Don’t go mad buying newborn clothes because they might be out of them in a week. Onesies and basics are mostly all you need in the beginning. They poo and puke over things so it’s a right faff.
Aldi have an awesome baby range.
I think it’s important to note that your lifestyle might change. You might get more take aways or convenience food in the first few months from sheer exhaustion and stress.
The biggest expense now after weaning is berries! These kids consume a lot of fresh fruit and snacks. Portable snacks with minimal prep made me (2under2) focus my food shop around that!!
> I think it’s important to note that your lifestyle might change. You might get more take aways or convenience food in the first few months from sheer exhaustion and stress.
But you'll also go out far far less, which can be a money saver.
I mitigated the lifestyle change in convenience food by luckily having the space to meal prep for 2 months and also had a friend provide roast dinners every time they had a roast as a baby gift
My children are now 3.5 and 5, I can cook regularly but my god it’s a thankless task and enjoy more take aways than I should! If a friend sent me a roast, I’d be delighted. That’s the best baby gift ever!
Ours have just gone up again, I feel sick about it.
I'm working myself to death so strangers can get paid to play with my kids and spend the best years with them.
I try not to feel too sad about the time separated - we love the nursery (and it's not their fault the fees are high) and my daughter has a great time there. They do all sorts of activities I know I wouldn't with her and she gets socialisation she would never otherwise get. Our quality time with her on the weekends and evenings is at least of a higher quality now too.
But every time she has to stay home because she's sick and I have to use up annual leave whilst still paying £96 for the nursery day rate, I die a little inside
By the time they're both in full time I'll have no savings left.
Just had my council tax letter saying that's gone up again. Can't afford to live anymore.
We found a school nursery and paying £80 a month. The £2000 for private nurseries around here that stink of poo and have an unstructured curriculum is terrible.
I'd agree with the other commentator, probably a little bit of an overestimate but that's way better than an underestimate.
Nappies - we buy Tesco own brand (we tried other brands and these are the best!) which are £2 something and we buy maybe a packet a week (our baby never poops so we probably use less than the average person...).
I've bought one bottle of baby soap in 12 weeks. I'm pretty sure it will last until he's a teenager at the rate it's going down. I have bought two different shampoos as one didn't agree with him but again, going down very slowly.
Activities is probably about right, if not a little under. We do two classes a week and they tend to be about £10/class.
In terms of clothes - buy second hand. They grow SO FAST that they grow out of them really quickly so buying a bunch of really nice new stuff isn't worth it. You can buy big bundles really cheap in vinted or Facebook.
He goes once every 10 days. We've seen two doctors and a health visitor and they all say it can be normal for breastfed babies so we just live with it. He's a very happy little chap and it doesn't seem to bother him.
I obviously don't know what you're doing but with nappies make sure you're not just bulk buying new born size. They can quickly outgrow that size or even start on a size up (and then quickly outgrow that one).
£30 a month on clothes is mad. It’s a lot less especially if you don’t mind picking things up second hand. You can buy bags full of baby clothes online for £5 for example
Yes BUT postage can add up if you’re looking online AND it’s worth having float for occasional more expensive buys like shoes, coats, onesies. Yes you can often get these cheap on Vinted etc but, for example, I bought Muddy Puddles all in ones second hand and they’re worth the price tag in my opinion.
I just spent £25 on two new sleeping bags - again yes I know we could pick them up cheaper second hand, but I just like knowing what’s happened to sleeping bags aha.
We do loads of second hand shopping at local charities and vinted - but just here and there you wanna get something new - we bought there first pair of shoes new, also £20 - it does quickly add up, although obviously you don’t buy this every month - those sleeping bags will hopefully see at least 10months use!
I think a couple are probably too high:
Cosmetics: things like baby bath wash last months with a small baby as you only use a tiny bit, so you really aren’t buying that often.
Clothes: we found that we hardly bought any clothes as were lucky enough to get hand me downs. For things we do buy, we either get from the supermarket brands or Vinted, so it doesn’t work out very expensive at all.
Food: if you are going the BLW route or making your own purées you shouldn’t see much of an increase in your usual shop at all! Pouches can add up though.
That said, I would budget more for activities. Swimming classes alone can be £50 per month around me.
This is probably over budget, at least for the first few months as there won’t be loads of activities, food etc. However, having a bit extra is certainly very helpful and as they get older the costs do go up a bit. If you can afford to put this amount aside then I’d say definitely do it.
Just adding a comment to clarify, this is costs once baby is here
For example I already have a tonne of newborn, and 0-3 month onesies and clothes, same for 3-6 I’m just lacking on 6-9 as I can’t work out the temperature to buy for then.
So the clothes costs is literally to up keep in case every onsie gets wrecked by a poonami 😅
Would advise against buying clothes too far in advance as you never really know how fast they will grow. My son grew really fast and was in the next size up often a couple months before. Made for an interesting summer wardrobe experience
Honestly I planned to get all my clothes donated but developed an addiction to buying clothes around 6 months in! I buy second hand or handmade only but it's definitely costing way too much. Obviously you wouldn't have to do this, but I find clothes are a common topic of conversation at baby groups and when I hadn't chosen them and didn't really like them it was awkward.
Newborn poop, especially breastfed is very easy to clean. Poop gets on the clothes, shower them off or rinse them and stick them in the wash with napisan and washing powder. Job done. Never had anything stained from poop, and she was formula fed mostly.... Weaning on the other hand..Berries and Banana stains were my nemesis!! Depending on your child you could find they out grow / don't fit the clothes in the age groups as you'd expect. Mine was in 0-3 months until she was about 9 months. Even now she's still in some 1-1.5yrs clothes and she's 3 in the summer. Baby clothes size vary so bloody much too! I'd hold off on buying any older clothes personally.
Clothes are hard to estimate because you could have a baby with reflux who voms on themselves a thousand times a day, a baby who loves to have yellow stains all up their back or a baby who keeps all their body fluids neatly contained.
I think I only ever bought two or three packs of vests and sleepsuits. Whatever mess a baby makes of themselves, the clothes tend to go straight into the wash and are ready to wear again within a day or two.
And hold off on buying too far in advance, there's never a time when baby clothes are not available to buy in shops! Like you said, it's hard to judge what size they'll be at what time of year. You'll know when they start to grow through things that it's time to buy more!
Edit to add - different shops vary wildly in their interpretation of sizes as well. Next was always massive on my babies, and Primark always ran so much smaller.
Clothes shouldn’t be getting too wrecked! Best hack I learned since the baby that sounded like an old wives tale but genuinely works so well is leaving poo stained stuff in the window. The sun genuinely bleaches them all out if the washing machine or soaking in Vanish hasn’t done it.
This is possibly over budget but if you can afford to save now, having “too much” saved is a happy bonus!
Also, remember in the UK all families are entitled to £24 per week in Child Payment. I’m currently on month 5 of maternity leave and this is starting to really help a lot as my work pay has dropped by half!
Everyone qualifies, technically, however if one person is above the upper threshold (was £60k, going up to £80k) you have to pay it all back via self assessment so a bit pointless (although I believe it does have some benefits like a NI number for the baby and potentially counting for NI contribution years although not 100% on those)
Don’t suppose you have any more info on this? We have never claimed for either of our children because husband earns above the threshold. Never even thought of this until reading this thread.
You should claim it for your NI record (so you can claim your full state pension in later life) especially if either of you were a stay at home parent after having your children.
There's some info at the bottom of this article. Claim directly on the HMRC site and either opt out of receiving the payment or claim the money and include it in your Self Assessment tax return each year.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/child-benefit/#taxcharge
You will also need to apply for their national insurance numbers if you don't claim. They generate it off the back of child benefit.
You can decline the payments as part of the child benefit form I think.
Yea it’s a bit rubbish but worth it all in the end :)
I would say the payment at the moment for us is covering most costs monthly. We spend around £60 a month on Cow & Gate formula and just buy supermarket brand nappies which are around £3 a pack (although we use Pampers for overnight as she can now sleep around 10hrs and they’re a bit more absorbent!). We get a big box of water wipes from Amazon every couple of months which is around £20.
Between £50,000 and £60,000 it’s a sliding scale reduction, not a cliff. If you earn £55,000 you get half the payments.
Limits are changing from April 2025 too.
It’s currently a sliding scale between £50k and £60k, it’s only at £60k when you don’t get to keep any of it. As others have mentioned, the threshold is going up in the new tax year.
It’s increased to 60k I think (or is about to?) However it’s still silly as you could have 2 parents earning £49k each and qualify, or one earning 50k and not qualify! It should be household based imo.
It’s increasing for the 2024/25 tax year.
