Question

Looking for mommas of newborns—I’ll be a FTM starting in June and have been looking and trying to save for maternity leave. How much should I be budgeting monthly (guesstimates) for necessities for a newborn? For stuff like diapers, formula, and whatever is a MUST. Thanks!  

Answer 1

Formula, if you do the store brand (which is the same as the name brands, just cheaper) runs about $100 a month or so, less in the beginning when they eat less. We do cloth diapers, so can't help with a monthly cost for that. We paid about $250 for our cloth and have used it for 22 months so far.  

Answer 2

Following !  

Answer 3

Have you discussed how your leave works and if/what you will be paid during that time? If leave is unpaid or limited pay definitely save the difference you would need based on how long you will be out. You can start buying diapers now. One pack each shopping trip. Various sizes 1-4. Just keep the receipts if you need to exchange. I wouldn’t stock up on or expect to use any one particular formula because every baby is different. I went through 3 with my first kid who had allergies and yet a totally different kind for my second. My sister went through several for my nephew (despite how well she was producing and pumping. it was making him sick). She now had to use a prescription formula. You CAN go to all the website, similac, enfamil and any other brand you can think of and sign up for their mailing list. They will send you samples (I also had my mom and siblings sign up when I had my first) and checks to use to buy their products usually equal to $5 off each package. Get a couple different types of bottles and ensure they are the slowest flow nipples for the beginning. Again different babies prefer different bottles. I registered for all the things with my first. Half she did not like and then when I had my second she liked the other half! Baby needs nutrition, clothing (nothing fancy for the most part because it will get messy), a car seat and a place to sleep. Those are the necessities. Everything else try to borrow from friends until you know what the baby prefers.  

Answer 4

Are you having a baby shower? Do a diaper raffle! I haven’t had to buy diapers or wipes yet and my baby is 10 weeks. Huge money saver  

Comments

@le65016 we are doing a baby shower! My family is getting a keg in exchange for diapers  

Answer 5

I always remind new moms to budget for 3 AM nursing sessions. When you haven’t slept in 5 weeks, the baby isn’t sleeping AT ALL, and you find some miracle product online that some random mommy group claims will help your baby sleep, and you will try ANYTHING. Those run me about $50 a pop, lol.  

Comments

@warrick hahahaah thank you for this!  

Answer 6

I'm due with #2 in June! I exclusively pumped for her so I had to buy tons of bottles to store my milk in before I started freezing them. Check to see if your insurance will cover milk bags in case you plan to breastfeed. If you're going the formula route. that can be a hard one only because your baby can be picky or even intolerant to certain formula so set $60 (maybe even more) minimum each much for formula. Diapers, I get them at Costco. one box for $36. They are exactly like the huggies brand which I love but huggies are $10 more a box. I've also done cloth diapering and saved so much money during the 6 months I did (just not in the beginning since you have to buy the diapers). You can do cloth wipes as well but I chose not too and buy a large box of huggies natural wipes at Costco, it lasts us 4-5 months. Set aside extra money for "oh shoot I might need that right now" moments. After my daughter was born I bought over half of the things we had before she was born because I didn't realize I needed them until I bought them. Otherwise when they get older I just set aside $40 a month for her. With being pregnant right now I set aside $60 a month. Fortunately I still have a lot of stuff from my daughter to pass down. I just have to make a few big purchases and clothes since we are having a boy. Good luck and congrats!  

Answer 7

Depends on how you approach it- there will be a huge variety in terms of costs! Breastfeeding is cheapest option, and if you are struggling, the cost of help from a lactation consultant will still be cheaper than formula costs. Cloth diapering can save money, even if you only do it part time (we did full time cloth with my daughter, then just at home with my son, disposables when we were out).  

Answer 8

My son is 7 months old (born june 8th) we spend $80/month formula (parents choice) $44/month diapers (cloud island target) $15-22/month random for baby (my guy is already in 18month clothing, growing a new sizes very quickly)

Answer 9

Sam's club brand formula is super cheap and my pediatrician recommended it to me, he said not point in paying 3 times the amount for a name on a can. It was 20 a can and last 2 to 3 weeks.  

Answer 10

I cloth diapered. So $200 got me nb all the way to 2 when she potty trained. I breastfed so that was "free". We bought 90% of the clothing second hand and as was needed. So maybe $20 each size. I didnt buy more then I needed and honestly you find your favourite outfits that you just wear and wear. Our biggest prices were car seats. Infant car seat was $100. Car seat she is in now still was $250. She has been in it from 7 months to she is now over 2 and still in it. Alot of people over think what they need. Just keep it simple. Dont go and buy all the cool gadgets you think you will need lol. Sorry I cant help with the cost of formula!  

Answer 11

Throw adiaper shower! It saves sooo much money (I have 3 kids from 10yrs to 10mths)

Answer 12

We are budgeting $120 for diapers, wipes, and misc expenses. If I can’t breastfeed, we will up it to $200.  

Answer 13

We go amazon subscribe & save for diapers (~$40 a month) then our formula is $30 per week (one week a month we have to buy 2 in the same shopping trip). And then I save $30 extra a week for misc things (wipes, paci’s, medicine, etc)

Answer 14

I just saved up enough to cover my income for the 8 weeks unpaid leave leave I had.  

Answer 15

Following - also becoming a FTM in June!  

Answer 16

Diaper raffle! Our girl is 7 months and we didn’t have to buy a single diaper until 6 months! I auto ship our diapers from Amazon, which gets you a little discount. If we run out before our shipment I grab a small pack to get us through at the store.  

Answer 17

I’m due with my second May 9th  

Answer 18

Saving for maternity leave. save as much as you possibly can. I took 12 weeks off, 5 had short term disability which was about 50% of my take home pay and 10 days of PTO. We saved and saved as much as we could to cover expenses. Purely speaking for baby, $100-200/month on formula. $75-125/month on diapers and any other ‘things. ’ I had to get things I didn’t think I’d need, different sizes of clothing, medicine, etc. Plus hospital bills started coming back for myself and the baby.  It feels like i spent a million dollars, but didn’t. Lol! We planned to breastfeed and it didn’t end up working out. Save formula samples from the mail, docs or stores when you register. If you don’t need them, just donate them or pass them to someone else. We got tons of Enfamil coupons in the mail and I swapped other brands for Enfamil in mom groups.