How much do babies cost?

[tw1164]

Originally posted by: Uppsala9496
I have a 3 month old daughter.

Food.....can of gentlease formula (because she wasn't getting along with the regular stuff) sets me back $25 a can. That lasts about 4 days. So, $125 a month for formula.

Water. Have to use filtered water with flouride. That is $1 a gallon. 6 ounces of water per feeding gives me ~21 feedings a gallon. I feed her about 5-6 times in a 24 hour period (once every 4-5 hours on average). So, it's a gallon every 4 days. $7 a month in water.

Diapers.......well, that is where is gets expensive. I change her diaper every feeding. Sometimes it is a 2 diaper change (she pees while being changed, or has a nasty crap that goes on the new diaper). I have had the occassional 3 diaper change before. Not pretty.
184 diapers will set you back about $40 on average.
Let's say there are 10 diapers a day on average (sometimes less, sometimes more).
That gives me 18 days per box. About $2.25 a day in diapers.

Wipes...don't use them when she pees. Just when she craps and lately things have been a little softer than I would like. So, I have been going through wipes like crazy. Good thing they are cheap. Let's say 10 wipes a day. A box of 800 is $30. So, only $10 a month for wipes.


Just feeding and changing a kid will set you back about $210 a month.
Then there are the doctors visits. When they are little, you are in a lot for checkups. 1 week, 2 week, 1 month, 2 month checkups.

Miscellaneous other things add up to. I've had to get items such as: saline solution because she is congested, childrens tylenol, gas relief drops. All little things that you would never think of.

I'd put the bill at closer to $300 a month right now. It is only going to get more expensive the older she gets.

EDIT: Daycare........don't even want to get into that. It can range from $800 to $1,500 depending on the childs age and where they go. Right now I have family watching my daughter. I pay my parents $100 a week for watching her 3 days. My wife's mom does it one day a week and won't accept any money; same thing for my wife's cousin.
So, I am lucky and only pay $400 a month. That will go up as gas prices rise. It's a 80 mile roundtrip haul for my parents each day to come to my place. As the prices go up I'm going to have to pay them more.

Have you applied for WIC yet? You may be able to get the formula for free. Also, If you haven't already you may want to join a Costco to save on diapers.

 

[TankGuys]

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
I think I'd rather put the $150k into a savings account earning 6% annually for 18 years.

I hear you, but my son is worth far more to me than what that money would be worth later. It's not something you'll understand until (if) you have kid(s) of your own. Waking him up in the morning and getting that huge smile is more than worth the $$.

 

[Uppsala9496]

We do hit Costco for wipes and diapers. They unfortunately don't sell the formula we have to use. We will get random coupons in the mail from the manufacturer though.
We also don't qualify for WIC due to our income (6 figures combined income).

The nice thing is my health insurance at work covers 100% pre and post natal care for my wife with a $0 copay. That saved us a ton (all vitamins, doc visits, tests, etc were covered 100%).

 

[Xavier434]

Assuming you are planning on having the child in daycare once he/she gets old enough, you can expect to spend $1000 - $1500 per month depending on where you live and the quality of the daycare. You don't need to put a 1-2 year old in a daycare which is equipped with a computer lab (yes, they exist), but you most definitely want to keep the quality high since they will be teaching your child during more hours of the day than you will.

Before daycare costs, you can safely estimate about $500-$750 per month, but even that can be more variable depending on health insurance costs and the amount of doctor's visits.

Lastly, I HIGHLY recommend that you do breast feed your child. It tremendously improves their immune system and greatly reduces the chances of the child developing random conditions later in life such as allergies.

 

[jonks]

babies are free, but theres a 9 month waiting list

 

[MetalMat]

Lets see, dont waste money on private schools and get them to get a student loan for college or scholarship. Make them earn their first car (like I did), etc....


200k seems about right I guess, I wonder how much I cost my parents till I became totally independent.