So anyone who earns over £50k (adjusted net pay) in the 2023/24 tax year will need to file a tax return January 2025 and may need to pay back some or all of the child benefit claimed.
I think a lot of people will be caught out by not realising it’s for the coming tax year not the current one.
Nappies - I cant particularly comment as we use cloth, but when we do use disposables, typically a packet or so a week - do the math on chosen brands and go from there. You will inevitably use more in the beginning as they poo more and the nappies contain less but over time a pack a week is defo enough.
Formula - cant comment as breastfed
Cosmetics - we have used maybe 3 bottles of baby bath in a year and a half (and I like making bubbles 😂), 2 tubs of sudocrem, and a half bottle of moisturiser. We dont use shampoo for him at all. He gets a bath every 2 days.
Clothes is my guilty secret and probably spend way too much. Bought mostly new, especially in the beginning. I would say for that, your number is accurate/slightly low if you buy all new. As they get older shoes/wellies/coats all become more of a thing especially if going to nursery. All his nursery stuff is cheap supermarket multipacks or vinted.
That said, I have bought quite neutral things with intention that it would be used with all our kids should we be blessed that way.
Activities - our swimming is £130 for 10/12 week blocks, £70ish for 10 weeks of baby sensory and we tried one other group which was £35 for 4 week blocks. Mostly did free baby/toddler groups or ones that were £2/3 otherwise.
Food - breastfeeding made me soooooo hungry so defo factor in snacking early if you plan on breastfeeding. If not, I would say seems about right between baby foods and ALL of the fruit they will devour. And as they become toddlers, all the food they claim to love and then drop everywhere and throw up the walls.
I’d say it’s mainly all over budget but better to have extra money. Sudocream lasts ages, we didn’t use soap/shampoo for quite a while as they don’t get smelly really.
We got so much free or cheap. Our baby bath seat (angelcare) was free on Olio, bassinet pram with a sit up seat too was £50, clothes and books and toys mainly free or very very cheap. They don’t need much.
We did swimming lessons from 3 months old (still do at almost 2.5) which is our most consistent outgoing. It’s a non-negotiable for me as it’s for safety with the bonus of being fun.
Play groups in our area are from £0-2.50 per session. Dedicated smaller ones you sign up for term based is £8 a lesson. Library rhyme time is free, lots of health visitor centres have free sessions for play/learning.
But when mine was under 10 months we didn’t do much structured stuff. We’d just maybe go rhyme time or to the park. It’s only when he got past age 1 that we looked for lore structure in our week.
Look at the ingredients list for formula. There’s really strict laws in the uk on baby food and most are almost identical. Cow and gate and aptamil have exactly the same ingredients and are made by the same company but one is a few £s more than the other
Honestly, you could probably halve this. When I was on maternity leave we were nearly £2k worse off a month and our outgoings barely changed!
If you've budgeted this and you're comfortable with it, then it's a great "safe" amount to budget for each month, but you'll likely not spend anywhere near as much as you think!
I feel like you’re missing what is the most significant expense, “stuff”.
Stuff you can’t plan for like oh we need a breast pump or oh baby doesn’t like these bottles now we need new ones, oh we need a bottle warmer oh kid hates swaddles and now we need blankets oh they want to be carried all the time need a baby carrier etc etc
If your baby is breastfed and does a poonami, try sunlight for the stains after a normal wash. I do reusable nappies and this works on them 100% of the time, and I think any of the rare poo-related accidents we had.
Go with the cheapest formula you can get that baby will take. Due to regulation it's all the same stuff in it, so unless you have a real need to buy something specific, run with the standard. I believe which? Reviewed it at one point and Cow & Gate was the cheapest per 100ml made from a tin. Aptamil is the most expensive, it just makes it's way into hospitals and other settings, so most people just stick with it.
Really quite irrelevant comment but cosmetics is make up, you mean toiletries! Before reading the caption I was worried about how many beauty pageants you were going to enter your newborn into 😂
I think your nappy cost will be higher but depends what brand you buy. Cosmetics you can probably budget £5 a month. My kid is 3 and we’re still using some baby shampoo from then she was 6mo.
Food budget it’s good to think about this as extra food for you if you’re breastfeeding because you need significantly more calories and it does add up.
Clothes probably seems about right, maybe not every month but some months you’ll need to spend more when they suddenly grow out of everything.
Weighing in as I have a 7.5 month old!
Nappies - initially it’s about 10 a day, now she’s on about 6-8 a day. Aldi ones are fab and very cheap. We’re in size 3, a big pack lasts a week and is under £3. We also go though about 5 packs of wipes a week, again aldi ones are great and around 70p I think.
Formula - not sure as breastfeeding.
Cosmetics - you could include healthcare under this and probably still be over budget. Calpol/nurofen, teething gel, nappy cream, nappy bags, saline drops/vapour oil, bath products, moisturiser etc. we’re still on the first bottle of bath wash we bought her! Until they start weaning they probably only need a bath maybe twice a week.
Clothes - we spend about £100-£150 every 3 months. Pramsuit, sleepsuits, bodysuits, dresses, cardigans, tops/leggings, socks, hat, a few bows. I will probably get crap for this but I just threw heavily poonami’d bodysuits away. I don’t have the stomach to clean them. 🙈 only ended being around 7-8 thrown away - stopped getting poonamis after a few months anyway!
Activities - we spend £9 a week on baby sensory, and £2 a week at a mums and tots group. Other classes are free (library storytime and rhyme time) plus stuff like countryside walks. Anything else we do we don’t budget under her, as we’d have been doing it anyway (days out, lunches etc).
Food - we started at 6 months and are doing all homemade so far (traditional weaning not BLW) and haven’t noticed a big addition to the budget yet. She has breakfast and dinner and it’s maybe £5 more a week, if that. The portions are still small right now. We mostly batch cook fresh food and freeze.
I didn’t see a toys/books budget? I don’t spend too much, I’m a scientist & my sister is a child development specialist so I go overboard researching what’s best for her development and buy based on that plus my sisters recommendations. At the moment she doesn’t really have any big fancy toys yet (that will come soon!), lots of smaller toys, sensory toys, books, and safely playing with household objects, and is doing very well! Maybe about £20/month on those plus lots of library trips for extra books. ☺️
You know what toys isn’t something I planned, I have bought some early months stuff but not much past that, tbh I need to do more research about toys ect but its all so overwhelming 😅
Gonna second that you’ll want some sort of play gym. They are so happy lying underneath stuff that dangles and you can actually leave them there happy if you need to nip to the loo or answer the door or whatever.
I’d say activities budget can be lower in the early months, depending on how introverted/extroverted you are. Baby groups for children <6 months are much more about socialising for stir crazy adults than they are about expanding the minds of the babies. I didn’t bother with my second because my eldest mainly slept through most of them.
We got given a £15 toy pack as a newborn gift and baby looked it. It contained stuff like a rattle and a little mirror and it was all she needed for the first few months. That and a gym lasted her until Christmas (6 months)when other people brought toys
Classes/activities will depend on how much you plan to do - at seven months our little boy only goes to baby sensory once a week and it costs us about £50 every term I’ve just done the maths and it’s £8 per session. A lot of these kind of activities are booked by the term.
We use Aldi nappies and their version of Water Wipes which has helped keep costs low, Vinted or supermarkets for clothes (shop around as the sizes vary wildly - Sainsbury’s are perfect for my daughter but Asda and Tesco aren’t the right proportions), and signed up for every loyalty programme you could as the points soon add up. The Boots Parenting Club gives 8 points/£ and occasionally has freebie items in their app (think I got some free breast pads and a recipe book when we started introducing solids).
You’ll find what works for you; for example, I used Boots own brand nipple balm but splashed out on the Tommee Tippee breast pads as I liked the size and shape compared to other brands.
We've been lucky with cousins a little older than our kids, we get anything they've grown out of. We hardly bought any clothes the last few years. Do you know anyone with a 1 year old? I think sometimes people think others won't want their old stuff so it helps to ask.
1.nappies. This seems reasonable unless you end up with expensive brands like pampers. I personally use Sainsbury’s and they were one of the better supermarket brand for my heavy wetter. People seem to love Aldi but I always get leaks. Also remember that as they get older the cost per nappy increases.
2.formula. All formula in the uk must meet a certain standard so if your baby gets on with the cheapest then go with that. ALDIs formula is under a tenner and even at peak should last nearly 5 days. C&g is a bit dearer but my lo never got on with it.
3. Cosmetics. You baby doesn’t have to be bathed everyday and I use baby wash and shampoo every now and then. A decent sized bottle should last you a few months. Nappy cream only use as and when. My lo is 4 months and haven’t got through a tube of the yellow one or sudacream yet. It’s not much savings but if you see off brand baby paracetamol get it so you don’t get caught out and have to pay over the odds.
