How much do you spend on formula a week/month/any period of time you'd like to tell me about, please?

[hunkermunker]

Just doing some market research - for a reason you may see one day soon.

Also, which formula do you use? And how much does your baby tend to get through in a week/month, etc?

TIA

This is great - thank you - all stuff I hadn't actually considered when I had my idea (more of that when it's more than an idea!).

So from this thread, it can vary a fair amount, depending on the formula you use, whether it's powder or readymade and, obv, on your baby's appetite.

I hadn't considered a lot of the other stuff - simply the milk. Factoring in things such as breastpads and extra cake would be tricky, I guess - since some people use washable pads, which you bung in with a normal wash and they take up next to no room at all.

Talking about money for clothes - not sure how that would figure in either, since some women buy lots of nursing tops and others don't bother at all.

Oh, it's a puzzle and no mistake!

oki,e a bit out of date, as the formula fed, well, mix fed child is about to start secondary school. but all my child benefit went on nappies and formula.
and yes, he was mix fed, so lots of breastmilk to top up the formula.

caz, i found it the other way. i got through my entire breastfeeding time on four bras. normally i buy at least one bra a month, or rather the equivalent. three on sale in figleaves ever couple of months.
and food with breastfeeding was just normal. clothes maybe, but that was good, as i was losing weight.
however, bresastfeeding for me with dc 2 and 3 stopped at 8ish months, when we moved to formula. didnt move to normal milk till their brithdays. no idea how much it was then. sorry.

dd1 I ff, I don't know in tins but it worked out at 5 x 8oz bottles per day until 12 wks then 4 x 8oz every day? At least one tin per week I think.
Used SMA gold

Just to throw in my 2 pennies worth....

I started BF and made it to about 10 weeks. In that time I bought bras, tops, herbal teas to increase milk supply, cooling pads, nipple creams, breast pads, expressing equipment (off Ebay), Oh and a bracelet that I switched from wrist to wrist about 50 times a day. I was desperate to continue so kept buying things to try and keep going but just couldn't manage it so it did feel like it was quite an expensive exercise. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing (and I'll do it all again if I have a 2nd child).

Anyway... I now use cow&gate formula. DD (18 weeks old) gets through about 2 tubs a week @ £6.98, then we have bottles, and a brush that gets replaced every month, kitchen roll for drying bottles, oh and those little pots to dose out what you need for a day... (& we had to replace our bloody kettle). I've never sterilised her stuff (although I do have one I acquired from freecycle).

Man alive babies are expensive! Good job I'm so frugal with everything else... 2nd hand/freecycle equipment and clothing all round!

We get SMA gold high energy/calorie ready made formula on prescription for DD3 who has CF, which sounds great until DP worked out it actually costs us more in petrol to get the flipping stuff/repeat prescriptions etc, than it would to walk to local Morrisons 5 mins away and buy a normal tub! Costs us about £15 each week. But she is finally putting on weight so i dont care.

I think you've got to look at the bare minimum it could cost of essentials - rather than considering the extras that some people buy but others get by without - like nursing tops.

Suppose it like estimating the cost of kids some people spend considerably more than others but it's not necessarily essential.

I think you've got to look at the bare minimum it could cost of essentials - rather than considering the extras that some people buy but others get by without - like nursing tops.

Suppose it like estimating the cost of kids some people spend considerably more than others but it's not necessarily essential.

agree with connor.

My nursing bras are rather old now but no way am I going to buy more for my next baby. I've never even seen a nursing top.

I got a second hand breast pump, and people gave me breast pads.

I did buy one packet of rather disgusting bfing tea - and never bought it again!

Now DS is in nursery, he's being breastfed at home but on Aptamil ready made for four days. We're using 2 of these a day so 8 a week. Though the little bugger is refusing to drink it (ha!). So we're wasting about a fiver a week...

I bf for 5 years in total and brought 6 nursing bras over that entire period. I have got through maybe three packs of breast pads OVERALL, no nipple cream, no breastshells, a second hand pump, three or four bottles for each child which I've carried on using beyond the first year.

Honestly - I get really cross about the huge industry that's sprung up to lift cash off breastfeeding mums... You really don't need ANYTHING except your boobs to breastfeed. All the rest - including nursing bras are optional.

The extra 500 calories? I finish off my children's food..... ahem. So that's me - a walking waste disposal unit then.....

I totally agree fabsmum, but I think many of the bf-ing extras are bought by mums who are struggling with it - eg I couldn't get a good latch to start with so tried various cushions etc, then sore nips so various creams, then worried about supply so various potions, then worried about public feeding so various tops....in the first 2 months I felt like I spent a fortune!! If things had been going smoothly I probably wouldn't have spent so much.

Like lazyhen said when you're desparate to continue you will buy literally anything you think will help!

Oh and about 15 books from amazon!!

Sorry again...I'm really leaving now...

I didn't buy any bfing tops either - but I did see a wonderful private midwife who helped me overcome bfing problmes - I don't know how much we paid for her but I think it was covered by our insurance anyway.