 

[bignateyk]

20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

 

[SlowSpyder]

We have a 19 month old son. When he was younger food cost more (formula) then it does now. We bought formula at about $14 for the biggest can they had. We had to get one of those every week-week and a half or so. Now he just drinks whole milk and eats whatever we eat for a meal. Diapers aren't too bad. We buy the largest package, usually 80-92 diapers depending on the size. They are about $14 per package... I'd say he uses one of those every week and a half to two weeks or so. Where it gets expensive is day care. Right now we pay $150/week. Our current day care is closing in June, the new place we are going to go to will cost $215/week until he is 2 years old, then it goes to $195/week. So, with day care, food, diapers, and the other stuff he needs from time to time I'd say our cost for our child is probably around $700-$800 a month. Without day care things would be much, much less.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: TankGuys

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
I think I'd rather put the $150k into a savings account earning 6% annually for 18 years.

I hear you, but my son is worth far more to me than what that money would be worth later. It's not something you'll understand until (if) you have kid(s) of your own. Waking him up in the morning and getting that huge smile is more than worth the $$.

:thumbsup:

Me, I'm totally banking on the NFL for my son About a week shy of 1 year... 31 pounds. He's got daddy's wide shoulders and with any luck he won't have my craptastic knees.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

Seriously, that's an avg of $925/mo. That's a lot of day care into the teen years.

To all the day care comments... exactly how necessary is it assuming someone can be at home with them. What about 2 kids?

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: bignateyk
20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

Seriously, that's an avg of $925/mo. That's a lot of day care into the teen years.

I'm not sure if the avg is that high or not, but you do need to consider that there are different costs when they hit their teen years. A lot more food, monthly extra curricular expenses, allowances, clothing costs increase, after school care replaces day care while they are still in elem school (much cheaper but it still adds to the pile), saving for college (often done during early years too, but many people put more away once they start making more money), etc.

I'm sure there are more I am missing.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: bignateyk
20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

Seriously, that's an avg of $925/mo. That's a lot of day care into the teen years.

To all the day care comments... exactly how necessary is it assuming someone can be at home with them. What about 2 kids?

the point of the estimate is if you decide to stay home with the kids, you are losing out on a second income now.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I remember reading some statistic from awhile back that children cost upwards of $20,000 by the time they reach college.

LOL thats it? what a bargain.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: bignateyk
20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

Seriously, that's an avg of $925/mo. That's a lot of day care into the teen years.

To all the day care comments... exactly how necessary is it assuming someone can be at home with them. What about 2 kids?

the point of the estimate is if you decide to stay home with the kids, you are losing out on a second income now.

working from home... what I'm really asking is how much attention do the kids need at the various day care ages. Looking at feasibility.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: bignateyk
20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

Seriously, that's an avg of $925/mo. That's a lot of day care into the teen years.

To all the day care comments... exactly how necessary is it assuming someone can be at home with them. What about 2 kids?

my wife stays at home with our 2 daughters (2 and almost 5). she has always stayed at home with them. the older one had separation anxiety when she started pre-school at 2.5 yrs old (2 days a week for about 3 hrs).

the older one is doing very well now. she has several friends at her pre-school with whom she has playdates. her pre-school noticed that she's definitely come out of her shell and is definitely ready for kindergarten. i suspect the younger one will be fine as well.

my wife ran some numbers and figured that with the extra income she could have been making, the cost of day care and taxes in the next tax bracket wouldn't make it as worth it as we thought. besides, we didn't trust anyone other than ourselves to watch them

keep in mind though that we have lots of family and friends with whom our kids play so there has always been strong social interaction for them.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I remember reading some statistic from awhile back that children cost upwards of $20,000 by the time they reach college.

So a child is essentially an 18 year economy-car loan with zero interest and plenty of maintenance.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: bignateyk
20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

Seriously, that's an avg of $925/mo. That's a lot of day care into the teen years.

To all the day care comments... exactly how necessary is it assuming someone can be at home with them. What about 2 kids?

the point of the estimate is if you decide to stay home with the kids, you are losing out on a second income now.

