How much would you budget for a baby?

[JLT24]

I’m trying to set a realistic budget for the first 12 months of having baby. How much would you budget a month for things such as:

Milk
Nappies
Wipes
Nappy bags
Clothes - was kindly gifted everything I need for up to 3 months
Toys
Books
Swimming lessons from 3 months old (once a week)
2 coffees/cakes a week to get me out of the house to save my sanity (will also try to attend free baby classes all within walking distance so no travel costs)
Food once weaning

We also want to save towards:

1. A new cot at around 6 months old as they will grow out of their next to me crib
2. Weaning equipment including a high chair again around six months old
3. A lightweight travel cot as we will be going abroad twice next year (I don’t want to use second hand equipment for sleeping)
4. £1000 to pay for their Christening (meal for close family and friends and our outfits plus donation go the church)
5. £200 for Xmas and Birthday presents for baby
6. £210 for a month’s childcare fee in advance

Is there anything I have missed that you would budget for?

Thanks, I’ve used the ikea high chair for my nephew you’re right it’s brilliant, i think we’ll up cycle the one we have with a new cushion and a new tray! Good that weaning stuff is cheap I’ve just seen a pack with everything for £15.

Can’t do lots of walks unfortunately due to my disability I really wish I could as you say it’s free and good for baby, I can manage a couple of short walks a week possibly!

Just intending on buying a few pouches a week. I’ll need to buy a blender as don’t have one.

Erm...your wage? The loss of earnings is the biggest financial hit.

I costed it all out once, and found cloth nappies no cheaper, once you had factored in the cost of washing, and the cost of wearing out the washing machine....

I don’t work currently. I claim disability benefits which will continue at the same rate for the next 12 months (maybe slightly increase with inflation next April.

This is not in any way a criticism, but as it seems your husband does all the housework, is the sole wage earner and your carer and will also be doing the bulk of childcare it may be worth factoring in the cost of some babysitting? I’m in a similar position to your husband and it’s a LOT - if you don’t have a wider support network I’d factor in the costs of paying for one.

the biggest cost is childcare, which is obviously going to be £800 upwards a month, but looks like you are not working, so won't need that

We used Aldi nappies at first and moved to Sainsbury's after size 2, they're about £2.80 a pack which lasts about a week now. We have reusable wipes - £30 outlay for cheeky wipes but still going strong at 15 months. Milk - we used cow and gate value packs which I think we're £12.50 for 1.2kg. I think lasted between a week or 2.
Everything else we picked up off Facebook marketplace or local giving sites free or cheap. Travel cot was being given away and perfectly good for the odd night. Same for jumperoo which he didn't really use that much. I did have to give it a good clean up but it comes apart and fabric bits go in wash. Walker was 50p in a charity shop and he's still obsessed with it now, best 50p I've ever spent! Weaning bits and pieces also gifted free on our village giving site, have just topped up with a couple of different cups as he was a bit fussy.
So basically there's loads of second hard stuff out there if you're happy to look for it and have things that aren't perfect. So many things are used for such little time or not right anyway that in my eyes it's madness to buy new for everything, although I understand that some people think differently to me! Good luck!

Our childcare is currently about £550 per month for 2 full nursery days, term time only (so we don't pay that for school holidays as they are shut. Includes nappies, wipes, meals, trips etc...

Thanks. We have a cleaner. We also have a Home Start volunteer who will look after the baby for 2 hours a week. I’ll be doing the bulk of the childcare certainly 8am-6pm Mon-Fri until they are 9 months as once they are physically very active I won’t be able to cope for as many hours a day. We have a childminder place reserved for then. I also have my parents and siblings if we get desperate (I don’t like asking for help as they all have their own stuff going on!!)

Any advice on how to find a good babysitter as I do think it’ll help. I found the childminder on the council website but can’t see babysitting on there! Our local FB page for the village don’t allow recommendations (it’s so annoying!!)

We will be using a childminder from 9 months we already have a place reserved. The amount I’ve quoted has been agreed with them and is the cost for 3 days after funding and tax free childcare has been deducted.

Thanks so much I’m happy to use second hand just got mattress and car seats! Which Walker do you have?

Just bear in mind that making up bottles takes a lot of effort whereas breastfeeding is easy once you have the knack.

Is there a reason you need to budget for childcare if you don't work?

