How much will I need per month to look after my baby?

[Lilly24]

I'm due to have my first baby at the end of August and I'm just trying to work out how much I will need (on average) each month.

I would really like to take my baby to some classes from 3/4 months old but everything I've found looks really expensive!!

What will I need to be spending money on and how much will each thing be per month? Also, how much does this change with age?

What sort of classes are you looking at for a 3 month old? Where we live, a lot of the churches run baby/toddler groups and none ask for more than a quid or so donation. At that age, it's just about getting out of the house and some social interaction. Anything else is a waste of money in my opinion. I wouldn't be paying £££ when there is a good chance your baby will sleep through the class.

in the first month's very little. Groups were mainly free from what I remember. I breastfed exclusively, had mainly hand me downs from friends. So the only real expense was nappies.

The main expense is loss of income and later on childcare. But a baby itself, esp in the first few months costs very little.

hand me down clothes from friends.

For things like baby classes, wouldn't it be more of a case that you see what spare money you have after essentials to spend on this sort of thing?

There's no point suggesting £50 a month for classes if you can't even pay your basic bills while on maternity leave.

OTOH, if you're getting full pay from a professional job and will be better off due to not having to pay for commuting etc, you'll have more choice about what you do.

I took my baby to Baby Sensory, paid £70 for one term and hated it. Full of stuck up, cliquey mums who would rather chat than change their baby's nappy. £1.50 for the local church hall toddler group was so much better and my baby didn't give a damn either way.

Babies cost what you make them cost. I found Lidl's nappies better than Pampers. Breastfeeding costs nothing. I got some lovely new clothes for a couple of quid off eBay. My pushchair was £30. All babies need is their mum, not loads of stuff. It's when they get to their teenage years that the costs shoot up!!

I've found babies aren't as expensive as you'd think. But I've not done much in terms of classes. I think most sensory classes are around the £7-10 mark and only once a week. I only did online ones, which was good but wasn't keen on doing in person. I wouldn't bother with swimming yet cos that's extortionate, I think about £20 a session for babies.

Nappies, you'll probably use a pack of 50 a week, (7-10 a day) but gets less as they get bigger. If you go super market brand (Morrisons, asda and aldi have been consistently the best) which are about £3.50 a pack.

Creams/talc lasts ages but maybe 5-10.

Your cost will Increase depending on whether you breastfeed or formula. I ended up on formula, and would get the aldi mamia stuff, at £6.50 a tin, and 1tin lasted on average about a week and half.

We use a nappy bin which does add up with the cartons, about £5 a carton and lasts about a week or 2. Lasts longer when younger. Nappy bags wouldn't be much cheaper.

Don't forget to claim your child benefit, we get about £80 a month!

So based on that I would say budget for about £80 a month. £100 if you want to go luxury and do loads and buy loads but it's not necessary.

Oops I meant nappy bags would be much cheaper!

Surely it's a case of looking what you have to spend?

I didn't have any spare cash with a baby so I breastfed, used cloth nappies and baby mainly wore hand me downs or charity shop clothes. The only groups I could afford were village hall type baby and toddler groups which are normally pretty cheap. Going to organised/franchised groups will get expensive pretty quickly. Total cost per month was minimal.

My SIL insisted on all new clothes and baby equipment and went to a different group each week. her total cost per month was significantly higher.

Neither was wrong, but it depends on the cash you have available, and your priorities.