Two reasons to put them in daycare:

First and foremost, the kids that get placed in a good daycare at an early age tend to do a lot better socially and academically when they start going to Kindergarten and beyond. They acquire social experience that they do not come close to getting while at home. Also, while learning their skills, they are around a bunch of other kids who are learning it with them which gives them a means of comparison and this has a great impact vs mostly comparing themselves to adults. They usually get much more variety of experiences at day cares too which is very good. I have experienced first hand the difference between staying at home and putting them in day care. Trust me. The difference is enormous. Once you have experienced both, the advantages of day care over staying at home in unquestionable. That doesn't mean those kids who stay at home will not succeed socially and academically. That depends on how you raise them. However, those in a day care are clearly at an advantage.

Second, when considering the costs it works out better to have a second income in most cases. Assuming an above average monthly estimate of $1000 per child per month (This is really high. Mine is only $600 per month and I live in an expensive area of the US) then the cost of two children going to daycare per year is $24000. However, you get some really nice tax breaks when it comes to daycare costs. I believe my SO gets 25% back. 25% of $24000 is $6000 so you are actually looking at $18000 per year. Most people I know even if they do not have a 4 year degree make much more than $18000 per year.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: bignateyk
20K to raise a kid till he/she is 18? bwahahaha, that's rich.

Seriously, that's an avg of $925/mo. That's a lot of day care into the teen years.

To all the day care comments... exactly how necessary is it assuming someone can be at home with them. What about 2 kids?

the point of the estimate is if you decide to stay home with the kids, you are losing out on a second income now.

working from home... what I'm really asking is how much attention do the kids need at the various day care ages. Looking at feasibility.

they require a lot of attention. you can't just be at home; you have to be involved with them. you also have to make sure they don't climb into the shower, fall into the toilet, eat the cleaning solutions, wreck the wedding video, put coins in their mouths, stand on the kitchen table, etc

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: rh71
working from home... what I'm really asking is how much attention do the kids need at the various day care ages. Looking at feasibility.

they require a lot of attention. you can't just be at home; you have to be involved with them. you also have to make sure they don't climb into the shower, fall into the toilet, eat the cleaning solutions, wreck the wedding video, put coins in their mouths, stand on the kitchen table, etc

Yes, and the TV makes for a horrible baby sitter btw. They barely learn anything and it usually only entertains them for short spurts depending on the kid. You will not be able to get any real work done at all.

 

[Saint Nick]

i'm afraid to have children

 

[Xavier434]

I forgot to mention that another cornerstone advantage of placing a child in a good daycare is that they also learn a lot about teamwork amongst peers their age which is a rare experience in most families if they are raised at home.

 

[RKS]

Neither of my boys have ever been in daycare but the older one has been in pre-school for almost a year. He'll be back in pre-K next year as well. Both of them were/are either with me, my wife or their grandparents and are well-adjusted. Neither we nor the grandparents have let the tv babysit our kids. They do watch movies/kids shows and play some Wii but we try to go outside as much as the weather allows.

The older boy is doing very well at school and is making friends. A girl actually asked if he wanted to go to lunch after class so he has actually been on a few 'dates' at the ripe age of 4. :laugh:

The younger one hasn't had too much social interaction with peers, looks like he may be slightly bossy but he'll be in pre-school in a couple years. For the most part he gets along well with other kids but for a long time (up until 3/4/5) children usually play 'along-side' not actually with each other.

edit: both of my kids had sep. anxiety at about 2.5 so the younger one currently has trouble letting go of my leg when I drop him off at my parents. After that stage the older one has never had trouble says 'good-bye'. On the first day of school he was so excited he ran into the classroom and started playing before we could take enough pictures so we had to drag him back out.

 

[alkemyst]

I pick them up free in the park.

 

[Calcifor]

In my daughter's first year (she just turned two), her normal expenses were about $300/month. That includes diapers, food (she was preemie and couldn't breastfeed correctly--she needed pumped breastmilk and then formula), clothes and assorted necessities like diaper creams, detergent and body wash. She got gradually less expensive as we introduced real food into her diet. My wife and I are opposed to daycare, so luckily there's an expense we don't have to worry about. In the end it is still expensive, but the returns are far, far greater than the investment.