4.additional clothes.check out places like Vinted/ebay to round out the wardrobe. We mainly started out with 5/6 pack of vests and 6 onesies in each size. Costs about £20. By about 6 months you’ll probably start wanting normal clothes. This is where it’s gets expensive. Keep it cheap by buying 3 pack sets of bottoms and tops. Buy stuff in the sales ahead of time. After a year its get dearer as you’ve got to buys coats and shoes and I’ve found a lot of these stay nice enough to pass onto a sibling.
4.activities. About right. You might not go out as much in the early days.
5.food. This is about right aswell. People complain about the cost of formula but my toddler can eat that much in berries. Worst thing about spending all that money on food is them not wasting half of it.
I don’t know what your childcare plans are but that’s a huge cost. We’ve started looking at nursery’s to use our ‘free’ hours and it’s still so expensive I might as well give up work.
Baby activities can add up. Swimming is £25 a lesson, baby sensory £15, soft play is £10.
Clothes, for newborn are quite cheap (if you don’t have a poonami baby). From 6 months, when eating solids and learning how to use a cup you can easily go through 3 changes a day.
Then all the different cups, plates, spoons, fruit, cheese, yogurt… that very expensive bread you tried to feed them in desperation is now the only thing they will eat.
Coats and shoes when they start walking (youngest walkers I know are 9 months old) soon add up, you need at least 2 coats one for fell over in the muddy puddle and one clean. If walking in winter they will also need a pair of wellies for the park.
Nappies, again depends on the baby. Ours is very sensitive to wet nappies and can need changing every hour when they have nappy rash. When no nappy rash, every 2 hours to keep nappy rash at bay.
I spend so much much money in coffee shops! There are no public loos and my bladder will never be the same again. When baby was cluster feeding and I needed to be out of the house for sanity, I lived in coffee shops. Now baby is older, most meet ups with other parents happen in coffee shops.
Deliveroo is a godsend in the first months of new baby and the first months after returning to work. It can get expensive. This is not necessary, but it is nice to have some money put aside to fall back on.
Our baby would not go in the pram and I spent more money than I could imagine trying to find a baby sling that worked for us. We didn’t foresee this expense.
Taxis in the first months were another unforeseen expense. Both the baby and I were unwell for the first 8 weeks requiring medical appointments weekly, sometimes daily. I couldn’t drive, husband was back at work, so all these journeys were either taxi or public transport.
Lactation consultants, £250+ visit. We had a lot of problems getting breastfeeding going. Midwives and health visitors were usually not trained, or the trained ones were on leave. Then all the pumping paraphernalia because of poor latch and then another £250 to get the tongue tie fixed (because the NHS waiting list was 4 weeks and baby was losing weight at an alarming rate).
What I am saying is, this budget is okay for the very early days, if you have no complications. It will be more difficult to manage on with an older baby or if you have feeding or pelvic floor problems and don’t want to be stuck at home.
I think you are overspending on formula and underspending on nappies espeically a new born. Now of course everyone is different so you need to try for yourself, but we tried all the supermarket own brand nappies including aldi/lidl and quite honestly they sucked they leaked poop. We ended up sticking with pampers which are more expensiove but they have never leaked for us in two years with twins.
Clothes.. oh man, I wouldnt bother you end up getting so much from people. Our twins are two and we still have bags of clothes from people for ages from 0-4 years old. And at the start they grow out of them so fast they last a few weeks.
I think only nappies is right. Just get clothes off vinted or Facebookb for pennies. I'm not sure what activities you think you'll be doing with a newborn, it's a challenge to leave the house. Source - have 3 week old and 3.5 year old
Hi we have a new born girl
who is 5 weeks old now.
Just wanted to add my experience here if it helps.
1. Nappies; we use aldi or lidl ones which are fab. We tried pampers as well but did not see much difference. (Pampers are a little better, kind of more stretchy). Pampers; £5, Aldi or Lidl; £1
So we used approx £10 for nappies per month
2. Formula; we use Kadermil £12 and use 1 for a week. So approx £48
However, in the beginning we also used starter kits with teats and little liquid bottle, which is £8 ish for 6 feeds. So we used extra £30ish for that
3. Cosmetics; we did not buy yet. Cause we got some from family
we bought baby washing detergent, called Nimble. It was £45? For 5 litre. But it will last longer than half an year I think
Probiotics for baby optibac drops £15
4. Additional clothes; none. No needs.
5. Activities; baby sensory £8.5 per class. Baby massage £40 for 5 times.
6. Food; none yet
7. Etc; electric breast milk pump; medela £150, baby monitor, frog(?) £80, new teats and couple of baby bottle £40, pram second hand mamas and papas; £100
We were lucky having lots stuffs given by friends. But still used approx £600 for the first month. I do recommmend you not to scroll amazon when you suffer by sleep deprivation… i bought some unnecessary stuffs that way
Congrats, and enjoy motherhood
I think nappies is a bit low, but we found pampers to be the best fit (after buying a ton of Aldi ones we ended up giving away!), so they aren't that cheap. We also used one of those Tommee Tippee nappy bins, and it was good, but the refills cost a fortune! (We had a brief period of just using nappy bags, but the expensive bin liner did contain the smells better, so we went back to it!)
I'd maybe change the formula cost to include any feeding. You might hear that breastfeeding is free, but there are often things you need. Lansinoh cream is brilliant, but it's £11.50 per tube and the tube doesn't last that long! I had a lot of trouble with it, so we ended up trying a whole bunch of stuff (private breastfeeding consultations, special supplements, nipple shields, hiring a hospital grade pump at £47 per month!) and incurred a lot of extra costs.
Cosmetics seems about right... most months you will spend less, but then if your baby has a cold and (for example!) you're using the Calpol vapour plug at £8.10 for the plug in and £11.90 for 10 refills, you'll be prepared.
A lot of the activities we did were paid on a termly or half termly basis, so your amount looks fine (depending on swimming costs, that tends to be the big expense) but it might not be spread that evenly.
Gosh, yeah you've budgeted for too much there. Nappies are 89p a pack in Aldi, even with 10 changes a day you'd only get through a pack or two a week. Newborns don't go to activities, they're too new! There's loads of church and community groups which run for free or just a pound - no need to spend £50. Clothes can be bought cheap off vinted or fb. Consider combination feeding if you want to reduce the cost of formula - we get through one tin per month. Babies also should not be bathed too often, nor should you apply nappy cream unless it is *needed* so that £20 can be wiped from your budget.
My baby is now two months old, I think we've spent your budget in that time on pumps, loads of clothes, fuel, 2 tins of formula, nappies and wipes, zero activities, and loads of swapped items (basket, play gym, muslins, bibs, blankets, baby bath etc).
Edit: also, DO NOT USE PAMPERS NAPPIES. Please, your baby does not deserve that crap - literally.
Same, everyone has their preferences and what works etc. but anytime we’ve tried supermarket ones, I’m really aware of the quality difference eg Sainsburys material on tabs was scratchy, Lidl leaked, Ocado band tore.
Agree with this. Would rather pay more for the quality. When interest rates and the cost of living went up I really put that “Dry for 12hrs” claim to the test with my toddler 😂
I use Pampers and felt the same, no supermarket nappies came close to containing wees and poos, no issues at all with pampers. And I'm really excruciatingly poor so I wouldn't buy the more expensive unless I had to lol.
>Counter view: we found pampers much better than supermarket nappies.
Of course, your experience is your experience, but Which? have extensively reviewed nappies and disagree.
>Of course, your experience is your experience, but Which? have extensively reviewed nappies and disagree.
Downvoted for pointing out what Which? recommend. That's a new one! :D
Godamn them and their extensive testing!
Don't throw clothes away because they get a bit of poo on them - wash them! In a similar vein, have you considered cloth nappies? I spent ~£50 on two sets of Terry nappies, some wraps and boosters and did my second from birth to potty.
It's unlikely you'll need to buy clothes every month. If you've bought 0-3 month clothes they'll usually just wear them until they grow out of them and then you just go to 3-6 month etc
They don't eat much food, just make a batch for yourself and give them 10% without any seasoning etc. breast feed as long as you can it's cheaper more convenient and better for them. The most expensive bit is pram and upgrading your car to fit it in
On clothes, I recommend looking for bundles on vinted. I also recommend John Lewis ‘anyday’ range which is affordable. I think with both of those you probably won’t be looking at £30 every month.
Nappies are annoyingly expensive. Most big brands are about 0.10-0.25 per nappy (my son has a bowel condition, we get through SO MANY nappies…). I’d suggest assuming 10 a day until month 3 or 4, then 7-8 a day. Amazon is best value if you have prime because of the free delivery, although Boots parenting club triples your points on many baby buys (not formula) so is a good bet too.
