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

Things I wish someone had told me before I had a newborn: (1) nearly new sales are your friend! Clothes are so cheap and you can pick up some lovely things (2) Facebook marketplace and your local mums group on Facebook is where lots of bargains can be found, not eBay. There are also selling groups on Facebook for specific brands like JoJo Maman although the clothes normally sell for a good price via those. I choose to buy secondhand because I like a bargain (50 p or £1 for an item which would be significantly more new!) and I think it is better environmentally. I find good quality brands secondhand and so when I do buy new, I can afford more expensive brands and avoid cheaper clothing.

Spending thousands is a bit extreme. Also think of long term stuff like university. The damage!

@brownpaperbag1
I'm due in 6 weeks and I think that the best piece of advice I can give is shop around. Loads of different shops including Aldi, Mothercare and Asda all have baby events on where things can be reduced up to 50%. DP and I have saved over £1000 by being a bit savvy and waiting for sales.

In the recent Mothercare sale we managed to get a joie 360 multi stage car seat, travel system, electric steriliser and changing bag for £400, where the original travel system we liked along with the car seat would have set us back £550.

We have stocked up on various sizes of nappies from Aldi with a pack of 24 newborn size 1 costing 79p and a pack of 44 newborn size 2 costing £1.69. Our Moses basket was also from Aldi in there baby event.

Also sign up to Emma's diary online and install the app as it will give you a week by week of how your baby is developing and at various stages throughout your pregnancy you are entitled to claim gift bags from boots or argos. If you use the codes on the app you can redeem each pack up to 3 times and they are full of samples for you and the baby. The app also gives you £250 money off vouchers for various items at argos.

Boots parenting club is also another good one. Don't feel cheeky by accepting freebies from companies, friends and family loads of people would rather gift things than get rid of them.

Sorry about the long post, I didn't expect to ramble that much.

Good luck!

Newborns can be very cheap if you want them to be. Things like Moses baskets can be useful but they won't be used for long, so there will be loads on FB selling groups and gumtree etc with hardly any use.

DD who's 10yo is now very expensive as she's in size 4 shoes so they now have VAT on them. I can no longer get a multipack of baby gros for a £5. Plus she knows what she likes and what she wants to wear, and a cheap sale dress isn't it On the plus side, she wears pants, which are cheaper than nappies!!

If u wanna give your kids a decent life ie.. holidays abroad, nice clothes, experiences, decent bday parties, it all costs

Children don't need holidays, nice clothes and extravagant birthday parties. Heck even adults don't need these things. They're nice to have but not essentials.

We spent a fortune but we bought everything new and bought some expensive 'optional' stuff. I think if I were doing it again, I'd buy more second hand, but she's our PFB so I guess we got carried away In terms of what they actually 'need', it's not very much at all.

@daisydoooo and @firstimemamma
Living in inner London esp, kids are expensive full stop. If u wanna give your kids a decent life ie.. holidays abroad, nice clothes, experiences, decent bday parties, it all costs. A flight anywhere for a couple is expensive yet alone a fam of 4. We decided against kids for that reason. If we had kids I’d want them to have a good life and sadly with our income it’s not possible and wud be unfair on the kids.
So to answer the op yes a baby is expensive
1000 pounds is a bit extreme tbh but yea you need a lot of dollah

@WaterSheep
I disagree. Why have kids and spend the whole year at home. Ridiculous! They need to experience the world and see other places too.

Oh and definitely don't scrimp on car seat or buy that second hand. There are some shitty ones on the market, so do your research and buy a decent one.

@Jamal988 hi, I think you might have tagged me by accident. A lot of people in this thread spent the amount we did or more

@WaterSheep
What about long term costs like university and education?, people seem to forget that, various clubs and after school clubs.Also, even certain experiences require payments (museums, theme parks etc) kids are the most expensive thing on the planet but a lot of people are selfish and have them without considering the actual real time costs

@Userzzzzz yea true about car seats. Agreed! Not all are safe.

This is incredibly helpful, thank you!

