How much does a newborn cost per month?!

[Gammmers]

We're due in 3 months... and New Years planning has gotten the better of me. How much do you reckon a baby costs per month? I'm talking nappies, formula (if I can't breast feed) wipes, classes...?! Hard ask I know but do people budget a monthly amount? I reckon we'll have most of the big items (buggy, car seat, nursery stuff etc) sorted beforehand so really just the monthly running costs...!!

Depends really are we talking pampers and water wipes, or Aldi mammia, free library classes or £15 a swimming lesson, babies needing more expensive formula/infacol etc due to reflux and colic or normal formula.

It really depends if you'll need childcare? I'd say not a lot tbh.
I use pampers nappies and at the newborn stage you're meant to do 7ish nappy changes a day (i think) I remember spending about £20 a month on nappies if I'm rounding up. Probably about £23 including nappy bags and wipes (my favourite are the Morrisons ones that are 6 for £3). I'm not sure how much for formula as I breastfed, toys and clothes aren't much either
Probably budget around £30-£50 a month depending on if you buy a lot of clothes and if you go for expensive clothes or just supermarket.

We spent £18 on formula.
£22 on nappies, £4 on wipes. We used reusable wipes for a bit.
No classes for the first few months.
Hand me down clothes and cot.
£180 for a travel system second hand. £60 for bottles and steriliser.

So, per month that was £44 a month, plus the initial outlay.
Mother in law also brought bits over when she saw things on offer.

It gets gradually more expensive as they grow! More formula, bigger nappies etc.

Buy things like wipes in bulk when on offer.
Don't go overboard on clothes. Only buy what you will actually use/need. Easy enough to buy more.

I'm reckoning £40-50 per month onto our normal shopping.

Additional heating
Things like Calpol
Loss of earnings
Petrol and parking costs if you/baby need hospital pats

They’re as expensive as you make them. You can get cheap nappies and wipes from Aldi. Tin of baby milk a week if you can’t breastfeed on average so however much the one you use costs x 4. I did no classes or groups, I generally met with friends with kids at each other’s houses/pubs/cafes.

How long is a piece of string? At what stage are you buying pram / sling / cot etc.

If you breast feed, co sleep, use hand me down everything including nappies it would probably only be the cost of extra laundry and extra food to fuel the lactation.

Or you could get new branded everything, formula feed, have a 24/7 maternity nurse and house keeper....

And of course there’s the reduced income.

Thanks everyone. I've heard Aldi's nappies are really good. And lots of free things to do where I live in south London. And yeah, I suppose as expensive as you make them...

Don't forget you will get child benefit which should sort of cover the cost of formula and nappies.

Aldi also sell their own brand of formula (Mamia) at £6.99 a tub which makes it significantly cheaper than the main brands. It's supposed to be pretty much the same as aptimil, I've found I can switch between aptimil (usually around £11 a tub) and Mamia without DD noticing which is helpful if I can't get to Aldi when I run out.

They cost your net monthly earnings. Nappies/formula and child benefit cancel each other out.

We went through about 7-10 nappies a day and used to buy boxes of wipes via amazon on offer. So not sure how many wipes per week - probably a box of 18 packs every 2-3 months.
Formula we used about X1 tub a week.
Clothes - we bought up to 9 months in advance before baby was born.
Classes - can be anywhere between free and £15 a session, depending on what you fancy doing. We now do 3 -4 a week and costs for all of them about £10 a week and they are all walking distance.
Heating cost will go up if your at home during the day.
Toys - very few really needed at the newborn stage so maybe £5-£10 a month, assuming you only get 1 new toy a month.
Things like shampoo and baby soap about £1-£2 a month.
Wash powder (non bio) £6 a box. We use non bio for ds and normal stuff for us. A box of 50 odd washes lasts about 3-4 months (ish)

You may not get child benefit. I don’t.

My baby is 4 months and if you're not counting the "kit" (cot etc) really I spent very very little. I was breastfeeding so no formula costs, we got a ton of clothes from people and you don't need too many outfits for teeny babes. Classes where I am (east London) cost about £8-10 but there are free council ones you can attend in the beginning. Nappies and wipes - bulk by at a supermarket or from Amazon! Good luck x

Bf did not work for us so me moved to formula.

We had to try many bottles before we could find one that she accepted and then there was the new sized teats that you have to buy.

Concievence food, tumble drier and heating was our biggest costs.

Agree with others, totally depends on how you do it. If you are happy to have hand-me-downs then they don’t cost a lot. I was lucky in that I had full pay for the first 6 months of Mat Leave. We BF and used washable nappies so initially they cost very little. They do tend to get more expensive as they grow though. Kitting one out for high school this summer is going to cost me £200+