How much does it cost to raise a baby under 12 months?

[hermitzero]

I'm going to decide how long I'll take maternity leave soon and I think I should consider my financial situation.

I know how much I spend on food and necessary things for me but I don't know how much more I would need after my baby is born.

It may be different depending on whether I breastfeed or etc. I just want to know the average cost of raising a baby. This includes baby formula, diapers, clothes, shampoo and etc.

Any comment would be appreciated.

Babies do cost to eat food, I don’t understand when people say ‘oh they just eat what I eat’.
Sure mine eats the same, but if I eat one banana at breakfast, I still want one banana, not half because baby now eats his own half or own one. So 1 banana becomes 1.5/2 instead. Same with most things. It’s not imaginary food.

I think we spent roughly an additional £60 - £70 a month when our DD was born until she went to childcare. We were quite lucky in that a lot of friends and family bought clothes covering ages from newborn upwards but any clothes we needed to buy were supermarket brands and didn't break the bank. Things like bottles were bought on sale and the steriliser from FB marketplace. Formula we used was £8 a tub - we didn't use ready to use formula because it's an extortionate price! Toys were mostly gifts, bought in sale or from FB. Classes for newborns upwards were all either free or £5 or less per session. I was surprised by how little it cost actually - childcare costs are eye watering so if you can take as much time for mat leave as possible to save on those costs for as long as possible I'd recommend it!

Loss of income or cost of childcare are the main costs. The rest, less that you'd think. Car seat and cot mattress (if you are using a cot) new, everything else can be second hand. Babies don't need much at all. I breastfed and skipped purees, so never bought any kind of baby milk or food. Sure they eat, but babies under one don't eat much, it costs next to nothing.

@3characters

Super cheap !!!! Never stress about the baby days. Worry about the teen years thats when they cost a lot

Absolutely this! When they need a minimum of four pairs of shoes (football boots, inside trainers for school, everyday trainers and school shoes) and are in adult sizes.

Also consider what you will save..

I found after I had my first that I wasn't wearing make up everyday so saved a lot on foundation etc, I wasn't showering everyday anymore as had no time so saved there too, and I wasn't out and about as much so saved on coffees, drinks, magazines etc.

There will be so much you won't have tune for anymore that you might make some day to day savings you didn't think you would..

Also, you get amazing deals for everything on Facebook marketplace and gumtree...

I could have honestly just spent my daughters child benefit on her and been fine. I used to go and get 2-3 tubs of formula, jumbo pack of pampers and a box of tesco wipes and generally had enough for a new outfit/toy each month. The first year is the best one, she's now 4 and it's all "can I have this/I want that"

Re formula nappies etc it depends what brands U go for. I was happy with Aldi milk, nappies, wipes etc. I would spend probably about £22 a fortnight for all of these. If u go for big brands the milk alone is £11 a tub plus expensive nappies it would be more like £22 a week.

When weaning u cld add a few more pounds on for yoghurts, fruit pouches and snacks maybe £4-£5.

I’ve not yet had my baby but I’m hoping I can make year 1 very cheap as I’m taking full mat leave. Going to top up my pay with selling vintage clothes and antiques which I have accumulated over the past decade and have sitting in storage. Got given clothes for baby by friends, now have up to age 2, don’t actually need to buy anything. Got coats and shoes too. Pram and other paraphernalia was donated by friends, so just bought one of those bedside cribs which wasn’t expensive (Smythes is cheap). Nappies are cheaper than I thought, I’d seriously budgeted for them being much more expensive.

Depends on if you want to do the bare minimum or not.

How I figured it out was to look at what I would get from organisational enhanced Mat pay and stat Mat pay and divide it by the number of months I ideally wanted off (my work did this for me to account for NI/Tax etc) Don’t forget you’ll accrue annual leave, for me that was another 5 weeks full pay (and 10x KIT days). I didn’t use the KIT in my calculations as they weren’t guaranteed and if I did them it was just extra money

I looked at my outgoings, how much more my partner could contribute beyond our usual split and if the numbers didn’t work how much could I/we save during pregnancy

I basically “paid” myself a monthly wage so each month of my Mat leave was exactly the same

I found the first few months I spent nothing. Later in my Mat leave I spent more as I went to baby classes, made mum friends and went for lunch/coffee/cinema

As PP mention you can spend as much or as little on big items. The same with anything. There’s big brands or high street

It depends on what your life is like. For DD1 we had to spend a lot on specialist formula, DD2 has multiple allergies so both of us went through many outfits a day and she went through 20+ nappies and then I had to suitable food substitute. DD2 needed shoes at 10 1/2 months as she started walking the day she turned 9 months.

Being at home during winter when your not normally increases your household bills especially heating. Doing online shopping or buying convience foods in the early months also costs more.

When weaning u cld add a few more pounds on for yoghurts, fruit pouches and snacks maybe £4-£5.
I just gave DS greek style yogurt and fruit, the 'baby's stuff is expensive.

Breastfeeding is free /cheap. If you use cloth nappies then after the initial outlay of a couple of hundred pounds, there is no cost.

I spent £4.99 on a bottle of shampoo that will probably last my baby until he’s 3!

I reckon I spend £70-£100 a month on assorted clothes / toys / equipment /etc. But it’s really not necessary - it’s just stuff I like or want.

You can do babies pretty cheaply if you want or need to!

Ooh breastfeeding was expensive for me. It's only free if it happens easily. I spent over £200 on pump and accessories and in the end it didn't work out for us anyway. So budget for those things just in case...a good breast pump is expensive, much more so than I thought.