New parents: how much do you spend on average feeding/clothing your baby for 1 month?

Question

My husband and I are just curious what it costs. Our parents raised us 30 years ago and with inflation, etc. their advice just isn't helping.

Thanks everyone, this is really informative.

We're not pregnant yet, just in the beginning planning stages. I did not plan to breasfeed, but I never thought of it in terms of free vs. cost of formula.

Answer 1

if you're formula feeding it gets expensive. I breastfed for the first four months so I can't help you with newborns. But here's the rundown for my eight month old:
5-6 large cans of Enfamil a month ($100-120)
baby food and fruits and veggies to make into baby food ($30)
1 case huggies size three diapers- 144ct. ($26)
3 packages pampers sensitive wipes ($14)
as far as clothes, borrow from friends and shop at goodwill as much as possible, they only wear the clothes for a few months anyway so even used clothes are still pretty new, and half the time they wear an outfit once before they grow out of it. But count on anywhere from $20-$100 a month to keep up with them growing like weeds, depending on whether you buy from goodwill, wal-mart, or just have to get Gymboree.
So I would plan on around $200-$300 a month.
oh and newborns use a lot more diapers (up to ten a day), but will drink less formula and don't need baby food, so it balances out. good luck!

Answer 2

The answer drastically depends on whether you are breastfeeding or not -- formulas can be real expensive, so keep that in mind. If you breastfeed, you still consume more food but it's a negligible factor (well you can add $1 a day).

I will skip the fixed-cost items such as the crib, mattres, the tub and the like, because these are long-term use. These are expensive, though. There are milk pumps, bottles etc.

You'll probably spend about $15 a month on clothing items (these will last 3 months or so before you need a bigger size), and roughly $2 a day on diapers.

Let's do the total: $15+$60+$30 (your food) = $105 a month.

Again, you'll have to figure out the fixed cost of accessories that I mentioned. These will vary greatly depending on your demands and budget. It's a few hundred bucks, to a thousand, to get started - if you keep the costs down. Otherwise, sky is the limit.

Answer 3

well it all depends on some important things first are you breast feeding? how old is the baby ?are you buying name brand diapers or store brand?is the baby eating solid foods ?if the baby is an infant formula is expensive by powder.its about 23-27 dollars depending where you shop .shop at walmart its way cheaper.the store brand diapers work just as well as name brand they(the store brand) will run between 7-10 dollars verses 11-16 dollars of name brand.buy the store brand wipes also and for clothes have alot of onesies when you are at home no reason for the baby to be dressed up all the time its not that bad just shop at walmart its alot cheaper the baby grows so fast you dont want go out and spend a fortune on something the baby may wear two or three times unless you have money to just throw away.shop at childrens consignment shops they have really great deals .and also keep in mind that babies get sick so add acouple dr.vusits in there too

Answer 4

I can't add much to the discussion of actual costs on here other than to confirm that breastfeeding is a ton cheaper than formula feeding all the way around. Not only is the breast milk free, you usually pay less in medical costs since BM boosts the immune system. The longer you BF the bigger the boost.

You also have a cheaper choice on diapers than brand name versus store brand. You also can choose cloth diapers. When I had my first DD 12 years ago my cloth diapers paid for themselves in the first month. Then kept saving me money as I used them through both my kids. And they still made me some money back as I resold them to someone on e-bay. If you go with cloth you can find a ton of people selling custom diapers and wraps on e-bay or you can go to the store an buy standard pre-folds. Either work, it's all up to you.

Answer 5

for the most part baby clothes are pretty much free - you get gifts, and bags full from other people, I never bought my kids any clothes yet (2.5 yr old girl, 4 month old boy) - they have clothes to last until they're three or four... as for food, my baby is formula fed, average ~100$/month, diapers are about 40$/month. The feeding cost really doesn't change much until they start eating real food (as opposed to baby food, pablum, etc.) then it gets cheaper.
This is canadian costs, but I hope it helps!

Answer 6

It really depends on what you choose to do. Child cost also goes up and down depending on age. You must remember that a one month old will get older so I'll explain it all.

If you breastfeed of course it's going to be free to feed your child. If you choose to formula feed the first six months [depending on which formula you choose] it will be $40-$60/month. For the next six months it can be any where from $60-$100 to feed a child including extra food. When the baby turns one the price of food does go down because they are entirely on table food. I say we pay about $20 extra per month on whole milk for our son now.

As for clothing--I buy clothes at Macy's sales. I normally spend about $50-$75 every three months on baby clothes.

Diapers are normally $60 a month if you get a case from Sam's Club every two weeks.

When they get a little older clothing prices will go up and of course you have to buy shoes but if you just buy clothes every once in a while [I buy clothes about twice a year for my five year old] it's about $100-$300 a year.

Then as they start with chores...etc you pay a little bit more. It just keeps on going up and back down but it's well worth it.

I hope this helps! Best of luck with whatever you choose!!

Answer 7

When mine were 4 months old and on baby food, with formula and clothes I spent about 200 a month on everything including diapers and wipes, sometimes maybe 250 a month!

Answer 8

two boxes of pampers-$40
Box of wipes- $10
Clothes-Depends, Seems liek the skys the limit, or sometime none
Food-$250
Misc.- $50-unlimited
Doctor- Unlimited
Daycare- Around $320