hipp Organic too.

whilst it’s expensive, there are also costs associated with breastfeeding …pumps, nipple shields, suitable clothing, nursing bras and probably much more but having never breastfed I don’t know

I'm with @aubergineman and @hopingforthemillion and went for hipp organic.

We found premade a lot better for preventing wind but it got expensive as baby got bigger / consumed more...

I had a big baby and switched to follow on stage 2 at 5m instead of 6 m - stage 2 can be bought on offer and i think? you can use boots points. So it got a lot cheap then maybe £50 ish pm...

I personally spent A LOT more trying to breast feed (about £2k total) than I did on formula in year 1 (less than £1k).

i also spent more money on random baby crap teethers toys baby classes etc per month than I ever did on formula.