What's YOUR cost cost to support a baby?

bobleeswagger · #21 01/31/11, 11:57 AM

I have a 1 year old, she was only breastfed for a short time, then had formula. She has disposable diapers. I work FT as does my wife, so baby girl goes to daycare. We have noticed about a $1000/month increase in our bills since she came along.

Grandmotherbear · #22 01/31/11, 01:24 PM

\I breastfed all my kids, even when working part or full time. I never used a pump. I just became adept at the art of hand expressing (or 'milking the cow' as I used to refer to it).\(Edited to add, Kris in Mi- it didn't give you credit for the quote! My post starts below)

Ditto! And that was 38-33 years ago, when federal law didn't require the workplace to provide you with a space other than the rest room to express!

Even if your caretakers have to supplement when you are gone baby will still want to nurse when you get home and when he gets up. It's a great way to connect and bond when you've been gone at work or school.

I realized afterwards I never needed the bassinet or crib- babies wound up in a family bed with me and later on, Grandfatherbear. It turned my son into a raging heterosexual

But the cat enjoyed sleeping in the bassinet and crib!

#23 01/31/11, 01:38 PM

Read this blog series: http://moneysavingmom.com/having-a-b...he-bank-series

It echoes what many are saying about breastfeeding, cloth diapers, etc. But goes beyond that to what baby really NEEDS. The essentials list only has 5 items....5!!!! Lots of other great ideas too, even how to save on diapers and formula if you choose to use disposables and formula!

lilmizlayla · #24 01/31/11, 01:56 PM

Its expensve. i think so long as you or your partner have a steady decent paying job, and are willing to sacrifice..... then great.

Babies are cheap compared to the 3 month grow spurts they go through up to teen years and beyond. Clothes, shoes.....just the essentials. And it doesnt end at 18.......

Wags · #25 01/31/11, 02:51 PM

Do your research on car seats - some on the market really shouldn't be as they are really not that safe. That is one area we didn't scrimp on!

Other than that, kids are as cheap or as expensive as you want them to be.

Joshie · #26 01/31/11, 09:09 PM

Don't buy a used car seat. Don't use a used baby bed unless you get a newer one. A lot of older car seats have been recalled and you can't tell if they've been in an accident. Baby beds have changed a lot and most of the older ones have been recalled.

That said, babies aren't expensive. They don't get expensive until they're in Junior High. At that time they get expensive. You have to truck them around. They want to be in the band and do all sorts of social things. School fees start adding up. Babies are cheap. Older kids cost the bucks.

City Bound · #27 01/31/11, 10:47 PM

I am a man i and I find all of you ladies inspiring. You sound like true pioneer women. I live in new york city and many of the women have been poisoned by radical feminism, they have negative ideas about being a mother and a wife. So, it really warms my heart to hear women standing up and taking charge of their family duties.

Wendy · #28 02/01/11, 02:05 AM

I haven't found my teenagers anymore expensive. Of course I do not run them everywhere & they will get a job & buy their own car, insurance, & gas when the time comes.

sewsilly · #29 02/01/11, 08:24 AM

It's not the cost of the baby... it's the cost of college. There are families that make the kids pay for their own, which has widely varying degrees of success.

As babies and toddlers, we did the mom at home, breastfeeding, homegrown food thing.
We did make ways for ours to do things that were pertinent to that child,which meant driving them around. We did provide a way for them to drive themselves to school and part time jobs when they reached the age, and we helped with college/medical school and their day to day living expenses, in order that they make excellent grades, which has paid off many times over.

I do not regret for a moment having the third child. I sometimes regret not having a fourth, BUT as we're facing down the barrel of college for child three, I do think that having more would have compromised many areas of life for all of us.

In the end it's about what YOU value and what you are willing to do and sacrifice.
DO not let anyone tell you that there are NOT trade-off's.. there ARE. You just have to be the one in charge of the trade offs, make your choices and move on.

dawn

**Kris in MI** · #30 02/01/11, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sewsilly

It's not the cost of the baby... it's the cost of college. There are families that make the kids pay for their own, which has widely varying degrees of success.

Not intending to cause thread drift here, but yes, college is a huge expense. And a major hot button with me. My second child graduates this year and will be going off to college (the first one chose the military). We are in the midst of scholarship apps and researching financial aid.

It just burns me to no end that at 18 they are considered legal adults in terms of: being required to sign up for selective service, no longer required to attend high school if they don't want to, can enter in to legally binding contracts, can sue or be sued, and can go to prison.

But yet until they are 24 the gov't requires the parents to contribute to their secondary education!!!

working up the FAFSA forms, even with 1 income and 2 more children at home, what we as parents are expected to contribute to ds's college costs before the gov't will give him a loan is astronomical.

I'm sorry, but if you are a legal adult, I don't believe your parents should have to send you to college. There should be ways for you to fund your own college education (my dh did; so what's changed in 18 years?)