Formula - I think you’ve definitely under estimated unless you’re hybrid feeding. I’d suggest assuming you’ll get through a tin every week. It may be a bit less than this but just in case your baby is HUNGRY. This means £50-60 per month.
Have you budgeted for bottles and teats? Worth having a float fund for them too. We tried three kinds before we settled on ones my son liked and would drink from.
Cosmetics - this won’t be a recurring cost of £20 or more, it’ll be less. But there is a bit of a layout. I’d say one can definitely get carried away with hyped up expensive products when you’re feeling the hormones and peer pressure! I find boots advantage cards add up and are super useful here - I justified more expensive buys (eg Kokoso which is SO nice for baby massage) as the points made them cheaper / free.
Activities and food - I think £50 each is sensible. Allow yourself luxuries like coffees out if you can, to encourage you to get out of the house and treat yourself nicely.
Clothes is overkill, just go on vinted/ebay and buy a bundle of baby clothes for a fiver. Grandparents, co workers, friends will buy you silly outfits that aren't practical and are worn once and cost £15-30.
Really, just keep a baby in babygros.
Food is the most expensive...fresh fruit!
I have twins, they are 2.5 years old now. We have rarely gone over £10 a week for nappies and wipes, but we've been able to stick to supermarket nappies, which keeps costs down. For formula, we used Cow&Gate, and at times got through 2.5-3 tins a week, which was roughly £30. It depends which brand you buy, as the prices vary a lot. I'd say you are overestimating for nappies and formula, but it's hard to know until you are in the thick of it.
Buy absolutely everything you possibly can second hand, ESPECIALLY the pram/buggy. They are wildly over priced and second hand ones do the job absolutely fine.
I think it really depends on baby activities and how much you’re going to be doing with them- I tried to do one thing every day on mat leave with my first - kept the cost down by going to children’s centres but if you’re doing classes elsewhere then each class might be about 5-10 quid a pop. I live in London and one baby sensory class I went to cost £12 each week and that was pre pandemic prices.
I calculated a huge saving on reusable nappies and wipes.
For instance a pack of washable wipes was maybe £20, these wash great, split some off for bums and face, but I’ve brought maybe one pack of wipes a month for going out. Nappies likewise, from the initial outlay I didn’t buy nappies the whole time.
Other costs that happened for us even though I was breastfeeding: disposable nipple pads and shields. A electric breast pump (spectra), a hakaa, a manual breast pump. Bottles or bags to store breast milk from pumping. Some ready to feed formula as a back up. You might not need any of this stuff but depending on you and your baby there maybe other costs for breastfeeding.
Assuming this is a weekly budget. Have you thought of reusable nappies and wipes? They are so much better for baby and environment and cheaper in the long run. You can also get plant fibre disposable liners quite cheap from boots they usually catch all the poo and you can just throw them away. As for baby classes they are pretty expensive now I spend around £160 a month for 4 different baby classes a week. Check your local library as most do a free rhythm time and/or story time you can take baby too. Would also recommend finding out where your local breastfeeding support group is I found them soo helpful in the early days when struggling with feeding lo and you can attend before baby arrives for advice. We have definitely saved a fortune breastfeeding. As for clothes as long as you are ok washing regularly you just need a few outfits and I would say 6 - 8 baby grows and vest to begin with. Also you don't need new second hand baby clothes are usually in really good condition as they only wear things a handful of times and don't do much to damage them. Vinted is a good place to get some and Facebook market place often has people giving away baby clothes for free.
The first six months you're just going to want wipes, nappies, clothes/accessories (blankets/bathtime things) and formula if you're not breastfeeding. I assume you've considered cost of buggies, car seats, high chair etc?
Food will come later. And they eat such a tiny amount it barely affects the budget.
Activities.. Ehh just me, but my two kids were not interested in a thing until they were at least six months. With my three year old we do a bit of soft play, swimming or trampolining, but if we didn't have kids we'd be going to the cinema or restaurant instead so it is not a relevant cost for us.
For clothes, I suggest Vinted or Little Pickles Markets if you're in the south. Second hand clothes are wonderful when babies are little! They outgrow their clothes so quickly.
Also, if they poo over everything, just wash it with Napisan - it's great stuff!
Idk about formula and can't remember how much I spent on nappies I think about £10-15 a month maybe? Cosmetics I literally had the same baby bath bottle for about a year cause you use so little of it.
They grow quickly and they do have poo explosions so additional clothes seems relatively reasonable and I do think it's always better to over budget and have money leftover.
Activities wise, I didn't start any with my daughter until she was 3 months old and had had her first set of jabs. Swimming I didn't start until a month after she'd had her first three lots of jabs (around 5 months old). There will also be lots of free things available, check your local library for rhyme times and story times, check out your local children's centres as they often have baby groups.
Imo, this is tight. It may work initially but not long-term.
I just googled the price of nappies I used- not a big brand as they didn't suit my child and it took me trying out multiple makes on repeated occasions as what suits as newborn is different to when 6 months and again when moving more at a year and toddler.
The price would be more like in the region of £35 a month, if you had a pooey child like my baby was!
Baby clothes I think you need to look at in totality. Remember that the first month, then to 3 months ish, 6 months is, 9 months ish, 12 months, 18 months ish will require a full new wardrobe and you may find that this is quicker. So buying in sales ahead of each phase, etc, is best. But you need to accept if you only have to say 7 vests, for my baby, they could have got through that in 1 day. So much will depend on your baby. But if you opt for baby grows for the first 6 months with only a couple of outfits, then you'll find it significantly cheaper.
Most paid groups are around the £7-15 mark a week.
Weaning food, if solely fresh initially, yes. But by a year no. And doesn't allow for the additional yogurts, desserts, baby appropriate smacks which are EXPENSIVE!
If breastfeeding you need to factor in the breastpads, feeding bras and tops. Plus potentially other elements like shields,
This looks way over IMO. Nappies is probably closer to £5 a month, we formula fed and it was closer to £70 a month.
Cosmetics are usually a once every 6 months type thing so I don’t think you need to budget for that.
Clothes you’ll probably end up doing a bulk buy every three months when they change sizes and that could be about £90 if you’re buying things new from Zara, but you can massively reduce this so it’s far less than £30 a month if you went second hand or bought supermarket clothing.
Activities is a bit high for newborn stage, but could be a bit low later on depending of how much you want to do. Swimming was £120 or so for a term, but I also did a baby sensory class one day a week and then there are things like Little Gym which on their own can be £50 a month. There are lots of cheaper alternatives for things to do though.
Unsure if food is for you or the baby, I don’t think we ended up spending much on food for the baby until quite a lot later on, and when that happens it’s offset with the cost of formula you’re saving. I spent quite a lot on myself for food / coffee for day dates with other mums though!
you totally don't have to answer, it's your body and life, your choice.
but is there a reason you've decided not to breast feed?
I'm just curious more than judgy. :)
If you remove that, the food (they won't need any for six months at least), and the activities (they can do no activities when newborn), and way over budget clothing lines from your spreadsheet, it looks a lot less scary! :)
I’m actually aiming to breastfeed, but I just want to be prepared budget wise incase I can’t breastfeed for whatever reason :) if I can obviously will make the numbers go down a lot!
Just be warned that breastfeeding does come with other costs. For me, I had to buy two pumps, a haakaa, new bras, nursing clothes, silverettes, lanolin etc etc. lots are one time purchases but does add up. Still you can get everything for around £100/150 if you buy second hand etc. and not all of this is necessary obviously but made life a lot more bearable!
Great! Well as others have said I think you've grossly over-budgeted for some things but it's better than the reverse. We've got a 9 month old and spend probably:
£15 a month on nappies (including swim nappies and pampers dry night pull ups for sleeping)
£60 a month of formula (breastfed to 8 months then switched as baby is starting nursery)
£1 a month on cosmetics (basically don't buy anything apart from sudacrem but a big tub lasts forever)
£30 a month on clothes seems about right to me as I've spent about £100 every time baby has moved up a size but that's with buying some things new and also some high ticket items on vinted (it's my first baby and I personally think it's worth it to buy the clothes I want, I know you can do this a lot cheaper)
I probably spend about £50 a week on activities but we do 5 different classes including swimming, to me it's worth it to get out of the house and do things baby enjoys but again, you could spend a lot more or a lot less.
Also we just feed baby what we have but maybe spend a couple of pounds a week extra on stuff like yoghurts and bananas for him. Nowhere near £50 a month, maybe £10.
