To ask if a newborn baby is expensive

[brownpaperbag1]

I’m pregnant with DC1 and due to give birth next year. I was wondering how much it costs to buy everything you need for a newborn - is it a lot? How much should I be aiming to save to ensure I can afford everything the baby will need?

I’m not talking about childcare here - just all the basic stuff, food, clothes, nappies, pram and any other essentials.

TIA

It depends - how much disposable income do you have? How many friends can pass on clothes etc to you?

We didn’t spend a huge amount - it wasn’t until they were born and growing and needed bigger clothes etc

it can really vary. top travel system/pushchair can be over £1000 or you can buy second hand for £60. it doesn't have to be expensive and buying second hand doesn't mean you have to compromise on quality, babies are in things for such a short time that things are often as good as new.

Very hard to put a number on it. Depends if your willing to go second hand or want everything new.

How long is a piece of string?

Breastfeeding: technically free but you'll want breast pads, nipple cream, feeding bras and tops, though you can buy cheap clips and elastic to convert your normal bras. Formula: you'll need bottles and a way to sterilise them.

Pram: you can go nuts and spend a grand on a designer vehicle or get something second-hand.

Nappies: Pampers are pricey, Aldi are cheap, reusables bought second-hand are the cheap option. Ditto reusable wipes.

Clothes: a few second-hand bundles of vests and sleepsuits will do until you know what you like – we hated sleep suits (all the poppers!) and tend to do

Depends how much you spend. Newborn baby doesn’t need much, it’s all the crap people become convinced they need.

Newborns are just about the cheapest your kid will ever be in my experience.

You can do it as expensive or as cheaply as you want.

Breastfeeding, cloth nappies, second hand stuff will all save you a crap load of cash.

I don't think newborns are expensive at all. They need very little in regards to physical items, and what they do need can often be bought much cheaper by buying second hand. (carseat and mattress being two which you should buy new)

Baby clothes - Are often given as gifts, or can be picked up for pennies at boot sales or charity shops.

Nappies - Not overly expensive, and better to wait and see which brands / sizes work best for your baby so don't buy a lot in advance.

Food - If breastfeeding then very little to no cost.

Pram - isn't essential but there are amazing, barely used, bargains to be had if you search FB market place, gumtree or Ebay.

Gather up as much as you can from friends and family and then see what you still need, and budget accordingly. Don't be pushed into buying everything new and buying lots of pointless shit, retailers LOVE new mums as they can guilt trip them into buying nonsense. If I were going to have another next time I'd just buy a Moses basket and a sling. Don't even buy stacks of nappies because your baby might not do well with the ones you've bought and you might need to try a different brand, or they might come out massive and too big for size 1!

We used a brilliant second hand baby shop - we got the cot, high chair and lots of clothes for peanuts.
If you’re able to breast feed, that saves a small fortune in formula milk. See if family and friends will chip in to help pay for items like a car seat, or donate their own outgrown baby clothes.

Well it completely depends whether you buy top end/brand new or if you look for bargains/second hand items.
Basically they need somewhere to sleep, something to carry them in and something for them to wear.
You can get second hand bundles of clothing very cheaply online or from ‘nearly new’ sales. They don’t need anything other than vests, sleepsuits and cardigans to start with.
There is a huge market in second hand pushchairs.
If you drive, try and get a new car seat. Second hand car seats aren’t recommended.
They won’t need actual food until around 6 months old. Obviously breast feeding is cheaper than buying bottles and formula.

The thing is, you could go out and buy everything before the baby comes (things like a bouncer chair, a play gym, high chair etc) but they won’t need them straight away so those purchases can wait. A Moses basket or crib will do for the early days, a cot if you want one and clothes storage. Lots of baby grows and vests and maybe a couple of clothing sets. Buy a pack of nappies a week as you approach the end. But the bigger stuff, you can buy those when the baby is here which spreads the cost a bit. The pushchair will be the biggest purchase before birth, really.

Pretty much as much or as little as you want to spend.

A pushchair might cost you £50 second hand off eBay, or £1500 new from the shop

Nappies are maybe £5 a pack, you’ll get through many a week (the estimate is about £1500 per child up to the age of 2), or consider reusable with an outlay of approx £200-300 in one go, but then no real further cost (washing cost only)

A cot- again pennies on eBay, or up to hundreds from a shop. But ALWAYS buy a new mattress.

If you want to breastfeed, theoretically no cost (though you’ll need new bras most likely). Bottle feeding, probably £40-100 to buy bottles/steriliser etc, plus approx £8-10 per tub of milk

Clothes- again pennies on eBay, or as much as you’d like to spend if you buy loads new. Realistically, a basic set up new, let’s say from Asda £40? You only need vests and grow suits to begin, it’s as they get bigger the clothes can start to add up.

Car seat £50ish up to hundreds, should always be bought new.

Gah! Baby hitting "post" on your phone comes for free...

Meant to say we do tights, bodysuit, cardie rather than sleepsuits so were glad we didn't buy many; and get a lot of stuff handed down from cousins, topped up with eBay, TK Maxx and and charity shop buys.

Food: BLW means they eat what you eat, more or less.

Other stuff: calpol, thermometer, blankets, all the muslins in the world, bath or bath support, books...

