What's YOUR cost cost to support a baby?
 

Question for you all... DH and I are planning on trying to have a baby next year and I am concerned with rising prices of food and other things and trying to figure out if we can responsibly afford another child.

Most estimations online are useless to me... considering how far off they are in terms of our lifestyle. Using cloth diapers, breastfeeding, and growing a significant portion of your food will save money, right? Online estimates for the costs of supporting a baby always include things like formula, disposable diapers, buying jars of baby food, etc.

With my first two children, due to me working full-time I wasn't able to do much of any of the above (though I can say that I did always make their baby food). Couldn't do cloth diapers because of daycare, my body didn't like the breastpump and I didn't have time, energy or space to grow much of my own food.

This time, however, our life has changed and so I will be able to do all of the above. I have no idea how much of a monetary difference that will make so I am curious if any of you who do have babies and are able to do the above things - how much does it end up costing you?

Babies are as expensive as you make them. Seriously. Breast feed. Get all clothes from good will or etc... Cloth daipers. A changing pad for the floor. A car seat. A sling. What more do you need?

From a Mom of 5 children who stays home. We make it work. :-)

Cindyc.

I agree with cindy-e. If you are breastfeeding and cloth-diapering then you've cut costs dramatically. We don't do rice cereal or jarred baby foods or juices or veggie puffs or anything like that. Our babies go straight from the breast to selected table foods when the time is appropriate. We don't buy special detergents or diaper creams. Their clothing is washed in the same homemade detergent that the rest of the family uses and their diaper creams are the herbal ointments that the rest of us use if we get a burn or a scratch. Since this isn't your first, then you probably already have some clothing and blankets that can be re-used. If you need additional pieces, then yard sales and thrift stores have tons of baby clothing for cheap. Babies don't need special toys or swings or high chairs even. For us, the biggest expense with each baby is their delivery (I'm currently pregnant with #4 and we're using a midwife for a homebirth so it will cost us less than $2000 for everything..prenatal care/delivery/postpartum care). Health insurance is the other factor. I'm anticipating our health insurance coverage to go up by around $100 a month once #4 is born since that's about what it did with the other kids.

When I was married to the father of my two kids we never made over $16,000 a year. I nursed both kids, used hand-me-downs and raised a lot of our own food. They were weaned from breast to goat milk because my Daddy had a milk goat at the time. They wore cloth diapers.

When I divorced their father I raised those two by myself for 14 years. I never made over $25,000 a year and I got next to nothing in child support ($90 a month). They're grown now and don't feel like they were ever deprived of anything growing up.

My daughter is dealing with it now. Her husband is on disability and they have a three-year-old. She pinches pennies like I've never seen anyone do before. She grows a garden in their suburban backyard and she uses coupons at the grocery store and elsewhere. All their clothes come from yardsales and discount racks. A lot of her son's toys come from yardsales and Craigslist, as do other items they need.

Babies don't need stuff, they need love and love is free.

Ditto all of the above. Kids are as expensive as you make them. They don't need NEW clothes or all of the new toys. If you saved anything from your other children then you should be pretty well set already as far as crib, car seat, high chair, etc. If not, check yard sales & thrift stores.

I agree Wendy 110%. We have neighbors that spend money on their kids like a dang, some neighbors when we got pg with #4, wondering how we can afford it. These same neighbors raise no garden, no food, and the kids have toys, like quads and snowmobiles.

Kids are as expensive as you make them.
:thumb:

Cheap. Breastfeed (saves $ in doctor's bills as well as the food budget!), cloth diaper (there's some pretty good cost-comparison sites that show how much you save using cloth vs. disposables), used clothing, sling instead of stroller (make your own, it's not difficult!). If there are any baby items you want, look on Craigslist and hit up yard sales (or just start asking around)...you'll pay a fraction of the brand-new cost (or get the item free!).

This is encouraging! I was just trying to think if there was something we missed. I've kept nearly everything from my girls because I knew we'd have one more, the only thing I'll need to replace is an infant carseat. And if we end up with a boy I'll need new clothes for him, but then again when I say new I mean new to us! We got so many clothes given to us for my first kids, and most of the other clothes were bought secondhand or hand-me-downs from family. I even have a stash of cloth diapers left from my first one, I had intended to stay home with her but circumstances changed when she was 7 mos old and I had to go back to work.

For me, the most expensive part will most likely be delivery as well.

Well, honestly, you can't live on "could". You know?

You could have a child with an expensive medical need. You could have an expensive hospitalization. You could need therapies which you have to pay for out of pocket. You could be unable to breastfeed, your garden could wither and die, your food animals go on babyrearing strike.

You could have none of the above and everything go swimmingly. *shrug*

But honestly, it all works out. I don't know anybody who thinks "Well, if I just hadn't had little Ellie, life would be grand". Well, not anybody who should be raising children to begin with, anyway. The money can be earned, the stuff can be bargain hunted for to death. I know mamas who have had their baby, found they really did need a bit more cash, and so they watch someone else's child to help provide for theirs. Daddies who pick up weekend shifts here and there, couples who work differing shifts to make life run smoothly.

