How much does your baby/child cost you per month?

Catty89

Just curious to see how much other people spend on their babies, my baby is now 6 weeks old and im still trying to work out how much it will roughly be per month

I gave up breastfeeding after a month so now have to use formula which is pretty expensive at £9.50 per box ( about 4/5 boxes per month) so about £45

Nappies are £2.99 for 44 and im still unsure how much i use a month but think il need 6 packs so about £18

i have a massive stash of baby wipes but think roughly 2 packs a week? so about £8 per month on these.

Also little bits and bobs like medicines, dummies, and then all the things i dont need to buy like little toys and books etc.

I was just curious to see how much others spend, i would like to be a stay at home mum but dont think this is going to be realistic after maternity leave but i am going to try and save a little in the hopes that i can. We are on what i would call a tight budget at the minute with my wage halfing and this month OH's wage has his paternity pay in it which was alot less than his usual money.

couponqueen123

Catty89 wrote: »

Just curious to see how much other people spend on their babies, my baby is now 6 weeks old and im still trying to work out how much it will roughly be per month

I gave up breastfeeding after a month so now have to use formula which is pretty expensive at £9.50 per box ( about 4/5 boxes per month) so about £45

Nappies are £2.99 for 44 and im still unsure how much i use a month but think il need 6 packs so about £18

i have a massive stash of baby wipes but think roughly 2 packs a week? so about £8 per month on these.

Also little bits and bobs like medicines, dummies, and then all the things i dont need to buy like little toys and books etc.

I was just curious to see how much others spend, i would like to be a stay at home mum but dont think this is going to be realistic after maternity leave but i am going to try and save a little in the hopes that i can. We are on what i would call a tight budget at the minute with my wage halfing and this month OH's wage has his paternity pay in it which was alot less than his usual money.

babys cost what u make them cost

if u shop in charity shops/second hand websites do swop partys clothes/toys can be very cheap or even learn to sow and this can dramaticaly drop price of clothes

dummys IMO are not needed my 2 girls never had one nor looked for them (i hate them )

nappies have u tried value ones in tesco they are £1.50 for 22 i think
reviews here http://www.mumsnet.com/reviews/nursery/disposable-nappies/9904-tesco-value-nappies

or terry nappies

baby milk i cant suggest a cheaper way apart from breast as my girls were on "special milk from doctors"

wipes you can buy washable ones/warm water and cotton wool

medicine if needed should come from doctor where i live thats free:D

6 packs of nappies a month seems lots to me lol do u use more than 44 nappies a week?

bottles can be found in home bargins/ b&m type shops branded ones t0 for few pounds each

sign up to all baby clubs money off voucher will start turning up for 1 off etc all the baby brands have clubs look at there websites

enjoy yr baby:T:T:T imo boys are cheaper what do u have?:)

Kayalana99

The nappies she is using are cheaper then the ones you suggested

Sorry just had to point that out

neverdespairgirl

I think my son was essentially free for the first 6 months - my mother had stashed clothes and baby bed sheets and so forth, I breastfed, and nappies cost £4 a week via a local scheme that washed cloth nappies, collected the dirty ones and brought clean ones to the door.

lilymay1

My son - easily £1000+ a month but a good chunk is childcare

notanewuser

What happened to your reusable nappies? You could attempt re-lactating (depending on why you gave up breastfeeding).

GwylimT

As the poster above said babies cost as much as you want them to cost.

Our daughter was breast fed so feeding costs were essentially nil, our son when home will be on a special formula and so this will be provided via prescription. We bought bottles a few weeks ago, once we knew he would need to be bottle fed we just looked out for a good offer as we had the luxury of time.

We use cloth nappies, although as our youngest is still in hospital he uses hospital supplied nappies, we don't have the option of buying disposable nappies for the hospital to use. We bought a big pack of cloth nappies when we were expecting our daughter, they were just over £500, so that makes £250 in nappies per child. In the first few months we were probably doing two nappy washing loads per week, but then it went down to one a week after a few months, the nappies we have can be used from newborn to being a toddler.

Wipes, we use a flannel and some water, although on occasion when forgetting to take a flannel out alongside a freezer bag to stop the nappy back getting soaked our daughter has been rinsed in a sink and dangled under the hand dryer.

Dummy, we didn't bother as we didn't want the hassle of weaning her off it, my adopted son had a dummy until he was 6! Our baby son does have a dummy as he needs to strengthen his suck action, but he is only given it for a certain amount of time each day so hopefully it wont be too much of a problem!

Furniture, we bought a fairly cheap cot that goes in our bedroom then we go straight to a full size single bed in their own room, some people buy toddler beds which we think are a complete waste of money, when our daughter didn't need it we packed it away in case we needed it in the future, which we will do.

Toys, we did use one of those things where it is like a string of toys that goes across the pushchair, I doubt it was pricey, we then just had things like rattles, toys with different textures and that is it really, I'm sure your little one will claim things as their own in your house.

Medicines, if they need medicine then its via prescription.

Clothes, you can get it all second hand for a very good price, also when they outgrow a baby grow you can simply cut the feet off and it will last a few more weeks! We didn't see the point buying lots of cute outfits as they would end up covered in poo, wee and vomit.

Gillyx

My LO is older now (18months)

But he drinks just under 4 litres of cows milk a week (£8 a month) he eats what I have and smaller portions so I'd say around £40 a month on food (that's probably an over estimate) I use reusable nappies during the day and 1 disposable at night (£4 a month) that would be the cost of his main needs met.

I buy all of his clothes in sales (I tend to go to Next as it sells on well and gives me cash to buy the next size up) or on offers with extra advantage card points etc and use these to fund new clothes too.

He needs a new pair of shoes on average around every 8 weeks (so far) which are around £30 a pair.

I'm a SAHM so no childcare costs.

pukkamum

What did my babies cost me?
My youth.
My sanity.
My freedom.
:rotfl::rotfl:

Catty89

I did buy cloth nappies but they are still to big and he is almost 11 pounds, when did they start fitting yours? I never bought any newborn ones but wish i had now. I think they will fit soon they just seem to big around the legs.

I tried to combi feed which led to him not wanting the breast anymore my fault as i was too self conscious in public i wont make that mistake next time, formula is so expensive!!

We were totally against the dummy but when he spent hours just wanting to suck i give him it at nighttime now and he stays asleep much longer ( lazy on my part i know) but i dont give him it in the daytime and he doesnt seem to want or need in the day.

Im not sure if i use 6 packets of napies a month thats just what iv bought as i really ament sure how much i go through but budget for that, i would say possibly about 8 nappies a day though but i havent really been counting.

I think at this age he is fairly cheap as doesnt cost more than the child benefit really but im slightly worried for the future when he will be much more expensive, not sure if i should start saving for this already or just take it as it comes.

Catty89

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I think my son was essentially free for the first 6 months - my mother had stashed clothes and baby bed sheets and so forth, I breastfed, and nappies cost £4 a week via a local scheme that washed cloth nappies, collected the dirty ones and brought clean ones to the door.

wow thats so good for £4!! we dont have anything like that iv checked the council website etc and cant see anything. Does make it sound much more appealing.