The Cost of a Baby

There is not much that's more expensive than a baby. Beyond the cost of just acquiring the new family member, be it by adoption or birth,the amount of money to care for a baby can be extensive. There are ways to cut down on that cost, however.When considering your new budget and your new baby you may have to give up some of the things you have been used to doing. You may need to consider a less expensive lifestyle, and plan on doing things to save money rather than depending on convenience. Even so, one slobbery baby kiss well worth the costs.

One of the first decisions to be made is whether you will use formula or nurse. This may seem like an easy decision to some people but there may be circumstances that make breastfeeding impossible in your case. In most cases breastfeeding is possible and should be strongly considered for several reasons.

• Babies that are nursed for even a short period of time develop fewer allergies later on.
•  Breastfed babies have an easier time bonding with their mothers
  
• They are healthier
  
• Breastfeeding moms tend to get back to pre-pregnancy weight sooner and have less uterine complications after birth

If you choose to go with Formula, it does cost money. The ready-to-use formula, once opened, lasts as long as expressed milk. It is about 50 dollars for a six-pack of 32 ounce cans, or four cents and ounce. The whole 32 ounce can goes bad within 72 hours after opening. If your baby is taking four ounces every four hours the cost will be approximately 350 dollars a year. Powdered formula is more expensive but it will last for years. A 24 ounce can of powdered formula will make, on average, 172 ounces of formula. It can cost as much as 700 dollars a year to feed your baby powdered formula. Add in another 60 dollars for bottles you are looking at approximately 400 to 800 dollars for formula feeding per year.

Breastfeeding on the other hand, is free. You may need a pump (these can often be obtained at your local La Leche chapter)and this will cost up to 300 dollars if you can't get one for free. If you find that you may be unable to nurse your baby be sure to contact La Leche. The counselors are experienced and can often give suggestions for successful breastfeeding in the most unlikely cases, including adoption. If you must use formula consider using organic formulas. These are becoming easier to find and less costly than in the past.

Diapers are the next biggest expense when you have a baby. You're going to get quite a few disposables right away if you're having a shower. This will help with 'new baby syndrome', but you need to think about what you will do long term. The baby shower diapers are free but after that Babies will go through six to ten diapers a day. With 16 to 50 diapers per package (depending on the size of the diaper) the average cost for a new baby will be about 1,945 dollars per year, not include disposable wipes. The wipes will run about 300 dollars a year.

Cloth diapers may seem expensive at first but you only have to pay for them once. Cloth diapers can be used for several children, and then sold on eBay when you are done with them. Washed carefully, cloth diapers will last and last. If you can sew there are many patterns for sewing your own cloth diapers.You will need about ten days worth of diapers to start but that also depends on how often you do laundry.

AIO diapers, or all in ones, generally are one piece diapers that will remind you of a disposable. There are fasteners, or velcro, and no need to use plastic pants. These cost about ten to forty dollars each, less expensive ones are found gently used on eBay. Cloth diapers will cost you about half of what disposables do the first year and then after that they are free except the cost of laundering them.

By using wash cloths or specially made baby wipes you can cut that cost even more.

Baby food is another fairly large expense. First foods are the cheapest and third foods are the most expensive. It averages to about one dollar a jar. In the past doctors suggested you start with cereal at three month and then one jar of food a day at four months, introducing foods until you end up with three jars a day by six month.

The current recommendations are to start a baby on solids after six months of age. Many mothers who nurse their babies prefer to wait until nine months or a year before solid foods are introduced and there is no reason not to wait. A box of rice cereal is less than five dollars, and will last at least a month. Because cereal is so inexpensive it is not calculated in these figures.

If you start your baby on solid foods at three months old it will cost 350 dollars or so from first foods to table food. Waiting until a baby is six months old will bring that figure down to about 300 dollars, and that will go down more as you wait later to start foods. When you do begin feeding baby solids consider organic baby food for optimum health.

Making your own baby food is difficult to calculate since it will depend on how you feed your baby.

You will need:

• baby spoons
• a blender or babyfood grinder.

You just start with fruits and veggies with a little water, and move up to thicker and stronger foods as you go. Spoons will cost anywhere from three to fifteen dollars for a pack of six to twelve spoons. Unless you lose them you will only need one pack.

You may also want to buy a couple jar foods to wash and reuse or small Tupperware containers just so you don't have to worry about diaper bag spills. A baby food grinder is 10 to 20 dollars, or an electric mini food processor that costs around 40.

The grinders are helpful for on the go or everyday, but don't get some foods as fine as others. A blender will work just as well as the mini processor, but its also bulky, and doesn't travel well. The blender and processor are better than the grinders on some foods. Spoons at $15, two jars or Tupperware at $3,and the mini processor at $40 adds up to $58, at the most. That's  almost one sixth of the cost of baby foods, and you have more control and variety in baby's diet.

While having a baby is expensive there are ways to save money. It may take time, effort, and maybe a change of mindset but it can be done.