You wait to have kids until you are financially set, you might never have them.

Right now, my DH has a great job. I stay home with my baby. We're thinking of another one. But you know, he *could* lose it tomorrow. I still wouldn't trade my little man for the world on a silver platter.

I never thought of having children as a 'cost'......

Figure in:
Diapers, formula, doctor visits, clothes, furniture, car seat, will you have to buy a new car for the new baby, day care, schooling (home or public or private and all the expenses that go with) college + 529 monthly savings, sports / arts extra cirricular activities, a car for them to drive, insurance, braces, glasses contacts, proms, weddings, birthday parties, christmas presents, spending cash, ipods, game systems, cell phones, make up......

I can tell you this....
I worked part time when mine were babies. I worked at night, dh worked in the day. They never had a sitter or saw day care.
So in a money aspect, I saved a ton of money in day care.

I did disposeable diapers and don't feel one bit guilty. I had 3 kids in 4 years (first 2 were 14 months apart) and the precious time I saved with disposables, I got to spend, with the kids. You may save money washing poop out of the diaper and washing it in the washing machine......but to me, time with the babies, while they were babies is worth more than a few bucks saved...

I did breast feed, but not to save money.....I did it because for their health. Praise the Lord, my kids DO NOT get sick. My boys first ear infection was at age 16, and he did it to himself!! The oldest NEVER had an ear infection, and the youngest had one, double, once. They don't have allergies, they don't have ADD, ADHD, LMNOP, and every other disorder on the planet. They are very very healthy people.

I did not grow my own food when they were babies, didn't have time (or so I thought). Given a chance to 'hit lifes do over button' I would have started gardening earlier, and got them involved. I didn't start until they were 12, 11, and 9. They LOVE eating from the garden and can totally tell the difference from what we have grown and store bought.

Honestly? If I had it to do all over again??? I would have NO LESS than 8 (maybe 6, but more likely 8). Being a mother has been the pinnacle of my life. The costs surrounding them, never occurred to me.....it never entered my mind!

I don't know if I answered your question? I hope so!!

Well, here's what the government says:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/calculatorintro.htm


I can see both sides of this issue. In our case, we decided two was enough. If you don't think you'll have expenses after high school, you can raise kids relatively cheaply. It's those college years that kill you.

For our two, that ran about $80k.

Let me preface this by saying I do not have babies currently, so I'm not up to date on the costs and 'must haves'. However, I had babies 21, 17, 16 and 13 years ago, and they were never neglected in terms of necessities. They had clothes, they were fed, they had diapers, and they had a safe place to live and sleep. I last worked full-time while pregnant for #2, while dh was still in college with a course load so heavy he couldn't find a job to work around classes, so we've pretty much always been a one-income family.

May I ask how old your other two children are and if you still have baby clothes, furniture, etc from them? If so, you expenses shouldn't be much at all for a new one. My first was a boy, my last was a girl, and many things he wore in the first year she did too. Babies don't wear their clothes out like bigger kids do, and they really don't care what color their shirt or sleeper is. Jeans are unisex, etc.

My kids all wore, and still do wear, secondhand clothes. Our shopping order goes something like this: garage sales, Goodwill, consignment store, clearance rack at any other store. Only if all else has failed to deliver the size and clothing article needed, do I even look at brand new.

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).

As far as cloth diapering goes, just because the daycare won't do it, doesn't mean you can't at home and still save some money. With my kids, when they needed daycare and I couldn't find a caretaker that would do cloth, they wore disposable only when at daycare. At home they wore cloth. That cut way back in the diaper expense.

Like several other posters have mentioned, children are only as expensive as you make them be. Babies, especially are cheap in my opinion because they eat little, don't need much, and have no opinion on what's fashionable or unfashionable, and don't care what their peers think they should have.

AMEN to that!!
My boy plays sports.....and that is not 'cheap' adventure!!

Alright the one thing I would suggest 'new' to be a carseat. Or know where it came from and it's life history! It doesn't have to be an expensive one, you can get a costco rear facing (5-35lbs) an forward facing (up to 40, some are higher poundage now) seat for $35 on sale. The plastic in car seats breaks down. If it's been in an accident, it may be compromised...not a risk I'm willing to take for $35. **Edited to say, they also will have an expiration date on the back, watch this closely even on new, sometimes places like Big Lots sells older seats that may not work for the time span you need it...typical life span is 6yrs.

If you decide on an older style crib BE SURE to get the fix available for FREE through the company that makes it to make the sliding side immovable. There have been many deaths and now they cannot sell them that way. All resale items can be checked for a recall, it doesn't take long, your baby's safety is worth it.

Other than that, I agree with all of the above, breast feed! If you have trouble, there are numerous places to go to get help. Cloth diaper, we bought 1dz infant sized, and 2 doz reg. I paid a little extra for the better ones (don't waste your money on the gerber ones). A lot of the diapering places offer 2nd's on their covers if you call their number but I ended up preferring just the cheapo gerber 'rubber pants'. I also used a 'snappi' with my 2nd, so much easier than pins.
Everything else we bought used unless it was on super sale, and that does happen.
They're expensive as you want them to be. I realized with my 2nd, other than diapers and a carseat, I hadn't spend a penny on her, her first 6mo.

