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Detroit Babies
Question about costs
DH and I plan to start TTC within the next year (hopefully...he has changed his mind in the past!). If it's even possible to estimate...can anyone give me an idea of what their baby costs are per month? Childcare, formula, diapers, clothes, medical, etc? Hidden costs? I'm in northern Oakland County if that matters. It'd be so helpful to know at least a ball park of what I should be setting aside per month for added expenses. Thanks for any help you can give!
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Re: Question about costs
Mommy's little helper
Mommy's little helper
Ok- I'm bored so this reply might get long
Sorry in advance!
Formula costs roughly $23-25 for a large can. Figure about a can a week, although just before DS started solids, he was going through 1-1/2 cans a week. Work the deals! If you sign up with formula companies and get any relatives to do the same, you can get $5 formula checks, so that helps a lot. Many stores run deals, so that's a good time to stock up.
Diapers are around $20-$25/month? Again, I look for deals and usually stock up, so it's hard to say what I spend on a weekly or even monthly basis. A jumbo pack full price is $10 and that will definitely last me over a week Between coupons and sales, you should never have to pay full price though (have gotten those as low as $6). I go to www.babygoodbuys.com. She has a lot of tips on finding diaper deals. Wipes, you can get a big box for $10 and that lasts forever
We're extremely lucky with daycare- my mom watches DS when necessary. Talking with others who have needed full time daycare, it can run $800-$1000/month. Infant care does cost more, so you eventually get a little break. Part time will be a little less as well, although not as drastic as one might expect.
Medical- This really varies based on your insurance and when your child is born and how healthy he/she is. The first year is probably the most expensive due to the number of well visits and vaccinations. One thing I learned is the billing for well visits/vaccines is different. Most insurances have a well care max. Mine is $500/yr and the lady at the pedi's office said that's fairly typical of many plans. Well visits and vaccinations are billed against this $500 max, so once it's met, you have to pay out-of-pocket the remainder of the year. For DS, we had appointments 2 days after getting home from the hospital, at 2 weeks, then at 2, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months. Vaccinations are done at 2, 4, 6 and 12 months. Needless to say- that $500 doesn't last long at all! Since DS was born in September, we got a few of those appointment and vaccinations in during the '08 calendar year. Then on January 1st, that well care max reset. So that's why I say it depends a little on when the baby is born. If you have a sick baby, then those appointments fall under the typical doctor visit and you just pay a co-pay or however your plan it set-up.
Clothes/toys/misc: $100-150/month I think that's a good average. I probably spend less most months, but I do spend more some months. We got a ton of clothes at my shower, so I really didn't need to buy anything newborn-9months in size (not that it stopped me). I shop a lot at Carter's and can get outfits between $5-10 between their sales and coupons. I went to their last sale and got a bunch that was $3! The hidden costs people probably forget about are stuff like pictures, parties (like if you plan a baptism), and then all the stuff when their get older. Most shower gifts seem to be geared towards infants, so when they're older, you don't have the stuff like baby proofing items, things for when they move to the big bathtub, sippy cups, spoons and plates, etc.
Anyhow, hope that helps a little. If you have any other questions, just let me know
Thank you thank you! This is a post I'll print and save! My husband really wants to put a number on things before we try so we know what we're looking at....so that was SO helpful. I was wondering about shower gifts, so thanks for addressing that too.
I wish I knew more about daycare...my boss has said when I have a child he'll be very flexible with my hours (i.e., part time or work part time from home) and he'll hire someone to watch children here at the office and kind of "open a day care" (crazy, right?)....so I don't know if this will happen or if I will need day care. I hope I won't! $1000 a month is crazy. Granted, a child is your most precious possession but still. That would hit anyone hard.
Thank you again!
Well I can tell you having kids is expensive. If you have a baby shower that is a great way to get a lot of the big gifts paid for. Between my 2 showers, and both sets of parents we pretty much got all the baby furniture, carseats, strollers etc. we needed. After our son was born, you have medical costs which I think we spent about $1000 out of pocket for the birth and all the hospital bills. So I would check with you insurance coverage.
We spent maybe $100 in Formula, $50 monthly in diapers/wipes. Then miscellanous items like clothing maybe another $50 a month. I saved a lot of money by going to mom to mom sales at churches and schools, or garage sale clothes. Plus, my mom loves to shop so we really don't buy a lot of clothes for my son, even now.
