Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think £5200 is a ludicrous amount to spend on a DC's first year?

130 replies

dustbunniesmakegreatpets · 15/11/2011 09:41

According to this article, it's the average amount. Does that seem crazy/incredibly unlikely to anyone else?

I know we spent nothing like it but then we've always been very cheap careful.

It includes a grand on baby food and formula fgs, which surely must be a maximum, rather than an average, given all those who bf and don't buy bespoke jars? And 800 quid on toys (not including bouncers - they're in a separate section) - surely this is unusual?

OP posts:
StrandedBear · 15/11/2011 11:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

molly3478 · 15/11/2011 11:38

I did the baby monitoring thing the old fashioned way by obsessively watching my child sleep and not sleeping a wink hardly myself for about 6 months and waking them up or putting fingers under their nose to check they are breathing every 2 minutes. PFB! Grin

RealLifeIsForWimps · 15/11/2011 11:39

V true MB V true.

Ironically, the richer you are, the more likely you are to have well off friends who just give you stuff rather than having to sell said stuff on ebay to buy their kids a Christmas present.

MmeLindor. · 15/11/2011 11:40

Marianne
Sure, I know that. I didn't have one of the monitors. But I don't criticise those who need that extra reassurance, as they have bought these items out of fear.

MarianneM · 15/11/2011 11:40

MorallyBankrupt - it is more that I am annoyed at people bleating how expensive having a baby is and then they list things like £750 prams, three car seats, baby monitors with cameras and baby gyms as essential items! And then we wonder why people (the whole blooming country!) are in so much debt!

StrandedBear · 15/11/2011 11:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lovingthecoast · 15/11/2011 11:41

Yes, Cheshire was a crazy place to live. So much wealth but always where you could see it! Grin Though at least it was honest as when we lived in Surrey people made a point of trying to hide anything that betrayed wealth. Sussex suit me well.

I think it's all evened out and having had four children and spending very little on the middle two, the average for each will be low. Just needing some new stuff for this one as we gave a lot away after DD2 and some of what we kept was just tatty after 8yrs and 3 DCs.

youtalkintome · 15/11/2011 11:42

With my first we were given loads of stuff we then very generously lent it to friends after dc2 who failed to give any of it back. With this baby nobody has given us anything. I have had to buy babygro's etc our others have co slept but still have a crib bought a crib and monitor as I have always put them down in their own bed early I breastfeed but still need paraphernalia to express so had to buy that.
Even trying to do it on the cheap and not going crazy i still have found it expensive. Lots of people go back to work at end of paid mat leave so you can factor childcare costs into that figure or loss of earnings. I would say it sounds perfectly reasonable for the average figure.

MmeLindor. · 15/11/2011 11:43

Molly
It really isn't PFB to have a monitor with sensors. If it helps make the first year a child's life easier for an anxious mother, and she can afford to have one then what is the problem?

The women I knew with these monitors have had children with health problems.

ohanotherone · 15/11/2011 11:43

Hmmm here is my spend so far at 3 months:-

£360 buggy/car seat
£35 Rocking wooden crib, moses basket and breastfeeding pillow at a sale.
£30 new mattress for crib.
£30 muslins/fannels/sheets.
£16 sleeping bag.
£20 Nappies (have also been given wasables)
£18 baby grows (all other clothes second hand)
£25 change table Ikea
£20 cuddles and a teething ring.

That's £554 but am breastfeeding.

handbagCrab · 15/11/2011 11:43

We've already spent more than that and baby isn't even here yet!

Saying that, the outlay has mainly been the new boiler and central heating system we needed as ours broke and getting the nursery replastered as it had damp.

I think on actual baby things we've spent about a grand. We haven't had much second hand stuff as most of the people I know haven't got kids or have ebayed all their baby stuff, although I'm grateful for the things we've had as it has saved us at least £150 :)

molly3478 · 15/11/2011 11:44

realifeforwimps - we are all very poor compared to rest of country here but I find it means you get more stuff. People lend it you then you have to give it back between babies. I got my pram and sling from doing this. Also they have loads of cheap sales where you can buy old clothes for 30p etc and as no one cares about it being expensive or having the 'right' one it is really cheap

RealLifeIsForWimps · 15/11/2011 11:44

I actually would buy my nappy bag again. It looks great, has loads of pockets so you can find everything one handed and has insulated pockets. Has a waterproof laptop pocket (genius). It was the same price as a normal handbag that I would buy and I've used it every day for the last 15 months.

I dont think a nappy bag is essential. I think a big bag with lots of pockets is as you don't want to be groveling for your wallet, which is under all your baby paraphenalia while trying to struggle out of a cab with a screaming baby.