I agree with SuzyQ for the same reason. Never go used on a carseat unless it was your own or a family member's and less than 2 years old.

First and foremost, breastfeed.
Not only does it save you the immediate cost of formula, but also the secondary costs like doubling her chances of ear infections. And the likelihood that you'll be unable is something less than 2%. The likelihood that you'll have challenges, on the other hand, is considerably higher. But that's why IBCLCs, LLLI and message boards like mothering.com or breastfeeding.com exist.
(We're a pretty prolific specie. How would that be possible if the failure rate were really as high as all the people who "wanted to but couldn't..." try to say??)
Not letting down for a pump, on the other hand is quite common. If I got 2 ounces with the pump, I considered it a red-letter day. lol But I successfully nursed two babies for a total of five years.

I never really did baby food with either of my kids, except the early rice cereals. They got mashed up real-food. Fruits and veggies to start with, ending up with some version of whatever we were having for supper.
eBay, thrift stores, and garage sales. Sew your own sling. Etc. My kids didn't start costing us money until they started making a significant dent in the grocery budget and doing "things" like swimming lessons and 4H. ;)

My 5th baby is 6 weeks old now, and I can honestly say that the majority of our expenses have been either wants (not needs) and/or poor planning (we purged most of our baby stuff after numbers 3 AND 4 were born. :smack Overall, we've probably spent around $400-$600 in material items, $200 on our hospital bill, and we're still waiting on the midwife's bill.

I do think it's a good idea to consider what your priorities may be as the kids get older. Our food costs have gone up exponentially as they've grown (a big part of our desire to get homesteading). Activity costs and the transportation involved, while optional, are quite expensive when multiplied by the number of children. Our thrift store options for clothing are very limited in our area, and get even more limited as the kids grow. The rack for size 14 boys jeans is almost non-existent! Routine medical/dental/eye care can add up, even with good insurance. With a child or children who need therapies, regular medications, or special eye care, they add up even faster and higher. And, maybe this is just MY crazy kids, but I think there's a real increase in wear and tear on our house and everything in it!

We do conserve as much as possible in our house, but that actually makes the percentage of increase per child MORE noticeable, imo. Still, I've yet to have one that wasn't worth it. :)

Just a small note on insurance costs--I used to sell health insurance as an independent agent, which means I represented more than one company at a time. All of them had limits on upping the cost for more children. After #3, there was no increase in cost. Guess you have made it to the cut off point! Looks like you are doing plenty to make raising kids in a cost effective way. Keep up the good work.

Agree with above posts - babies aren't nearly as expensive as teenagers, I'm learning!!

The nice this is my husband's insurance plan is set up so it costs the same for a family no matter how many children you have. So this means insurance won't go up for either medical or dental.

I am also seriously looking forward to being able to breastfeed full-time - I enjoyed it and never had one single problem with it except not being able to express enough, so I don't anticipate problems this time around. My production level was pretty high and didn't drop until I had to go back to work and was away from the baby all day. My kids self-weaned when my production got to be less than worthwhile for them, but they were supplemented the entire time before which will not be the case this time.

So really my only costs will be a new carseat and probably some more of the cloth diapers, I have about 16 of them at the moment but some are small and some are medium, and 5 are one-size. And of course if I have a boy I might be getting some new clothes.

I think it was mostly the monthly costs I was considering. And not that I'm trying to reduce a child down to an expense, or cost, but I am trying to be responsible with the resources we have available. We spent the last few years scrimping, saving, and depending on state assistance for daycare, food stamps and WIC so I could put hubby through school. He is now finished and employed in a well paying (well, well-paying to me!), stable job so we are now in a better position, having used the assistance as the "leg up" that it was intended to be. I don't think it would be responsible of us, considering our beliefs on the purpose of state/federal assistance, to have a child if we cannot afford to care for it on our own in a practical (financial) sense. In other, non-financial aspects it isn't even a question... we have a house big enough and both of us really want another child. Our girls would love a baby as well.

And yes it does seem that we can afford it... which is good because I have got baby fever like a madness. We'll start trying in about 5 months... lol

Oh, our premiums haven't changed in 4 kids, lol. Our EXPENSES have multiplied though. A $20 copay for one office visit is a world away from $100 for 5 kids' visits, or even $60 for 3!
Last year, all 6 of us came down with H1N1. Fortunately, after taking the first two kids in to be checked out, our pediatrician didn't require us to bring the second two kids in. Antiviral scripts were still multiplied by 4 though! :shocked: And all 3 of the oldest kids had at least one cavity to be filled at their last dental appointment. They also need orthodontics soon (and not just for "cosmetic" purposes). We'll see how the younger 2 turn out!

We're lucky (knock on wood) that good diet and exercise seem to be enough to keep our kids pretty healthy most of the time, but every now and then we get slammed with a chunk of bills!

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.

\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!

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!

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.......

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.

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.

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.

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

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?)