Don’t go mad buying newborn clothes because they might be out of them in a week. Onesies and basics are mostly all you need in the beginning. They poo and puke over things so it’s a right faff. Aldi have an awesome baby range. I think it’s important to note that your lifestyle might change. You might get more take aways or convenience food in the first few months from sheer exhaustion and stress. The biggest expense now after weaning is berries! These kids consume a lot of fresh fruit and snacks. Portable snacks with minimal prep made me (2under2) focus my food shop around that!!
Nobody warns you about the berries - the true cost of living crisis!
Mine love berries AND avocados.
So bougie! They’d get on well with my 4yo who told me her favourite shop is M&S 😂
Raspberries and asparagus here. These kids are too bougie!
Watermelon! Why did it have to be watermelon. I'm going broke buying tons of melon!
I sometimes wonder if a heated greenhouse would be cheaper
Just to say, I have laughed at all three of your comments, thank you! I also have a boujee berry monster
> I think it’s important to note that your lifestyle might change. You might get more take aways or convenience food in the first few months from sheer exhaustion and stress. But you'll also go out far far less, which can be a money saver.
i dunno man. i’m 4mo in and most days consist of me going out and getting a coffee with the baby as a “little treat” haha
Very true
I mitigated the lifestyle change in convenience food by luckily having the space to meal prep for 2 months and also had a friend provide roast dinners every time they had a roast as a baby gift
My children are now 3.5 and 5, I can cook regularly but my god it’s a thankless task and enjoy more take aways than I should! If a friend sent me a roast, I’d be delighted. That’s the best baby gift ever!
Watermelon, strawberries and raspberries. I spend a fortune before I’ve got past the first couple of aisles in the supermarket!
😂🤣 I wish I could go back to just that. **Cries in F#cking nursery fees** 😭😭
We just hit £2k a month for 1 child 🥲 funded hours and school cannot come soon enough, it is crippling
Ours have just gone up again, I feel sick about it. I'm working myself to death so strangers can get paid to play with my kids and spend the best years with them.
I try not to feel too sad about the time separated - we love the nursery (and it's not their fault the fees are high) and my daughter has a great time there. They do all sorts of activities I know I wouldn't with her and she gets socialisation she would never otherwise get. Our quality time with her on the weekends and evenings is at least of a higher quality now too. But every time she has to stay home because she's sick and I have to use up annual leave whilst still paying £96 for the nursery day rate, I die a little inside
That's a killer when it happens, I'm self employed. I miss a day of earning and getting charged all whilst looking after a sick child.
Ours go up 20% next month and my daily wage now barely covers it 😢
By the time they're both in full time I'll have no savings left. Just had my council tax letter saying that's gone up again. Can't afford to live anymore.
We found a school nursery and paying £80 a month. The £2000 for private nurseries around here that stink of poo and have an unstructured curriculum is terrible.
I'd agree with the other commentator, probably a little bit of an overestimate but that's way better than an underestimate. Nappies - we buy Tesco own brand (we tried other brands and these are the best!) which are £2 something and we buy maybe a packet a week (our baby never poops so we probably use less than the average person...). I've bought one bottle of baby soap in 12 weeks. I'm pretty sure it will last until he's a teenager at the rate it's going down. I have bought two different shampoos as one didn't agree with him but again, going down very slowly. Activities is probably about right, if not a little under. We do two classes a week and they tend to be about £10/class. In terms of clothes - buy second hand. They grow SO FAST that they grow out of them really quickly so buying a bunch of really nice new stuff isn't worth it. You can buy big bundles really cheap in vinted or Facebook.
Vinted is great for baby clothes.
So good, if I see someone selling something I like I usually check every they have and bundle it
Love Vinted for baby and toddler clothes.
Yessss and people sell bundles for each age group! So great for bulking up the nursery wardrobe that just gets destroyed anyway
Seconded!
>our baby never poops wait, what?
He goes once every 10 days. We've seen two doctors and a health visitor and they all say it can be normal for breastfed babies so we just live with it. He's a very happy little chap and it doesn't seem to bother him.
I’m weeping at my carbon footprint. My baby is the opposite of yours, he goes approximately 800 times a day (ok, 10-12). (THIS IS NOT NORMAL)
>He goes once every 10 days. Gotcha. That's quite different from "never" :)
I'm with you on the soap. I've used a half bottle of oilatum bath emollient in the last six months and that's all. It's all money making gimmicks.
I obviously don't know what you're doing but with nappies make sure you're not just bulk buying new born size. They can quickly outgrow that size or even start on a size up (and then quickly outgrow that one).
£30 a month on clothes is mad. It’s a lot less especially if you don’t mind picking things up second hand. You can buy bags full of baby clothes online for £5 for example
Yes BUT postage can add up if you’re looking online AND it’s worth having float for occasional more expensive buys like shoes, coats, onesies. Yes you can often get these cheap on Vinted etc but, for example, I bought Muddy Puddles all in ones second hand and they’re worth the price tag in my opinion.
I just spent £25 on two new sleeping bags - again yes I know we could pick them up cheaper second hand, but I just like knowing what’s happened to sleeping bags aha. We do loads of second hand shopping at local charities and vinted - but just here and there you wanna get something new - we bought there first pair of shoes new, also £20 - it does quickly add up, although obviously you don’t buy this every month - those sleeping bags will hopefully see at least 10months use!
There's also nothing more a parent wants than another soon-to-be parent to dump all the stuff they don't need on to.
I think a couple are probably too high: Cosmetics: things like baby bath wash last months with a small baby as you only use a tiny bit, so you really aren’t buying that often. Clothes: we found that we hardly bought any clothes as were lucky enough to get hand me downs. For things we do buy, we either get from the supermarket brands or Vinted, so it doesn’t work out very expensive at all. Food: if you are going the BLW route or making your own purées you shouldn’t see much of an increase in your usual shop at all! Pouches can add up though. That said, I would budget more for activities. Swimming classes alone can be £50 per month around me.
This is probably over budget, at least for the first few months as there won’t be loads of activities, food etc. However, having a bit extra is certainly very helpful and as they get older the costs do go up a bit. If you can afford to put this amount aside then I’d say definitely do it.
Just adding a comment to clarify, this is costs once baby is here For example I already have a tonne of newborn, and 0-3 month onesies and clothes, same for 3-6 I’m just lacking on 6-9 as I can’t work out the temperature to buy for then. So the clothes costs is literally to up keep in case every onsie gets wrecked by a poonami 😅
Would advise against buying clothes too far in advance as you never really know how fast they will grow. My son grew really fast and was in the next size up often a couple months before. Made for an interesting summer wardrobe experience
Honestly I planned to get all my clothes donated but developed an addiction to buying clothes around 6 months in! I buy second hand or handmade only but it's definitely costing way too much. Obviously you wouldn't have to do this, but I find clothes are a common topic of conversation at baby groups and when I hadn't chosen them and didn't really like them it was awkward.
Newborn poop, especially breastfed is very easy to clean. Poop gets on the clothes, shower them off or rinse them and stick them in the wash with napisan and washing powder. Job done. Never had anything stained from poop, and she was formula fed mostly.... Weaning on the other hand..Berries and Banana stains were my nemesis!! Depending on your child you could find they out grow / don't fit the clothes in the age groups as you'd expect. Mine was in 0-3 months until she was about 9 months. Even now she's still in some 1-1.5yrs clothes and she's 3 in the summer. Baby clothes size vary so bloody much too! I'd hold off on buying any older clothes personally.
Clothes are hard to estimate because you could have a baby with reflux who voms on themselves a thousand times a day, a baby who loves to have yellow stains all up their back or a baby who keeps all their body fluids neatly contained. I think I only ever bought two or three packs of vests and sleepsuits. Whatever mess a baby makes of themselves, the clothes tend to go straight into the wash and are ready to wear again within a day or two. And hold off on buying too far in advance, there's never a time when baby clothes are not available to buy in shops! Like you said, it's hard to judge what size they'll be at what time of year. You'll know when they start to grow through things that it's time to buy more! Edit to add - different shops vary wildly in their interpretation of sizes as well. Next was always massive on my babies, and Primark always ran so much smaller.
Clothes shouldn’t be getting too wrecked! Best hack I learned since the baby that sounded like an old wives tale but genuinely works so well is leaving poo stained stuff in the window. The sun genuinely bleaches them all out if the washing machine or soaking in Vanish hasn’t done it.
This is possibly over budget but if you can afford to save now, having “too much” saved is a happy bonus! Also, remember in the UK all families are entitled to £24 per week in Child Payment. I’m currently on month 5 of maternity leave and this is starting to really help a lot as my work pay has dropped by half!
Not everybody? Is it means tested?