Daycare is the real killer though, we pay $700 a month, and that is on the low side. We use a home daycare which are usually cheaper. A center is always more expensive, usually around $250 a week. Part time daycare ranges, some places will charge only when your there, but those places are so hard to find, most places will give you about a $25 a week break for part time, which is nothing really.
We really didn't have any savings when my son was born, what we did have we spent on hospital bills. But, you just learn to cut out stuff. We stopped going out to eat for a while, then once their older the formula costs stop, and once their off baby food, you just make a little extra at breakfast, lunch and dinner times. Hope that helps!
So...the ways we saved:
Breastfeed. A La Leche League meeting is free. In N Oakland County, there are a couple of great groups. The Lake Orion group has three meetings, one of them an evening meeting (7:30pm at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on the 2nd thursday of the month). This is free breastfeeding education and support. A class might cost you $40 or $50 bucks, but this will have more info and more support and is free. A good pump (so you can pump while at work) might cost $300, and you could register for that as one f your "big" gifts. Babies who breastfeed are sick much less often, so their mothers miss a LOT less work, thus saving MORE money over the formula.
Cloth Diaper. The least expensive way to cloth diaper is flat folds or prefolds and covers. This cost us under $300 for the first year we diapered. The second child I switched to fitteds, which we started by buying used, but then I realized how much better I could make them myself. I think this took another $120 for the next year and a half.
Get a few baby carriers. A good locally made sling costs around $50-$60, tops. A great newborn wrap is a Moby, which you can get for around $35, or you can make your own that will last longer weight wise out of gauze, which is on sale now at jo ann's for around three dollars a yard, making it cost around fifteen dollars for two (one for the house, one for the car...). You can buy Asian Style Baby Carriers for anywhere from $65 (locally made) to $85 dollars (ergo, becco, etc). Skip the Bjorn carrier. IT is uncomfortable and bad for the baby's hip development. Anyway, the carriers take the lace of all the big equipment like the swing, the exersaucer, and the HUGE freaking stroller that would be part of the "system" that comes with your car seat...but really most babies don't like riding in, and are a pain to drag in and out of the car, and get you stuck behind slow people in the mall.
Get a crib that converts to a toddler bed, so that you don't need an arms reach co-sleeper. The bed can have the front taken off of it and you can put the crib right up against your bed like a co-sleeper, but it has more room and you can put foam under the mattress so that it raises the baby to your height. This will mean more sleep for a busy working mama...baby isn't hysterical by the time you wake up...when you room share your sleep cycles match each other and mothers tend to waken a minute or two before baby does, can latch baby on, and everybody is happy, no crying or cold feet in the winter involved.
Breastfeeding also has the advantage of lower medical costs. Breastfed babies don't get sick as often or get AS sick as formula fed kids, meaning fewer trips to the doctor over a year's time.
As far as medical costs for the birth, choosing to educate yourself with a good solid out of hospital childbirth ed class will cost you $300 upfront...but will make it significantly less likely that you will have interventions that cost a TON more in the end. A typcial epidural birth costs upwards of $15K, a typical cesarean costs upwards of $32K, and you know what? A typical nurse midwife birth with little or no interventions costs more like $9-12K. Look at what your deductible and then co-pay for all of those options turn out to be...taking the $300 dollar class and maybe hiring a doula (averaging $650) will likely save you a couple grand more than that in the end!
Also, along with educating yourself, I would say, goes eating very very well while you are pregnant (lots of protein...80-100 g a day, dark green leafies twice a day, TONS of fruits and veggies, etc), and exercising. These two things alone will make you so much less likely to have interventions like induction and or cesarean that it is silly...and the more interventions you have, the more they cost at the birth.
Too, choosing a practitioner with VERY LOW cesarean and induction rates is a wise choice, again looking at the co pay for a high intervention or surgical birth.
I know those weren't the answers you may have been looking for...but perhaps they will bring a new perspective to your thoughts about what is "necessary" for baby. Honestly, we used a sling some cloth diapers and the breast,and the rest was icing. The grandparents bought all the cute clothes and the extended family bought the car seats and a small stroller.