JugglingWithGoldandMyrhh · 15/11/2011 11:46

I probably spent loads on my PFB.

£££ on photos for a start as this was in the olden days of getting your photos "developed" 12 years ago !

New parents are such an easy target for retailers etc. I bought everything going for DD. Still not that much on clothes though, as lots of pressies and second hand from friends throughout my DCs childhood. Come to that did they include what others spent on the baby - grandparents for example ?

Anyway biggest expense is surely stopping working/ childcare though !

vj32 · 15/11/2011 11:47

onlinefriend if you are still reading this despite the competitive non-buying discussion, it was our travel system that was £550. (Thats was actually a real bargain for what we got, from an internet clearance.) It was bought for us by one of the gp, who had a bit of a say in what we bought. We would not have spent that much ourselves. The main 'extra' was an isofix base of about £140, and an extra mattress for carrycot so he could sleep in it overnight. We don't have a matching footmuff or parasol thingy - but did have to buy a raincover.

I would look on the netmums classifieds bit - I have seen some really nice second hand prams on there.

To save money join all the baby clubs and buy things at supermarket baby events. And don't buy things unless you know how you will use it. Some people hate travel systems and think them a huge waste of money, but we have used every part of it loads. (eg Ds slept in the carrycot so we didn't have to buy a moses basket.) Unfortunately you often don't know these things until the baby is here and you sort of work out what your family needs.

lovingthecoast · 15/11/2011 11:47

But MarianneM, you made the assumption that couples having their first baby have parents or family to help or friends with babies who can pass stuff down. That just wasn't the case for us and had nothing to do with being PFB.

We were lucky in that financially we could afford what we needed but many couples must be in the same boat and struggling.

MarianneM · 15/11/2011 11:49

Funnily enough we had a lot of stuff to give away after two DDs (youngest now 16 months) and I only offered genuinely good stuff to people (rest went to charity shops), but many didn't want any!

A friend was offered the moses basket, a bath etc, but she went and bought it all new (her new moses basket was in use for a few weeks). A work colleague who I offered DDs' lovely Monsoon dresses etc said that his wife has a phobia about old clothes Hmm

A family member who had a baby girl was offered stuff, didn't take it. Oh well, my 18 yo cousin who had a baby got a lot of stuff.

lovingthecoast · 15/11/2011 11:51

Yes, our new nappy bag has a laptop carrier compartment. It's what swung it for DH as he can now work from home, take DS2 out for a walk and stop for coffee and work. I suppose he could shove it in a rucksack but he a bloke and they like gadgety stuff.

lovingthecoast · 15/11/2011 11:53

We gave away lots after DC3 as we thought we were done. So lots of people benefitted from us but being the first in our group of friends to have a baby meant that there was nothing passed on to us.

JuliaScurr · 15/11/2011 12:01

'nappy bag with laptop compartment' - fabulous. The work/life balance in one product! Isn't capitalism marvellous? Ooh, the brave new world.

JuliaScurr · 15/11/2011 12:03

Friend asks has it got a USB bottle warmer feature?

lovingthecoast · 15/11/2011 12:04

Oh I agree! But the point is he actually uses it!

JuliaScurr · 15/11/2011 12:06

If not, she's going on Dragon's Den

ChippingInNeedsSleep · 15/11/2011 12:09

Online please don't panic. It really doesn't have to be expensive. There is very very little you have to have. It's mostly about choosing to have things that make life easier/you like/you want and bloody good advertising!! Try joining your local freecycle there's always a load of stuff on mine - there really isn't much that you can't wash/disinfect. The only thing I'd be careful of is a used car seat, but tbh if you get it off of freecycle it's not likely to have been in an accident as they are giving it away so could just as easily have thrown it away if it had been. I'd never buy one off of eBay as people have an incentive to lie about it.

Catslikehats · 15/11/2011 12:10

lovingthecoast that was me 1st time round. We had DC1 a good few years before our friends had though about babies so we had to buy everything new (and boy did we buy ^everything - although I did draw the line at the top and tail bowl and heated wipes box Grin )

The advantage ( Wink ) was that all or friends were dual income couples and we got some beautiful pressies: cashmere blankets, smythson photo album, trucks of monsoon and baby gap clothes. Stuff that no sane person buys their own baby.

By the time we had DC4 having got rid of all out baby stuff most of our same friends had finished their families so we were fortunate enough to be given a M&P nursery set, a bugaboo chameleon and bee, two car seats, bouncy chair etc. Once I have decided whether this is the last we will give it away to someone who will make use of it.