Remember you'll get £80 a month child benefit. Lots of stuff can be had nearly-new on Facebook selling sites, NCT sales, car boots, etc. They grow (and poo) through clothes at a rate of knots, don't bother spending loads. Don't be above returning gifts for shop credit! People got us all kinds of useless crap (slippers, dresses) that we took back and exchanged for vests and dribble bibs.

Things you especially don't need are a changing station (you'll end up doing it on the floor or your knee anyway), a baby bath (bath them in the kitchen sink, much easier when you start weaning!), the most expensive formula if FF (start with the cheapest and if it doesn't agree then try different brands. They're all nutritionally equal), and sleep positioners/sleepyheads/any kind of special baby bed shit (a bare cot or Moses basket is the only bed approved for baby by the lullaby trust)

You can choose how much you spend. It can be a small fortune or very little.
I had
A dozen white vests and babygrows (but were given many more)
A pram that converted to a pushchair later on
A car seat.

I don’t think I bought much more. We didn’t have feeding equipment, no baby bath (used the sink), no big cot, no Moses basket, no baby alarms initially, No special toiletries (used soap).

Not very much. Do you need a pram? I never had one. Or a car seat. A few baby grows and vests, and nappies. Somewhere to sleep with a mattress and blanket. I had a second hand Moses basket. Breastfeeding is free. A sling is very useful, especially if you don’t have a pram or car seat.

It's as expensive as you make it. If you try to follow trends and get the most stylish travel system, brand new designer clothes, hand made nursery furniture etc, you can spend thousands. Or you can get everything second hand (except car seat and mattress) for a fraction of the price.

Nappies aren't really expensive (£3 a pack for Tesco/Aldi own brand which are as good as Pampers). Or you can go for cloth nappies and/or wipes which are a bigger initial cost but save money and the planet long-term. Food - only milk for first 6 months, after that they can mostly just eat what you eat. Breastfeeding is free though I have spent a fair bit on nursing bras, pump etc. Formula is a bit more pricey but if you're on a very low income I think you can get Healthy Start vouchers to help with the cost.

There are loads of products that companies will tell you you can't live without- take most of it with a pinch of salt!

As others have said it can be very expensive if you buy everything brand new. We were given a lot of clothes passed on and we bought furniture second hand. Only thing needed brand new were the matresses (cot and moses basket).

As they've gotten older and outgrown the stuff we were given I have bought second hand from ebay or charity shops. I look out for clothes going cheap in the next size up to stock up before we need them.

If you live in Scotland you get a baby box which has some bits and pieces in it (and can be used as a bed).

The one thing I wish we'd tried to save money would have been to get reusable nappies. There are local groups where you can get starter packs and second hand outer nappies.

How much to save? Whatever you can especially if it means you can take more maternity leave. To be more accurate you could pretend shop (put everything you might want in an online basket from your prefered retailer or look at the prices on ebay or Facebook marketplace.)

It all depends how much you want to spend; you can get a lot second hand that’s practically new. I’d suggest spending a decent amount on a car seat as you want that to be good and get brand new mattresses for cot and Moses basket.

'Nappies are maybe £5 a pack, you’ll get through many a week (the estimate is about £1500 per child up to the age of 2'

That's a very high estimate! What kind of nappies are these people buying

Also due to give birth next year, here’s how much it’s cost so far..

Travel system - £800 (couldn’t find second hand one I liked)

Nursery 3 piece suite - £150 (second hand solid oak)

Clothes - £35 on a huge bundle of second hand clothes ranging from newborn to 3-6. We also spent approximately €300 on some outfits from little french boutiques when we went on holiday a few weeks ago, but that was totally optional obviously!

Bedding, baby bath, towels, blankets, bath support, mattress, pregnancy/feeding pillow, purflo nest, changing mat, changing mat liners, fitted clothes sheets and some other bits - approximately £250 from mother are all mostly in the sale and in one big order.

Nursing chair (optional) - £100 second hand.

Baby monitor with camera, thermometer and movement mat - £290

We still are yet to buy bulks of nappies and wipes but we’re waiting for Black Friday deals, or any other deals 😂

There’s lots of things we’re going to need still. But we’ve tried to get all the big items out of the way first.

@brownpaperbag1
Copied from the money advice service

You don't need half the stuff people claim. We lived in a small house and had no space.

We had a basic lie flat stroller- No fancy multi system. DH mum paid but is was cheap and lasted 3 years. Also had a sling and a car seat for going out.
Basic high chair about £20 from Ikea but not until older
Moses basket type thing for sleeping and a cot when older (my DM said for the cost)
We had a bouncy chair that my colleagues bought.

That was it.

No baby bath- we used the sink.

If you receive certain benefits you can claim
www.gov.uk/sure-start-maternity-grant

My SIL buggy cost £1000 which was way more than we paid for everything. We could have afforded to spend more but we didn't want loads of stuff and it all seemed such a waste.

There is no need to buy everything brand new , there are so many second hand baby things on Facebook selling sites , especially bundles of clothes. Save your money for when they are teenagers !

Sorry - we also had a basic bay monitor, sound only.

DoubtingMyPatience
I wonder if you look back in 10 Yyears and think why did I buy all this stiff that I never used.