How much does a baby cost?

[ivanapoo]

I know this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question but DH and I are trying to work out how much additional income we'll need while I'm on SMP/ AML for baby.

I'm not talking about the big stuff like cots, buggies etc or about childcare, more the day-to-day weekly or monthly costs of things like nappies, baby cleaning supplies, clothes, food (hoping to BF but no guarantee), any baby activities that cost money etc.

Has anyone been super organised and actually tried to work this out :lazy: ? Any surprise hidden costs you found out about in previous pregs?

Thanks :)

does formula actually cost about 50 pounds a month?

agree about not going mad on outfits, dd only wore babygrows relly till about 7 months

Formula - 9quid a tin. One tin a week til they get to about 5months then back down after they start weaning

Nappies - two packs of nappies for a tenner from ASDA (48 in each pack) - 8 nappies a day

No baby clubs

Microwave steriliser (no tablets) 20quid

I spend about 30pounds a month on clothes for dd

Buy her books from charity shops

Spend about 20pounds a month on toys / door bouncer etc.

Now shes weaning she gets what I eat.

Oh and disposable wipes £1 a pack for branded. Use two packs a week max.

The baby stage can cost as little or as much as you want it to for the most part.

We used washable nappies, they cost £200 upfront which was a lot but were used for 2 children so works out amazingly cheap. Even when I worked out the additional cost of laundry detergent and extra wash cycles in the machine (both water and electric) it was massively cheaper than disposables.

When we were away somewhere that it wasn't practical to use disposables we usually budgeted on disposables being about £5-£10 per week, depending on brand.

I also used washable wipes, these saved me a fortune. I used shop bought ones when out for ease, but used my own at home. I think it cost about £2 in fleece blanket that was cut up and then I made my own solution with water and baby oil, costing pennies and they were stored in a nice looking lidded tub .

We had a second hand cot and moses basket, but bought new mattresses. We had a second hand travel system that was compatible with the car seat we bought. Later, we bought a new umbrella fold buggy which has been excellent.

We used babygrows on days where we weren't doing much and bought just a few nice outfits for if we were seeing friends or visiting family etc, otherwise it was just Asda babygrows which are cheap and really practical.

We bought the baby sleeping bags from an NCT nearly new sale for very little and we have since sold them on again so they basically cost us nothing overall.

I breastfed so didn't need to buy formula, I did buy a breastpump and it was really useful. Again, I bought it at an NCT sale for very little.

The baby stage was really cheap to be honest, now the toddler stage is far more expensive!!

Don't forget to budget for increased utility bills if you will be at home on maternity over winter.

We hadn't planned for that and it was a surprise.

Usually, we'd both be out to work and the heating/lighting would be on an hour in the morning and a few hours once we were home at night. At home with the baby all day the heating is on far more, also the heating an hot water.

Thanks everyone, that's really really helpful and made me feel a lot more in control. I think I will try getting some cheap 2nd hand reusable nappies or at least a trial pack to see how i get on and then supplement these with disposables when we're away.

Posie good point about bills, I will be going on leave in late Nov. The house we're buying has a wood burner so we will at least be able to get free fuel for that and have one warm room!

yy to trialling nappies. Find a sort you get on with first. Good plan. I am very of wood burner....

Surprisingly little! I managed to save £1500 when pg and have only used half of that along with my SMP.

I ebf so that makes a massive difference. Nappies cost the most but if you keep an eye out one of the big supermarkets or boots are always doing 3 for 2 so you can save there.

DD is 8mo now and is weaned. She mostly eats same as us but little £ on yoghurts, breadsticks etc.

We did a few things like swimming lessons etc but most classes, activities and group stuff is free.

I saved £££ on my travel card (live in London) so that offset £ on coffees and lunches with other mum friends. Otherwise we pick up coffees and sandwiches and have picnics in the park or walk and talk.

My DM and MIL pretty much keep DD in clothes. Toys when they are young can be dead cheap or even free (DD lives banging wooden spoons and saucepans etc).

Remember NCT sales or charity shops have great 2nd hand clothes. And ASDA, Tesco, H&M etc have great baby clothes which are really cheap.

Church halls, community centres, NCT (don't have to be a member), Surestart, libraries, museums, sports centres for free/low cost baby activities. Most don't require you to sign up for a term and pay up front, unlike franchises like Rhythm Time and Swimbabes.

Clothes and toys - mainly presents and hand me downs. Supermarket, eBay, MN sale boards, NCT sales. Stockpile clothed to grow into in sales.

Formula - Cow and Gate is exactly the same as Aptamil and about £1.50 a tub cheaper. My babies both got through about a tub a week until I weaned them at 6 months. DS still guzzled loads, DD dropped a lot of milk very quickly.

Your own expenses will go down a lot too. No commuting costs ( if you have them), few opportunities to go out in the evenings, no suit dry cleaning (if that's what you wear to work). Both mine were autumn babies; I tried to keep central heating off during the day - if I was in I would heat only 1 room.

Ivana if you haven't had a wood burner before, you have to make sure you get properly dried wood, if you are collecting free wood you will need to stack it and dry it for a year or so. We had a stove put in and have tried non seasoned wood, it was a nightmare. We bought proper kiln dried stuff last year, it made a huge difference.

Sorry if you know this already! Wish I had when I got my stove.

There's an NCT sale here in Sept so will def give that a go. Celtic thanks for the advice, I've not had one before but both sets of parents do, and seem to mysteriously have never ending piles of dry wood which we can plunder for our first winter ;) then hopefully we can dry our own for next year.

I really would like to ebf but I know it's not always an option. My sister just wasn't producing enough milk for one of her kids apparently so had to introduce formula for example. I might be able to borrow an expressing pump from a friend if we decide we want to do bottles.

Thanks again :)

NCT sales happen around the country twice a year in Sept/Oct and March?April, selling seasonally appropriate stuff. They are listed on the NCT website.

i don't think it's the baby that costs a lot but rather the fact that you will have a limited / no income for a period of time.

we saved for a year before TTC so we would have an amount equal to my yearly income so i would take the year off.

any extra income i then get in the form of maternity pay and all the savings should be enough to cover any eventualities ... hopefully :)

ivanapoo - about ebf, yes sometimes it isn't possible, but there are solutions to many problems relating to supply. I'd recommend you familiarise yourself with the feeding forum on mumsnet and/or some really good modern books about breastfeeding (I'd recommend The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding for a really comprehensive book on breastfeeding, and The Food of Love for an accurate but more lighthearted read) so that you give yourself the best chance of succeeding. Yes, there can be problems with bfing, but most have solutions!

I'm hoping for a low cost baby too. We're planning to breastfeed, and will look into reusable nappies after the initial days/weeks/months (however long it takes for me to consider managing extra laundry! We might be in a rather different position though as we are already on one salary (and have to heat our home during the day in winter etc), and will get child benefit and some child tax credits. We should find that these cover the running costs of a young baby (Goodness knows what it'll be like with an older child though!).

For the more capital costs, we've got some things second hand, some as gifts and are making do without others (will use washing up bowl rather than dedicated baby bath, will sit changing mat ontop of existing chest of drawers etc). The only things we've insisted on buying new is the car seat and mattress. Though we have bought other new bits, they haven't been expensive.