BF costs: loads of bras, disposable pads (had too many bouts of thrush with washables), Lansinoh, silverettes, a 'just right' dining chair from IKEA when I was really struggling, bendy cushions, electric breast pump, bottles/cups. I had a rough time all three babies so was willing to try anything.

but none of this equivalent to at least 7 quid a week plus bottles, steriliser, coolbags etc.. for 6 months for three kids - I reckon that would have been about a grand at least...?

Surley even non breastfeeding mums buy bigger bras and more tops/clothes after birth as breast get larger through pregnancy? And aren't most women are a few sizes bigger after giving birth?

I haven't brought any bf tops just lots of vest tops from primark and m&s (few pounds each) i just wear these under my normal tops.
I only have three bottles and my hand pump came with sterilising box for £12. All this talk of the cost of extra food for the 500cals, easily just the cost of an extra sandwich a day. Whats that..... two slices of bread and some cheese 30p?

At local breastfeeding groups they'll give you free samples of lansinol(sp) which can be expensive to buy. And disposable breastpads are 98p from asda for 40. I only used one pack.

All in all i would say the costs are minimal for breastfeeding.

DD got through 1 tin cow and gate a week about £6.50

Sorry late with the reply here, I use SMA gold get through a tub a bit a week- £7 and I make up 8oz bottles for dd who is 19 wks.

Hope that helps..

I use Aptamil number 2 for hungry babies.

Get through a tub just under a week. I think it costs about £7.50 or thereabouts.
Although I had to pay £11 for it when we were on holiday.

well I have 2 bf bras, only used pads for the 1st 6 weeks. no special tops and did buy a milking machine but then it has done 2 children.

No idea about cost of ff, but I agree that there seems to be a whole lot of marketing opportunities that have arisen around breastfeeding in the last few years. For those who have bought stuff and then not managed to breastfeed, all the tat probably does seem expensive. But for us, the breastpump has done 3 kids, used daily ish for about 4 months, which works out at about 5p a day. I've been extravagant and bought each baby a new bottle! They only need one. Bras have done each baby too (well they obviously don't wear them!), I've probably bought 2 new ones with each baby, tops are cheap, and probably would have bought new anyway. I would say the biggest expense is nursing pads, I've got washable ones (which seemed quite expensive I thought), but not enough, so have to supplement with disposables. And I eat alot anyway. But am saving loads by avoiding alcohol!

Do we pay VAT on breast pads and nursing bras?

I must have done everything on the cheap.

For b/f tops I used a cami top under my clothes - pull up outer top, pull down cami. no ginormous belly showing! result.
I used the same bras I had in pregnancy, but sewed some old baby vest poppers so they could be opened and put ribbons in them so I could open them and close them one handed. I basically copied the bras in Mothercare.

extra food:I did buy a carton on soya leicithin for me to sprinkle onto my cereal in the morning to emulsify the breastmilk and stop mastitis and blocked ducts. ?6. The rest of the calories came from the fat stores in my own saddlebags!
I bought a boppy cushion, and it doubled as a prop when my DD was sitting up - 7 months or so. I didn't buy a gym as I didn't need one with the boppy.

I also used ebm and used a handheld avent pump.
For breastpads I cut up sanitary towels I hadn't used for the lochia. I bought them on special offer, and as I had a cesarean birth I had too many of them.

I also ff with soyaSMA using the avent bottles. About 2X3oz a day. A can every two weeks or so ?11.
I used the dishwasher to sterilize bottles and didn't bother with the sterilizer I borrowed, as it didn't fit into the microwave.

It's not that expensive to feed a baby, nappies are another matter, and of course childcare is expensive when / if you go back to work..
I borrowed a travel system and a buggy, and bought a sling. HTH

keep us posted on your research results hunkermunker!

Breastfeeding for me is very thrifty! I bought two very good nursing bras which have lasted and lasted. Didn't need any fancy cushions or nursing tops, my breast pads are dirt cheap and I really don't eat anymore than I did before!! My steriliser was 15 quid and came with free bottles!!

I couldn't afford to spend 30 odd quid a month on milk though...

Sorry - had to add something. I read an article in a women's mag the other day about how often you should replace your ordinary bras. It said every 12 weeks, as the elastic gives during this time. Gawd, I've got bras that I still wear that are more than 5 years old! And they're hideous - gray, bits of elastic hanging off. Erk!

I just whip them off at night before DH sees what I'm wearning!

both my boys drank a whole carton a week so around £24 - £30 pm.
Will try my damnedest to bf again and longer this time, again.

one tub of aptamil a week at £7.98
for the other stuff i have 6 doctor brown bottles £30, steriliser £40, milk tub £5, i used all these with dd2 though as well so suppose you can half it. apart from the cost of new teats which were about £9 and these need changing every few months or changing to the next flow so in say 1 year of ff i'll prob will have spent £27 on teats. also new bottle brush every couple of months as the buggers always end up snapping