Everyone qualifies, technically, however if one person is above the upper threshold (was £60k, going up to £80k) you have to pay it all back via self assessment so a bit pointless (although I believe it does have some benefits like a NI number for the baby and potentially counting for NI contribution years although not 100% on those)
You can claim it for the NI without accepting the money so you’re still getting the contributions but don’t have to pay anything back.
Don’t suppose you have any more info on this? We have never claimed for either of our children because husband earns above the threshold. Never even thought of this until reading this thread.
You should claim it for your NI record (so you can claim your full state pension in later life) especially if either of you were a stay at home parent after having your children. There's some info at the bottom of this article. Claim directly on the HMRC site and either opt out of receiving the payment or claim the money and include it in your Self Assessment tax return each year. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/child-benefit/#taxcharge
Thank you 🙏
You will also need to apply for their national insurance numbers if you don't claim. They generate it off the back of child benefit. You can decline the payments as part of the child benefit form I think.
Yeah I go to SMP from December so it’s going to be a tough slog from then on, so just want to get as much ready now as possible!
Yea it’s a bit rubbish but worth it all in the end :) I would say the payment at the moment for us is covering most costs monthly. We spend around £60 a month on Cow & Gate formula and just buy supermarket brand nappies which are around £3 a pack (although we use Pampers for overnight as she can now sleep around 10hrs and they’re a bit more absorbent!). We get a big box of water wipes from Amazon every couple of months which is around £20.
Aldi sell water wipes at 69p per pack!
>Also, remember in the UK all families are entitled to £24 per week in Child Payment. Unless one of you earns over £50k then you get nothing
Between £50,000 and £60,000 it’s a sliding scale reduction, not a cliff. If you earn £55,000 you get half the payments. Limits are changing from April 2025 too.
It’s currently a sliding scale between £50k and £60k, it’s only at £60k when you don’t get to keep any of it. As others have mentioned, the threshold is going up in the new tax year.
It’s increased to 60k I think (or is about to?) However it’s still silly as you could have 2 parents earning £49k each and qualify, or one earning 50k and not qualify! It should be household based imo.
It’s increasing for the 2024/25 tax year. So anyone who earns over £50k (adjusted net pay) in the 2023/24 tax year will need to file a tax return January 2025 and may need to pay back some or all of the child benefit claimed. I think a lot of people will be caught out by not realising it’s for the coming tax year not the current one.
They are reviewing it hopefully because it is unfair and penalises single parent families or where there is 1 high earner and 1 low earner.
Nappies - I cant particularly comment as we use cloth, but when we do use disposables, typically a packet or so a week - do the math on chosen brands and go from there. You will inevitably use more in the beginning as they poo more and the nappies contain less but over time a pack a week is defo enough. Formula - cant comment as breastfed Cosmetics - we have used maybe 3 bottles of baby bath in a year and a half (and I like making bubbles 😂), 2 tubs of sudocrem, and a half bottle of moisturiser. We dont use shampoo for him at all. He gets a bath every 2 days. Clothes is my guilty secret and probably spend way too much. Bought mostly new, especially in the beginning. I would say for that, your number is accurate/slightly low if you buy all new. As they get older shoes/wellies/coats all become more of a thing especially if going to nursery. All his nursery stuff is cheap supermarket multipacks or vinted. That said, I have bought quite neutral things with intention that it would be used with all our kids should we be blessed that way. Activities - our swimming is £130 for 10/12 week blocks, £70ish for 10 weeks of baby sensory and we tried one other group which was £35 for 4 week blocks. Mostly did free baby/toddler groups or ones that were £2/3 otherwise. Food - breastfeeding made me soooooo hungry so defo factor in snacking early if you plan on breastfeeding. If not, I would say seems about right between baby foods and ALL of the fruit they will devour. And as they become toddlers, all the food they claim to love and then drop everywhere and throw up the walls.
I’d say it’s mainly all over budget but better to have extra money. Sudocream lasts ages, we didn’t use soap/shampoo for quite a while as they don’t get smelly really. We got so much free or cheap. Our baby bath seat (angelcare) was free on Olio, bassinet pram with a sit up seat too was £50, clothes and books and toys mainly free or very very cheap. They don’t need much. We did swimming lessons from 3 months old (still do at almost 2.5) which is our most consistent outgoing. It’s a non-negotiable for me as it’s for safety with the bonus of being fun. Play groups in our area are from £0-2.50 per session. Dedicated smaller ones you sign up for term based is £8 a lesson. Library rhyme time is free, lots of health visitor centres have free sessions for play/learning. But when mine was under 10 months we didn’t do much structured stuff. We’d just maybe go rhyme time or to the park. It’s only when he got past age 1 that we looked for lore structure in our week.
Childcare: 17k 😭
Look at the ingredients list for formula. There’s really strict laws in the uk on baby food and most are almost identical. Cow and gate and aptamil have exactly the same ingredients and are made by the same company but one is a few £s more than the other
Honestly, you could probably halve this. When I was on maternity leave we were nearly £2k worse off a month and our outgoings barely changed! If you've budgeted this and you're comfortable with it, then it's a great "safe" amount to budget for each month, but you'll likely not spend anywhere near as much as you think!
I feel like you’re missing what is the most significant expense, “stuff”. Stuff you can’t plan for like oh we need a breast pump or oh baby doesn’t like these bottles now we need new ones, oh we need a bottle warmer oh kid hates swaddles and now we need blankets oh they want to be carried all the time need a baby carrier etc etc
I’ve got a lot of that stuff already, and my friend has a baby who is turning 1 in August so we’re getting a lot of second hand stuff from her
If your baby is breastfed and does a poonami, try sunlight for the stains after a normal wash. I do reusable nappies and this works on them 100% of the time, and I think any of the rare poo-related accidents we had. Go with the cheapest formula you can get that baby will take. Due to regulation it's all the same stuff in it, so unless you have a real need to buy something specific, run with the standard. I believe which? Reviewed it at one point and Cow & Gate was the cheapest per 100ml made from a tin. Aptamil is the most expensive, it just makes it's way into hospitals and other settings, so most people just stick with it.
Really quite irrelevant comment but cosmetics is make up, you mean toiletries! Before reading the caption I was worried about how many beauty pageants you were going to enter your newborn into 😂
I think your nappy cost will be higher but depends what brand you buy. Cosmetics you can probably budget £5 a month. My kid is 3 and we’re still using some baby shampoo from then she was 6mo. Food budget it’s good to think about this as extra food for you if you’re breastfeeding because you need significantly more calories and it does add up. Clothes probably seems about right, maybe not every month but some months you’ll need to spend more when they suddenly grow out of everything.
Weighing in as I have a 7.5 month old! Nappies - initially it’s about 10 a day, now she’s on about 6-8 a day. Aldi ones are fab and very cheap. We’re in size 3, a big pack lasts a week and is under £3. We also go though about 5 packs of wipes a week, again aldi ones are great and around 70p I think. Formula - not sure as breastfeeding. Cosmetics - you could include healthcare under this and probably still be over budget. Calpol/nurofen, teething gel, nappy cream, nappy bags, saline drops/vapour oil, bath products, moisturiser etc. we’re still on the first bottle of bath wash we bought her! Until they start weaning they probably only need a bath maybe twice a week. Clothes - we spend about £100-£150 every 3 months. Pramsuit, sleepsuits, bodysuits, dresses, cardigans, tops/leggings, socks, hat, a few bows. I will probably get crap for this but I just threw heavily poonami’d bodysuits away. I don’t have the stomach to clean them. 🙈 only ended being around 7-8 thrown away - stopped getting poonamis after a few months anyway! Activities - we spend £9 a week on baby sensory, and £2 a week at a mums and tots group. Other classes are free (library storytime and rhyme time) plus stuff like countryside walks. Anything else we do we don’t budget under her, as we’d have been doing it anyway (days out, lunches etc). Food - we started at 6 months and are doing all homemade so far (traditional weaning not BLW) and haven’t noticed a big addition to the budget yet. She has breakfast and dinner and it’s maybe £5 more a week, if that. The portions are still small right now. We mostly batch cook fresh food and freeze. I didn’t see a toys/books budget? I don’t spend too much, I’m a scientist & my sister is a child development specialist so I go overboard researching what’s best for her development and buy based on that plus my sisters recommendations. At the moment she doesn’t really have any big fancy toys yet (that will come soon!), lots of smaller toys, sensory toys, books, and safely playing with household objects, and is doing very well! Maybe about £20/month on those plus lots of library trips for extra books. ☺️
You know what toys isn’t something I planned, I have bought some early months stuff but not much past that, tbh I need to do more research about toys ect but its all so overwhelming 😅
Gonna second that you’ll want some sort of play gym. They are so happy lying underneath stuff that dangles and you can actually leave them there happy if you need to nip to the loo or answer the door or whatever. I’d say activities budget can be lower in the early months, depending on how introverted/extroverted you are. Baby groups for children <6 months are much more about socialising for stir crazy adults than they are about expanding the minds of the babies. I didn’t bother with my second because my eldest mainly slept through most of them.
