How much do babies cost

quintwins

When we had our twins we had no money so couldn't spend it, yet they were fine, people bought us clothes, family bought pram/cots/moses baskets as gifts and we muddles threw, i would be surprised if we spent more than £1000 on our twins in the first year of there life and we used alot of formula, at the time we had a matalan discount store that did bogof i went everyday i was in town to look for baby clothes sometime sgetting outfits for £1-£1.50, there first winter i got hats and gloves 3 sets for 50p and they lasted them years.

With our second we had money and i'd say we had spent £1000 on him before he was even born, he had loads of clothes and 2 prams, i breastfeed him and even that has a few costs, extra clothes (to do one up one down not nursing clothes there a rip off) special bra's, a pump i rarely used.

Nappies we tried reusable but it flared up his exzema so we switched, he has really bad exzema but was always fine in the cheapest nappies, once we was big enough i switched him to value.


Now i have my sensible head on he has the twins cast downs clothes wise and i spend alot less on him (and the other 2)

rpc

If your partner is going to be a SAHD, don't forget about Additional Paternity Leave. Might as well get a bit more paternity pay if you are entitled to it!

victoria270385

thanks everyone, i will look into paternity leave when the time comes....hopefully this month will be the month :O) xx

henna123

Hi - I Recommend trying to stock up on things like nappies/formula (if using) Wipes as soon as you know you are pregnant! it really helps! I buy the cheaper nappies and at firsst have to say we probaby went through about 15 a day, now down to about 6-8 a day. (5months old)
My parents bought the cot, we had my husbands old crib next to the bed and a moses basket downstairs - waste of time he used the MB about 6 times! we did have a baby bean bag. bought off a friend for £10 and the best item ever! he was so comfortable in it and I loved the fact you could see him at a glance.
BUt i second everybody else, buy uised where you can, I have a bumbo (useless! ) but i only spent £4 on it at a caar boot, a summertime activity chair - excellent once they are big enough for it and i got it for £8 on ebay! any toys that were washable/plastic so could be cleaned I am happy to buy second hand. Anything i cant clean/sterilise i wont.
If you log onto the NCT website http://www.nct.org.uk/branches
you will find they do sales - it is a bit like a big jumble sale but they are great for second hand items. Ebay is your friend! I have only personally bought 2 outfits from new, the first babygro for leaving hospital with a cardigan and a couple of pairs of shoes from matalan.
If you find out what colour your having then try and stock up on the next size up as you go.
And try to save some money for your maternity leave, there is nothing worse than having to stay in when friends phone to say they are popping out to lunch although we manage to do lots of free things too!! you will probably be given the name of your local childrens center from your HV and they tend to do lots of free classes, Hoping to get out to messy play this afternoon but its around feeding time so depends on how long he decides to feed for.
hope this helps

P x

victoria270385

thanks henna, your reply is much appreciated x

BAGGY

We never had moses baskets. Ours slept in washing baskets! We had 2 cots (one as a permanant feature in our front room for the 1st few months) and they shared the upstairs one. In fact they shared most things. Loads of stuff was second hand and the bootsale became my best friend when they were 18 mths on. There is always huge amounts of newborn clothing too at BS, going really cheaply too.

onlyroz

The cost of "stuff" is insignificant when compared to the loss of salary when on maternity leave, and the cost of childcare when you go back to work.

rpc

onlyroz wrote: »

The cost of "stuff" is insignificant when compared to the loss of salary when on maternity leave, and the cost of childcare when you go back to work.

It depends on the "stuff" - we had to buy a new car when our second child turned out to be our second and third (twins second time round).

I agree in general though - our loss in income after our first was about £850 a month and our childcare costs are £500 a month. Costs will go up to £1500 a month after this mat leave though. ouch! Fortunately, that is made up somewhat by tax credits.

victoria270385

Hi, im not so much worried about the loss of income as we can live on my husbands wage plus SMP, after that we can afford for him to be a sahd living off my wage with a few quid left over so thankfully im not worrying about that, its just the upfront costs due to paying off a loan which will hopefully end in july time but looking at it we will probably have about £1,000 saved up so that should be plenty as we can get lots of stuff second hand. Thanks again for everyone's replies xx