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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

How much has being pregnant cost you?

93 replies

ithinkineedahug · 05/04/2014 18:25

Planning at the moment to ttc #1 and interested to know how much people spent in preparing for their babies to arrive. looking at total expenditure including maternity wear, baby furniture, clothes etc how much did you spend?

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Philoslothy · 07/04/2014 16:53

This is my fifth pregnancy and I have kept most of our baby things so I had little to buy. I did last give birth about six years ago so I did want to update a few things.

maternity wear I bought five dresses for work, an evening gown and a few casual bits so probably just over £1k.

ChicaMomma · 07/04/2014 17:10

jesus i'd be afraid to tot it up!! the pre natal yoga alone has been 100 so far and i'm only 30 weeks.. i had the best intentions of taking a hand-me-down buggy also and then fell head over heals in love with the Joolz buggy, and my sister egged me on and told me it was 'the one' purchase i shoudlnt compromise on... 1k (eur) later here i am. I've spend more than most above on maternity clothes too- definitely closer to 500- got a good few work dresses. Not buying anything else now though, what i have will have to last me this pregnancy AND next. Also spent 200 on a Snuzpod, again fell in love with it, pure madness really. I think you get carried away on your first really.

Creamycoolerwithcream · 07/04/2014 17:17

I spent about 100 on a couple of big dresses and bras which is less than I would normally spend on clothes. I probably spent about 1500 to 2500 on baby equipment, prams etc for each of my 3 DC. Baby nurseries are my weakness.

MrsMarigold · 07/04/2014 17:29

My pelvic floor muscles

CaipirinhasAllRound · 07/04/2014 17:37

I've probably spent about £400-500 on clothes, underwear etc. Also don't understand just buying the next size up, works for some things but the shape's all wrong for most things.
Probably £1k-1500 on all baby stuff - buggy, car seat, cot etc.
Main cost will be lack of salary, will be getting a fifth of what I'm used to

Plateofcrumbs · 07/04/2014 17:51

ChicaMomma and Caipirinhas you're making me feel better.

And I've spent a similar amount on yoga so far, double that by the time I get to term (although that doesn't entirely count as I spent similar on yoga before I was pregnant). NCT classes are a small fortune (£300+) round our way and I'm still considering a natal hypnotherapy course. So I could easily spend about £700 just on "fluffy stuff". Shock

Philoslothy · 07/04/2014 18:19

I did have a private home birth. So about another £5k.

Chacha23 · 07/04/2014 18:20

I bought relatively few things for myself and the baby, almost all from ebay/Gumtree, and was gifted a lot of things too. All in all, maybe £300?

The real cost is lost earnings in my year of maternity leave (I'm at about 60% salary for the year, which is actually great, but still a good amount of money "lost"). And childcare, which is about to start - I'm not sure why I worried about spending a few hundred pounds over several months, when childcare is going to cost us over ten thousand a year.

januaryJump · 07/04/2014 18:22

For those who don't get the size up thing, for me it was for variety and flexibility of use. I couldn't find many basic maternity tops so I ended up just buying bigger sizes of regular styles. In fact I struggled to find much in the way of maternity wear in a style that I liked, so it was easier to choose styles I liked that would fit my pg shape when bought in a larger size. In postpartum before shedding the baby weight I felt comfortable still wearing them as there were no pregnancy panels or ruching you get on some maternity clothes. Having said that I've also bought maternity labelled wear when not pg, eg cardigans, because they had the style I wanted and couldn't find elsewhere in non-maternity.

NancyJones · 07/04/2014 18:30

Oh goodness, far too much to write down because then id need to admit it.

Just sizing up would never have worked for me as I had a noticeable bump from about 15wks and was massive bump wise from about 23wks. However, I didn't put too much weight on everywhere else. I tried sizing up but to fit bump I needed to size up 3 or 4 sizes which of course looked ridiculous and wouldn't stay up. I was always getting sympathetic looks and people saying 'not long now' from about 23/24wks because I always had a massive bump. So, the point is you really need to judge that one by how your bump grows.

We had a cotbed, crib and moses basket which was overkill. They use the moses basket for just a few months if at all and they can go straight into the cot from birth no problem especially if you have room for it in your room.

We also spent a lot on beautiful John Lewis nursery furniture for a room that baby rarely was in. The crib is suitable until 6mths and he slept in there in our room. By the time he moved to his own room at 6mths we couldn't use the changer as he was crawling and everything else just seemed like such an unnecessary extravagance.

You could always start off with the basics and see what you need as you go along. Or grab a few staple bargains then add on as necessary.

Oh re baby clothes; I know you'll get told that you get so much you will barely need any newborn stuff. Well, our experience was that everyone seemed to assume that too and bought us a few sizes up so we ended up with lots of 0-3, 3-6 and even 6-9 but very few newborn bits.

One last thing! If you can afford it then the best thing we ever bought was the sleeping/breathing monitor. I think ours was about £80. Some have a bad reputation for going off for no reason but we never had that problem. It went off once, with DS2 when he had actually stopped breathing and needed to be hospitalised so as you can imagine, I feel very grateful that we had it. Ours was called Babysense.

Good luck!

OneLittleToddleTerror · 07/04/2014 18:51

NancyJones just sizing up would never have worked for me as I had a noticeable bump from about 15wks and was massive bump wise from about 23wks. However, I didn't put too much weight on everywhere else.