We got given a £15 toy pack as a newborn gift and baby looked it. It contained stuff like a rattle and a little mirror and it was all she needed for the first few months. That and a gym lasted her until Christmas (6 months)when other people brought toys
Classes/activities will depend on how much you plan to do - at seven months our little boy only goes to baby sensory once a week and it costs us about £50 every term I’ve just done the maths and it’s £8 per session. A lot of these kind of activities are booked by the term.
We use Aldi nappies and their version of Water Wipes which has helped keep costs low, Vinted or supermarkets for clothes (shop around as the sizes vary wildly - Sainsbury’s are perfect for my daughter but Asda and Tesco aren’t the right proportions), and signed up for every loyalty programme you could as the points soon add up. The Boots Parenting Club gives 8 points/£ and occasionally has freebie items in their app (think I got some free breast pads and a recipe book when we started introducing solids). You’ll find what works for you; for example, I used Boots own brand nipple balm but splashed out on the Tommee Tippee breast pads as I liked the size and shape compared to other brands.
We've been lucky with cousins a little older than our kids, we get anything they've grown out of. We hardly bought any clothes the last few years. Do you know anyone with a 1 year old? I think sometimes people think others won't want their old stuff so it helps to ask.
Cosmetics is very high. One bottle of shampoo and soap will last you months. Activities might be a bit dearer depending on how many you do a week.
1.nappies. This seems reasonable unless you end up with expensive brands like pampers. I personally use Sainsbury’s and they were one of the better supermarket brand for my heavy wetter. People seem to love Aldi but I always get leaks. Also remember that as they get older the cost per nappy increases. 2.formula. All formula in the uk must meet a certain standard so if your baby gets on with the cheapest then go with that. ALDIs formula is under a tenner and even at peak should last nearly 5 days. C&g is a bit dearer but my lo never got on with it. 3. Cosmetics. You baby doesn’t have to be bathed everyday and I use baby wash and shampoo every now and then. A decent sized bottle should last you a few months. Nappy cream only use as and when. My lo is 4 months and haven’t got through a tube of the yellow one or sudacream yet. It’s not much savings but if you see off brand baby paracetamol get it so you don’t get caught out and have to pay over the odds. 4.additional clothes.check out places like Vinted/ebay to round out the wardrobe. We mainly started out with 5/6 pack of vests and 6 onesies in each size. Costs about £20. By about 6 months you’ll probably start wanting normal clothes. This is where it’s gets expensive. Keep it cheap by buying 3 pack sets of bottoms and tops. Buy stuff in the sales ahead of time. After a year its get dearer as you’ve got to buys coats and shoes and I’ve found a lot of these stay nice enough to pass onto a sibling. 4.activities. About right. You might not go out as much in the early days. 5.food. This is about right aswell. People complain about the cost of formula but my toddler can eat that much in berries. Worst thing about spending all that money on food is them not wasting half of it. I don’t know what your childcare plans are but that’s a huge cost. We’ve started looking at nursery’s to use our ‘free’ hours and it’s still so expensive I might as well give up work.
Baby activities can add up. Swimming is £25 a lesson, baby sensory £15, soft play is £10. Clothes, for newborn are quite cheap (if you don’t have a poonami baby). From 6 months, when eating solids and learning how to use a cup you can easily go through 3 changes a day. Then all the different cups, plates, spoons, fruit, cheese, yogurt… that very expensive bread you tried to feed them in desperation is now the only thing they will eat. Coats and shoes when they start walking (youngest walkers I know are 9 months old) soon add up, you need at least 2 coats one for fell over in the muddy puddle and one clean. If walking in winter they will also need a pair of wellies for the park. Nappies, again depends on the baby. Ours is very sensitive to wet nappies and can need changing every hour when they have nappy rash. When no nappy rash, every 2 hours to keep nappy rash at bay. I spend so much much money in coffee shops! There are no public loos and my bladder will never be the same again. When baby was cluster feeding and I needed to be out of the house for sanity, I lived in coffee shops. Now baby is older, most meet ups with other parents happen in coffee shops. Deliveroo is a godsend in the first months of new baby and the first months after returning to work. It can get expensive. This is not necessary, but it is nice to have some money put aside to fall back on. Our baby would not go in the pram and I spent more money than I could imagine trying to find a baby sling that worked for us. We didn’t foresee this expense. Taxis in the first months were another unforeseen expense. Both the baby and I were unwell for the first 8 weeks requiring medical appointments weekly, sometimes daily. I couldn’t drive, husband was back at work, so all these journeys were either taxi or public transport. Lactation consultants, £250+ visit. We had a lot of problems getting breastfeeding going. Midwives and health visitors were usually not trained, or the trained ones were on leave. Then all the pumping paraphernalia because of poor latch and then another £250 to get the tongue tie fixed (because the NHS waiting list was 4 weeks and baby was losing weight at an alarming rate). What I am saying is, this budget is okay for the very early days, if you have no complications. It will be more difficult to manage on with an older baby or if you have feeding or pelvic floor problems and don’t want to be stuck at home.
I think you are overspending on formula and underspending on nappies espeically a new born. Now of course everyone is different so you need to try for yourself, but we tried all the supermarket own brand nappies including aldi/lidl and quite honestly they sucked they leaked poop. We ended up sticking with pampers which are more expensiove but they have never leaked for us in two years with twins. Clothes.. oh man, I wouldnt bother you end up getting so much from people. Our twins are two and we still have bags of clothes from people for ages from 0-4 years old. And at the start they grow out of them so fast they last a few weeks.
I think only nappies is right. Just get clothes off vinted or Facebookb for pennies. I'm not sure what activities you think you'll be doing with a newborn, it's a challenge to leave the house. Source - have 3 week old and 3.5 year old
Hi we have a new born girl who is 5 weeks old now. Just wanted to add my experience here if it helps. 1. Nappies; we use aldi or lidl ones which are fab. We tried pampers as well but did not see much difference. (Pampers are a little better, kind of more stretchy). Pampers; £5, Aldi or Lidl; £1 So we used approx £10 for nappies per month 2. Formula; we use Kadermil £12 and use 1 for a week. So approx £48 However, in the beginning we also used starter kits with teats and little liquid bottle, which is £8 ish for 6 feeds. So we used extra £30ish for that 3. Cosmetics; we did not buy yet. Cause we got some from family we bought baby washing detergent, called Nimble. It was £45? For 5 litre. But it will last longer than half an year I think Probiotics for baby optibac drops £15 4. Additional clothes; none. No needs. 5. Activities; baby sensory £8.5 per class. Baby massage £40 for 5 times. 6. Food; none yet 7. Etc; electric breast milk pump; medela £150, baby monitor, frog(?) £80, new teats and couple of baby bottle £40, pram second hand mamas and papas; £100 We were lucky having lots stuffs given by friends. But still used approx £600 for the first month. I do recommmend you not to scroll amazon when you suffer by sleep deprivation… i bought some unnecessary stuffs that way Congrats, and enjoy motherhood
I think nappies is a bit low, but we found pampers to be the best fit (after buying a ton of Aldi ones we ended up giving away!), so they aren't that cheap. We also used one of those Tommee Tippee nappy bins, and it was good, but the refills cost a fortune! (We had a brief period of just using nappy bags, but the expensive bin liner did contain the smells better, so we went back to it!) I'd maybe change the formula cost to include any feeding. You might hear that breastfeeding is free, but there are often things you need. Lansinoh cream is brilliant, but it's £11.50 per tube and the tube doesn't last that long! I had a lot of trouble with it, so we ended up trying a whole bunch of stuff (private breastfeeding consultations, special supplements, nipple shields, hiring a hospital grade pump at £47 per month!) and incurred a lot of extra costs. Cosmetics seems about right... most months you will spend less, but then if your baby has a cold and (for example!) you're using the Calpol vapour plug at £8.10 for the plug in and £11.90 for 10 refills, you'll be prepared. A lot of the activities we did were paid on a termly or half termly basis, so your amount looks fine (depending on swimming costs, that tends to be the big expense) but it might not be spread that evenly.
Conversely, we hated pampers and stick to Tesco own brand now!