I would love to do reusable nappies for environmental reasons, but I’m worried about the faff - especially as I know how exhausted I’m no doubt going to be!

Jamal988

I don't disagree that over their lifetime children are expensive. I just don't think holiday abroad, nice clothes and extravagant birthday parties are essential. They're nice to have and do, but there are plenty of more affordable alternatives.

f u wanna give your kids a decent life ie.. holidays abroad, nice clothes, experiences, decent bday parties, it all costs. A flight anywhere for a couple is expensive yet alone a fam of 4. We decided against kids for that reason.
This is some of the saddest advice I've heard on MN. Holidays abroad: not necessary, nor are flights. I didn't go on a plane til I was 16.

Birthday party = bouncing around the house/garden hopped up on cheap sugar. Experiences = going to the park. London galleries and museums are free. Nice clothes = not necessary but charity shops and nearly new sales can cover you.

I agree that rent in London is a joke, but really, equating a decent life with stuff is so sad.

newborns are incomparably cheap compared to sacrificing a large chunk of your salary to care for them

Check your local childrens centers they do still exist though they don't do much. Our ones have a rail of baby clothes one for like 20p a pop sometimes you can get sleep suits plus if you ask they may know of anyone getting rid of a pram and or other stuff you might want.

Bounty/emmas diary etc you can get freebies and Iirc boots/pampers do a thing where you buy a pack of new baby nappies for about £3 and get a free baby bag.
Cloth nappies on ebay
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reusable-Washable-Baby-Cloth-Nappy-Cover-Wrap-One-Size-Birth-Potty-/322143539961?var= You will also need a lidded bucket some napisan and liners

I certainly don't think a child needs holidays and trips, but I wanted my DD to have access to the opportunities I had when growing up so it is important to me we can afford to go away together and I can take her places, so that was a consideration as to whether we were 'ready' or not. It's just the lifestyle I want her to have, and that, along with other reasons including the fact we just don't want another, is why we are staying at one.

@brownpaperbag1 no faff really, you just put them in a nappy bucket or wet bag instead of a bin, and chuck them in the wash. 😊

If you think you’ll need to save for newborn, what’s the plan for toddler, preschooler, school child etc. Presumably your earning capacity will reduce for a while, if you are worried about buying for newborn, won’t you also need to save for the other stages?

The most expensive item I have bought for my soon to be newborn is the pram (pram, buggy, car seat and accessories) That cost £200 brand new. The cot cost me less. A lot of places do sales, Mothercare, supermarkets, clothes shops, Smyth's etc all do baby events where you can get things cheap.

Babies aren't expensive, primary age children and older cost so much more.

You can get everything cheap second hand or even free if you check freecycle etc. After 3 babies I know that a lot of the expense is not needed.

Personally I think a pushchair with a pram/carrycot attachment is better than a Moses basket. They are less noisy (baskets rustle and squeak) and you are more likely to be able to use it after 4-5 months, which you can't with a basket. Also the mattress is usually bigger, I find.

eBay is great for baby stuff, and even if you prefer new things the amount of stuff babies generally get given as gifts means you can frequently pick up brand new stuff for a fraction of the price from a shop! I’d recommend selling your outgrown baby bits on as your dc goes up a size, helps cover the cost of the next size up.

In terms of weekly running costs, my ff DTs were costing about £50 a week for milk and nappies at their most expensive hungriest point, so I’d imagine a singleton would be about £30.

I’d recommend a baby swing/rocker thing, I daftly paid £100x2 for mine, and sold them on for £20 each - wish I’d bought them off eBay!

Reusable nappies take a bit of extra time, I do an extra load of laundry every day or two then hang them all up to dry which probably takes 15 minutes.
However we very very rarely get any leaks onto clothes so probably do less clothes washing - no I planned outfit changes!
I’d recommend looking on fb selling groups for something like little lamb size 1s, there is great advice available and the resale value is great.
(Also - depending on how much support you have in house, consider using disposables for the first week or two - baby might be too small / skinny for them to fit properly at first and it takes the pressure off you).