Oh dear. I don't want to hear that! I'm not gaining any weight except in the bump too. It's noticeable from about 13 week. A mum at waterbabies even asked if I was pregnant Blush. I could fit into my normal jeans till around 12 weeks. I can wear my jeggings till about 14 weeks. But since then I can't fit any of my normal stuff except leggings. I don't want to imagine having a big bump at just over 20 weeks.

januaryJump this is the type of stuff I've got
www.newlook.com/shop/maternity/shop-department/maternity-black-and-red-ethnic-print-dress_297680099
Cheap and cheerful and looks pretty decent. I think it might be the fact that I didn't gain any weight anywhere else that a size up will just ridiculous. So I do need that big floppy front of a maternity dress.

Actually I can still wear my normal dresses but then I look very pregnant in them. I haven't told work so the intention is actually not look pregnant, and hence the looser dresses. I'm only 16 weeks btw! Sad

OneLittleToddleTerror · 07/04/2014 18:52

Oh and yes yes to those antenatal yoga/pilates and aqua natal classes. And NCT. I forgot all about them. They are £7.50 a class here.

HomeIsWhereTheGinIs · 07/04/2014 18:55

I don't think there's anything wrong with spending if you can afford it and fancy splurging a bit. I agree it's not necessary but it is fun. We've been given a few things by kind friends that are done with babies and I found a few bits of furniture second hand but most of it is new (aside from the baby blankets which have been passed down through both families). This is our first and we've had a ball putting the nursery together. We've spent about £4200 so far on the nursery (previously spare room), but that does include a new carpet, curtains and paint as well as a cot, bouncer, toys, baby bath etc and a bugaboo. I calculate that we need about another £1000 to get the last bits (we've used art, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers that we inherited) as we don't have any clothes yet, or a car seat, or changing bags. I've managed to stretch a load of normal tops so far, but I spent about £300 on a few seraphine dresses and about £100 on couple of pairs of maternity jeans from GAP. Where possible I'm trying to make my normal clothes work over my bump but I suspect that for the last couple of weeks I'll just need a few rent-a-tent frock tops that are really loose.

HomeIsWhereTheGinIs · 07/04/2014 18:55

Yes, and NcT which is £370 where we are in London.

Artandco · 07/04/2014 19:53

Oh I forgot about x2 births at private hospital.. Not cheap but worth it

Roseandmabelshouse · 07/04/2014 20:23

It made sense for me to size up as most maternity clothes are so frumpy. Someone design a lovely modern maternity range please without a wrap dress in sight!

Coveredinweetabix · 07/04/2014 21:05

I remember spending £170 in Boots just on medically stuff - a decent thermometer, sudocreme etc. It did include maternity pads and a few things which, second time around, I realised I could get cheaper in the supermarket but other things were a necessity.

plco1223 · 07/04/2014 21:31

well into the 6 figures. but then he is 17 and 5 years of private school probably accounted for most of it.

op. relax. its the biggest most life changing event you will ever have, bar your own birth or death. it will cost you far more than you ever imagined

wispaxmas · 07/04/2014 22:02

Let's see....

New house - won't disclose price, but £155k more than the flat we sold
Furniture - £225 (ikea)
Nursery decor - £50 (paint and alphabet stickers)
Pram - £650 (second hand bugaboo buffalo)
Car seat - free from my brother
Bouncer and toys - £225 (mamaroo and soft toys)
Mat clothes - £50 (got loads from SIL)
Baby clothes - £200 (some cheaper bits, but I've developed a polarn o pyret habit)
Feeding - £200 (pump, bottles, sanitiser)
Muslins, blankets, bedding grobags - £100 (flash sales!)

Total: £1750 (before house)

I could easily have spent more on loads of things like furniture, but I did go over the to on other things, like the mamaroo and electric breast pump.

wispaxmas · 07/04/2014 22:12

Aaand of curse I forgot:

Ergo carrier -£100
Baby monitor - gift
Bras -£50

And various things we haven't even bought yet: baby toiletries, nightie for the hospital, and I'm considering a preggo pillow now I've started to get uncomfortable, but at 32 weeks not sure if it will be worthwhile.

BikeRunSki · 07/04/2014 22:13

DH spent £2/evening parking at hospital to visit when I was in for hyperemisis. 8 weeks in both pg. Fortunately I was on full pay all the time.

I bought, then sold, most of my maternity wear on eBay. My DC's birthday are only 5 weeks (and 3 years) apart, so they were suitably seasonal both times.

wispaxmas · 07/04/2014 22:15

Argh, also forgot NCT classes, the 'cheap' essentials one - £175 (thanks for charging us ridiculous amounts because we live inside the M25!)

fisherpricephone · 07/04/2014 22:20

The largest cost for us was reduction of earnings (DH and I both work 4 days a week so a 20% drop in income each), followed by the 18 months of (virtually) unpaid maternity leave, never mind the hard to quantify effect on my career progression due to being repeatedly in and out of the workplace over a few short years (3 children in under 5 years), and childcare costs of £900 a month (2 kids now at school so wrap around care only for them plus the baby is in nursery 3 days a week. Plus I live in the NE so high quality care is available cheaply - in other parts of the country you would have to pay much more).

In comparison to all that the prebaby first pregnancy spending is nothing. Spend what you can afford on what you want (but you don,t really need much) and enjoy the last few months of freedom.

Solasum · 07/04/2014 22:36

Cot, car seat, pushchair: £350
4 Asos maternity dresses:£80, two still in use for BF
Maternity jeans:£20
Baby clothes bundles from eBay:c. £ 50, but had far too much.
Pregnancy yoga: £35
Mountains of fruit, including whole melons every day for a couple of months was expensive.

Impulse buys when sleep deprived on maternity leave £££

BobaFetaCheese · 08/04/2014 06:57

Around 400 for ds1, got everythig aside ftom car seat and buggy secondhand.
Only things we've bought ds2 is a car seat, cit and a double buggy, no new clothes/toys etc

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