I want to ask all the new mommies how much it costs to have a baby… health care costs and everything else???
18/05/09
Food, clothing, diapers, doctors, child care, medications.. blah blah blah. Thinking of having a baby with my new husband but we're not sure we can afford it.
BTW I work for blue cross blue shield and have wonderful insurance
I think for us the biggest cost was actually paying the medical bills associated with having the baby…even though we have really good insurance. If you choose to breastfeed, food really doesn't cost much, even once they're on solids. Otherwise, formula can be expensive. Now that there are store-brands out there that are half the cost it is much less expensive. Child care is also a big one – if you put your child in a high-quality day care, it can run about $150 per week. This is different in every state and with different types of care, but it can get really expensive.
Beyond the medical bills and day care costs, I don't really think it's as bad as some make it out to be. Hospitals are usually very good about letting you make payments based on your income. My husband and my schedules work out really well to where I can work part-time and he can work full-time without having to have child care at all…sometimes changes in employment need to be made to save money.
If you can get through those two things, the rest isn't that bad. You can use coupons and sales to get diapers at really low cost or use store brand – or use cloth for that matter. There are tons of options anymore. And you can start buying some in each size before baby comes too. Clothing does not have to be expensive. You will usually receive quite a bit for gifts, and if you are a bargain shopper you can get great deals on really nice clothes, without having to buy second-hand…or you can just buy used, that's OK too.
When it comes down to "affording" to have a baby, you just have to get creative with ways to save money. Sit down and look at your budget and see if there's anything you can cut out that you don't need. Find ways to save money…for instance, my husband and I save literally hundreds of dollars per month buying coupons on eBay and using them on groceries. Every little bit counts and if you put your mind to it you can make it happen!
babycenter.com
has a baby cost calculator
i have a 3 month old and i spend $40 a month right now on diapers we use pampers but u can always use store brand. if you formula feed it averages out to about $150-250 a month depends on what kind of formula.wic is a wonderful program that helps with formula and while pregnant helps with milk eggs cheese beans. clothes all depends on you really if u have friends and get some handme downs or shop at walmart or shop at more expensive places. i normally buy a cpl outfits a week or every other week and they average out around $3-6 at walmart. doctors and medicine really depend on where u live and if u have insurance. child care also.
hope you have good insurance. I do, but got a bill that insurance covered for about 18,000.
diapers are expensive, clothing u can get used, plus at least 18 years plus of expenses.
figure out your finances and see…….maybe you might have to wait a few years until you're ready.
We had insurance and with our birth we still paid out of pocket close to $1000 just for the hospital stay. It was worth every penny to have our little one in our arms now. Once she goes to our home care provider we will be paying about $700 a month for day care. Their expensive but absolutely wonderful
You learn to manage your finances differently. You make do with less.
Well….my husband and I are both military, so the medical didn't cost us anything… (but since I ended up having emergency c-section it would have cost us over 18k with no insurance. However medical insurance could run anywhere from $200-$700 a month just for a policy.
Formula costs us about $35 a week, so around $140 a month because we buy the premade Similac sensitive…
Diapers probably cost us about $40-$50 a month…and wipes costing us around $30 a month (the daycare has this one swipe per wipe policy so we go through a refill package almost every week…but average is about $15)
Clothes will run you around $300 every so often…. but if you buy clothes on clearance and big then you'll get the most for your money!
Child care costs us about $129 a week…but that's on base. The typical day licenced day care center costs about $200 a week. Home day cares will usually be a little less (175 week)
On average they say by the time your child is 18 you will ahve spent over 1,000,000 on your child.