How much do babies cost??

Penny_Saved

My best tip would be Lidl - their nappies are great, they sell Farleys Milk (this is the best powdered milk imo, much easier to mix than SMA and mucher cheaper - particularly in Lidl), cheap baby wipes and baby food (Heinz). I reckon I spent around £1k on my little one before he was born, but altough I had used Ebay and so been resonably careful I had bought a load of stuff I didn't need and never used - as a new mum I just didn't know what to buy. Now I reckon all I needed was -

Cot (I bought a moses basket and never used it)
Bedding (sheets, blankets - they don't recommend using bumpers etc anymore)Monitor (I got an Angel Care one off Ebay and it was fab)
Mobile (well it does help sometimes )

Nappies (I agree with the poster who said you might need to wait til your baby arrives to decide on the best one, I bought around 40 reuseables of one type - can't remember which - and couldn't get on with them at all. Had to sell them all and got much less than I paid for!
Wipes (not recommended for newborns anyway, cotton wool and water is best, otherwise Lidl do really good ones for sensitive skin)
Nappy cream (I use Sudocream which is expensive but my little one gets a red bum otherwise, plenty of people use vaseline though)

Sleepsuits / baby-grows (if you stick to white you can boil wash the lot together, and Primark sell these really cheap) they don't need a heap of fancy clothes and these are comfy for them. Mine barely wore anything else for the first 8 months

Breast pump (use Ebay, I found an electronic one much easier)
Bottles (again, Ebay you can even get them new and don't need brand names) and bottle brush
Electric steriliser (no need for a microwave - Ebay)
Breast pads/sheild (I used the sheild ones which collect your milk when you leak and then you can pop it straight into a bottle)
Milk powder (if you need it - Farleys from Lidl)

Car seat (one area where I would recommend buying new probably around £80)
Pram/pushchair (I've had two, got the first one off Ebay and couldn't get on with it, it had little wheels and the streets here are bumpy so I had to get another one) if you are buying 2nd hand might be best to go to Mothercare and work out what you want first

That's all I can think of which is crazy considering how much I actually bought, I never bought a baby bath and only washed bubs with water for the first year - is supposed to be better for their skin so you needn't worry about shampoo etc.

As another poster said, it's as cheap as you make it, you're bound to buy some things because they're "cute", I'm sure eveyone has had those moments, but mostly it can be relatively inexpensive

Penny_Saved

jellyhead

i forgot nappy cream, very rarely use it so probably less than a pound a year. but some babies need it, some don't. i read on here ages ago that people have got it on scrip if they need a lot of it.

TheImportanceOfBeingIdle

How much do babies cost?
Well Madonna just paid $3 million for one. That's a rough guide.

lisa_75

The day to day costs for babies/children are insignificant compared to the loss of earning power that a woman faces. The cost of childcare mounts up and I have found that a mother of 2 it is just not worth working as it would cost me too much. I do now work from home, but jobs like mine are few and far between.

Of course if you have granny giving free childcare, that is different, but sometimes it causes resentment in families especially when they get to school age and you still need to rely heavily on them. Schools only open 9am-3pm for 28 weeks of the year and parents often forget that and think once a child is school age childcare issues will suddenly disappear.

I am not trying to put you off!! We have managed on one income for many years, but it is a struggle. Work/childcare is just another issue to think about.

overlykeensaver

There is lots of great advice on here - basically you can spend as much as or as little as you choose. My baby is five months old and apart from cot, pram etc she does not cost a huge amount. I couldn't breast feed - or rather she wouldn;t suck!) so spend about £6 a week on formula and another £6 on nappies. As for clothes -don't refuse any offer of clothes - even you don't like all of them, they will still be useful when everything else is in the wash!
Also, I bought a BabyGap snowsuit for £6 (incl postage) - these would retail at at least £25 in the shops. I also look in the sales for the next size up.
So in the summer sales, when my daughter was 12 weeks old I was snapping up dresses and trousers for next summer size 12*18 months,

I do buy some new clothes for her but most are either presents or ebay or in the sale.

Hint that you would like clothes up to one year old (as long as they are in the right season of course) from friends, family etc and that should help too.

Hope this helps!

kathyd_2

taliwillow wrote:

....I am not sure how accurate my budget is as I have no idea how much babies cost.

They're free in Malawi, aren't they?

Sorry! couldn't resist.
xx

margaretclare

Kathy, you don't buy them, not in Malawi or anywhere (I assume you're referring to Madonna?)

Margaret

kathyd_2

margaretclare wrote:

Kathy, you don't buy them, not in Malawi or anywhere (I assume you're referring to Madonna?)

Margaret

It was meant as a joke. Oh for a sense of humour!!

People DO 'buy' babies (illegally probably, but they DO buy babies!!)

Mics_chick

I haven't got time to read the whole thread at the mo but this is what I've thought of to say so far...

Great that you are thinking of buying washable nappies but do think about if/when you might go on holiday sometimes it's just not practical to take a nappy bucket with you!

Its true that you will get quite a few outfits bought for you after the baby is born so ask people to buy you larger sizes if you can like 3-6mths or 6-9mths.

I don't know if you use Ebay but they are a great source of clothes if you buy in bundles. I've only started to do this myself recently and at first it seemed expensive that people are bidding £30+ for a bundle but usually they have between 15-25 items in them so if this works out at £2 or less for each item - a bargain! Especially as people only sell stuff from decent shops and in a decent state.

NCT has sales of baby/child items locally to me so I'm sure it's something they do elsewhere to. They sell everything for babies including large items like high-chairs, cots and pushchairs.

£150 seems a hell of a lot per month - I don't think I spent on my 2 when they were both still in nappies!

Also a steam steriliser is not necessary one that you can put in a microwave is better in my opinion.

brazilia_2

as a first timer mum to be i have no idea what to get for the newborn ... my mum has told me not to buy to much as they do grow .... so i shall invest more in the cot and and bottles etc! as i hope to have more than 1 baba! i have been told by many people to buy tommeetipee bottles and from other people not to waste my money on them! i plan to breast feed and extract so my partner can share with feeding! has anyone got any suggestions for bottles and where is the best place to buy ... affordable!!