Budgeting for a newborn

[beckymcfc]

Hi all

I am in the process of working out my finances for when i am on mat leave etc, and was just wondering what I should budget for spending on the baby, nappies, wipes, creams, formula etc. What do you spend on a weekly basis for the basics?

Formula: nothing, breastfed instead

Wipes: virtually nothing as got lots of cheap flannels in the baby section at a pound shop and use those for bottoms and muslins for everything else. A pack of wipes will do for a couple of weeks as they only get used when out and about.

Creams: a big tub of sudocream lasts for ages, so averaged out it might be 20p a week? Didn't use much else (people got use baby bath, baby oil etc as gifts and we never got through them all)

Nappies: bought cloth nappies at various stages (most second hand for ds so they'll technically be third hand by the time the bump gets to use them). They have a higher upfront cost but after that it is just the washing cost which with laundry liquid and napisan (£2.50 for a box which lasts about 20 washes) isn't much per week.
Used nappy sites:
www.thenappysite.co.uk/used-nappies/second-hand-nappies.php
www.usednappies.co.uk/

Nappies:- about £10
Wipes:- i get the value 27p ones from Morrisons,
Creams:- what creams do you mean Dc has had a tube of mitanium for a while now, and some waitrose baby soap i get every so often but they don't need that much
Formula:- nothing I breastfed, but the Hipp is cheapest Aptomil most expensive, its going to be about £10 a week
Clothes:- £50 a month or there abouts

The midwife at my NHS antenatal class told us that breastfeeding was £800 cheaper than bottle feeding on average.

I'd budget about 10 pounds a week each for nappies and formula in the beginning, and 2-3 pounds for wipes, if you're using supermarket ones and not branded. Lol, breast feeding really is cheaper!

Nappy cream lasts forever, and the only other stuff I bought was a big tub of aqueous cream, which again, last for ages. You don't need to bother about toiletries in the first few months, they don't get that dirty, although if you do buy some, they will last for ages.