If you aren't going to be losing income on maternity leave I don't quite see why you need to budget, you arent saving up beforehand and once he baby is born won't you just spend according to your income

If youre short you don't go out for cake that week, or that's how I managed it anyway

I do think swimming is very important but honestly spend as little as possible on baby stuff and start saving towards the teenage years for things like a possible university fund and help towards driving lessons.

I was just going to suggest factoring in a mother's help a couple of times a week, to entertain baby or take them for a walk in the pram while you rest. Does your husband have some work flexibility and how much parental leave is he taking? I'm sure you know this, but it never quite hits home til they arrive: babies are exhausting!

Edit: Ah, you've just responded to the original message and are all over this! Babysitting- can your childminder recommend someone? All the best with your new baby.

Even just a short walk to a bench and then pushing the pram back and forwards can be good. If baby likes it the Rockits are good but don’t buy until you know why baby likes as even second hand ones are quite expensive.

For blending you could get a cheap hand blender, they’re probably easier then stand up blenders and less to wash up.

Just re your plan to swap to bigger car seat at 15 mo so it's in year 2 budget - you may not get to decide. Our DD out grew her baby one by 10mo (and it wasn't a small one) as did a friend of ours DS. Perhaps worth factoring into year one just in case.

I have a disabilty and need support looking after our child. Otherwise I’ll end up very unwell which won’t be good for anyone.

A budget covers both income and outgoings. So although our income won’t change our outgoings will. We use a zero based budget system we plan in roughly how much things will cost so our spending is controlled, especially for things that have to be booked in advance it’s good to know if we actually have enough to cover the cost before committing to them. It also helps us to set savings aside to cover future expenses.

Yes I agree with this unless your DH is on hand to take baby during the day. You’re unlikely to be able to nap during the day unless you get one of the magic sleeping babies, chances are baby will be napping in you or in the pram in which case you can’t nap when they do. You’ll need to share the nights as neither one of you should be doing them all, so get a good schedule going between you and your DH depending on when baby sleeps, we tag teamed for the first couple of months so one slept 9 - 2am then the other slept 2am - 7am.

You don’t need to pay for expensive swimming lessons. Just take them public swimming at the local pool.

I would rather use the £200 you have allocated for xmas and christmas for attending baby classes as you would get more from it! I really would send that money to your experiences section of the budget

You don't need to spend anything on them for those first events... you could wrap a book and clothes you were buying already; they would not know! Other people would also get you gifts too.

Get a second hand cot, new matress.
An Ikea high chair - I had paid £70 for a nice colourful high chair and it was a nightmare to clean, I could wash the Ikea one in the bath with the shower!
Buy the next size up and take advantage of sales.
Try different brands of nappies, I used pampers for £25 a fortnight and then discovered Aldi nappies and they are fantastic.

I’d honestly budget a minimum of £250 a month. What you don’t use, put by for the next month when baby may need new clothes/weaning stuff etc.
Also keep an eye on baby events.

Thanks hoping to see if we can fit some specific savings for our child’s future eg driving lessons, first car into our budget once I know how much things cost! We have a long term plan to downsize and gift them a house deposit/support with uni. But we know better than most how life can change in an instant due to health and it can be very difficult to plan long term finances!

It's really hard to put a number on some of those things. If money is tight then you can get stuff like highchairs and cots second hand (get new mattresses for cots) very cheaply, same goes for clothes and toys (and also you'll get given loads). Our lovely highchair cost £10 from Marketplace, for instance.

Baby swimming for us costs about £60/ half term I think. We also go to a church group which is a voluntary donation of £1 and includes coffee and cake! Lots of other free groups are available - your health visitor might have a list if you're lucky.

Nappies and wipes aren't expensive - a big bag is about £5 in Lidl and that generally would last us a couple of weeks. You could compromise by getting some washable wipes and using for wees but the disposables for poos - we did this and saves some money and seems to help with nappy rash (DD2 has had nappy rash before when we've been away and relying purely on disposable wipes.)

You can spend loads on special weaning food if you want, but also you can just give them a bit of what you have as long as you are able to reduce the salt in it a bit.

A mothers help would be very handy! No idea where to find one of them, I will ask childminder! My husband works from home 2 days a week and he will be able to take breaks so I can nap/ have a full rest.
But he also has a lot of flexibility to do more days from home if he needs to. He also gets paid carers leave and can use unpaid leave.