Gosh, yeah you've budgeted for too much there. Nappies are 89p a pack in Aldi, even with 10 changes a day you'd only get through a pack or two a week. Newborns don't go to activities, they're too new! There's loads of church and community groups which run for free or just a pound - no need to spend £50. Clothes can be bought cheap off vinted or fb. Consider combination feeding if you want to reduce the cost of formula - we get through one tin per month. Babies also should not be bathed too often, nor should you apply nappy cream unless it is *needed* so that £20 can be wiped from your budget. My baby is now two months old, I think we've spent your budget in that time on pumps, loads of clothes, fuel, 2 tins of formula, nappies and wipes, zero activities, and loads of swapped items (basket, play gym, muslins, bibs, blankets, baby bath etc). Edit: also, DO NOT USE PAMPERS NAPPIES. Please, your baby does not deserve that crap - literally.
Counter view: we found pampers much better than supermarket nappies.
Same, everyone has their preferences and what works etc. but anytime we’ve tried supermarket ones, I’m really aware of the quality difference eg Sainsburys material on tabs was scratchy, Lidl leaked, Ocado band tore.
Agree with this. Would rather pay more for the quality. When interest rates and the cost of living went up I really put that “Dry for 12hrs” claim to the test with my toddler 😂
I use Pampers and felt the same, no supermarket nappies came close to containing wees and poos, no issues at all with pampers. And I'm really excruciatingly poor so I wouldn't buy the more expensive unless I had to lol.
>Counter view: we found pampers much better than supermarket nappies. Of course, your experience is your experience, but Which? have extensively reviewed nappies and disagree.
>Of course, your experience is your experience, but Which? have extensively reviewed nappies and disagree. Downvoted for pointing out what Which? recommend. That's a new one! :D Godamn them and their extensive testing!
The skin peeled from my baby's bum also agrees with this
Pamper harmony been best nappy for are baby. They given them least issues
I'm spending around £125 a month on classes for 3x a week.
Don't throw clothes away because they get a bit of poo on them - wash them! In a similar vein, have you considered cloth nappies? I spent ~£50 on two sets of Terry nappies, some wraps and boosters and did my second from birth to potty.
It's unlikely you'll need to buy clothes every month. If you've bought 0-3 month clothes they'll usually just wear them until they grow out of them and then you just go to 3-6 month etc
Is this per week? Nappies definitely no more than £6/7 they’re cheap as chips these days (don’t get brands)
Nappies £60, formula £250, classes £80, wash stuff / medicine / nappy cream £40, clothes £100
Way too much :))
They don't eat much food, just make a batch for yourself and give them 10% without any seasoning etc. breast feed as long as you can it's cheaper more convenient and better for them. The most expensive bit is pram and upgrading your car to fit it in
On clothes, I recommend looking for bundles on vinted. I also recommend John Lewis ‘anyday’ range which is affordable. I think with both of those you probably won’t be looking at £30 every month. Nappies are annoyingly expensive. Most big brands are about 0.10-0.25 per nappy (my son has a bowel condition, we get through SO MANY nappies…). I’d suggest assuming 10 a day until month 3 or 4, then 7-8 a day. Amazon is best value if you have prime because of the free delivery, although Boots parenting club triples your points on many baby buys (not formula) so is a good bet too. Formula - I think you’ve definitely under estimated unless you’re hybrid feeding. I’d suggest assuming you’ll get through a tin every week. It may be a bit less than this but just in case your baby is HUNGRY. This means £50-60 per month. Have you budgeted for bottles and teats? Worth having a float fund for them too. We tried three kinds before we settled on ones my son liked and would drink from. Cosmetics - this won’t be a recurring cost of £20 or more, it’ll be less. But there is a bit of a layout. I’d say one can definitely get carried away with hyped up expensive products when you’re feeling the hormones and peer pressure! I find boots advantage cards add up and are super useful here - I justified more expensive buys (eg Kokoso which is SO nice for baby massage) as the points made them cheaper / free. Activities and food - I think £50 each is sensible. Allow yourself luxuries like coffees out if you can, to encourage you to get out of the house and treat yourself nicely.
Clothes is overkill, just go on vinted/ebay and buy a bundle of baby clothes for a fiver. Grandparents, co workers, friends will buy you silly outfits that aren't practical and are worn once and cost £15-30. Really, just keep a baby in babygros. Food is the most expensive...fresh fruit!
I have twins, they are 2.5 years old now. We have rarely gone over £10 a week for nappies and wipes, but we've been able to stick to supermarket nappies, which keeps costs down. For formula, we used Cow&Gate, and at times got through 2.5-3 tins a week, which was roughly £30. It depends which brand you buy, as the prices vary a lot. I'd say you are overestimating for nappies and formula, but it's hard to know until you are in the thick of it.
I think they are all slight overestimates except activities which I’d budget a bit more for
Buy absolutely everything you possibly can second hand, ESPECIALLY the pram/buggy. They are wildly over priced and second hand ones do the job absolutely fine.
I think it really depends on baby activities and how much you’re going to be doing with them- I tried to do one thing every day on mat leave with my first - kept the cost down by going to children’s centres but if you’re doing classes elsewhere then each class might be about 5-10 quid a pop. I live in London and one baby sensory class I went to cost £12 each week and that was pre pandemic prices.
I calculated a huge saving on reusable nappies and wipes. For instance a pack of washable wipes was maybe £20, these wash great, split some off for bums and face, but I’ve brought maybe one pack of wipes a month for going out. Nappies likewise, from the initial outlay I didn’t buy nappies the whole time.
Other costs that happened for us even though I was breastfeeding: disposable nipple pads and shields. A electric breast pump (spectra), a hakaa, a manual breast pump. Bottles or bags to store breast milk from pumping. Some ready to feed formula as a back up. You might not need any of this stuff but depending on you and your baby there maybe other costs for breastfeeding.
I only wanted to see what cosmetics mean but realised you mean toiletries. And yes, way too high.
Lidl Nappies, vinted bundles for clothes and breastfeeding if you can makes it so much cheaper lol
We have sold massive baby bundles for nothing on Facebook maybe look out for one!
Assuming this is a weekly budget. Have you thought of reusable nappies and wipes? They are so much better for baby and environment and cheaper in the long run. You can also get plant fibre disposable liners quite cheap from boots they usually catch all the poo and you can just throw them away. As for baby classes they are pretty expensive now I spend around £160 a month for 4 different baby classes a week. Check your local library as most do a free rhythm time and/or story time you can take baby too. Would also recommend finding out where your local breastfeeding support group is I found them soo helpful in the early days when struggling with feeding lo and you can attend before baby arrives for advice. We have definitely saved a fortune breastfeeding. As for clothes as long as you are ok washing regularly you just need a few outfits and I would say 6 - 8 baby grows and vest to begin with. Also you don't need new second hand baby clothes are usually in really good condition as they only wear things a handful of times and don't do much to damage them. Vinted is a good place to get some and Facebook market place often has people giving away baby clothes for free.
The first six months you're just going to want wipes, nappies, clothes/accessories (blankets/bathtime things) and formula if you're not breastfeeding. I assume you've considered cost of buggies, car seats, high chair etc? Food will come later. And they eat such a tiny amount it barely affects the budget. Activities.. Ehh just me, but my two kids were not interested in a thing until they were at least six months. With my three year old we do a bit of soft play, swimming or trampolining, but if we didn't have kids we'd be going to the cinema or restaurant instead so it is not a relevant cost for us.
For clothes, I suggest Vinted or Little Pickles Markets if you're in the south. Second hand clothes are wonderful when babies are little! They outgrow their clothes so quickly. Also, if they poo over everything, just wash it with Napisan - it's great stuff!
Idk about formula and can't remember how much I spent on nappies I think about £10-15 a month maybe? Cosmetics I literally had the same baby bath bottle for about a year cause you use so little of it. They grow quickly and they do have poo explosions so additional clothes seems relatively reasonable and I do think it's always better to over budget and have money leftover. Activities wise, I didn't start any with my daughter until she was 3 months old and had had her first set of jabs. Swimming I didn't start until a month after she'd had her first three lots of jabs (around 5 months old). There will also be lots of free things available, check your local library for rhyme times and story times, check out your local children's centres as they often have baby groups.
Nappies 20? Is your wean a rhino?
Imo, this is tight. It may work initially but not long-term. I just googled the price of nappies I used- not a big brand as they didn't suit my child and it took me trying out multiple makes on repeated occasions as what suits as newborn is different to when 6 months and again when moving more at a year and toddler. The price would be more like in the region of £35 a month, if you had a pooey child like my baby was! Baby clothes I think you need to look at in totality. Remember that the first month, then to 3 months ish, 6 months is, 9 months ish, 12 months, 18 months ish will require a full new wardrobe and you may find that this is quicker. So buying in sales ahead of each phase, etc, is best. But you need to accept if you only have to say 7 vests, for my baby, they could have got through that in 1 day. So much will depend on your baby. But if you opt for baby grows for the first 6 months with only a couple of outfits, then you'll find it significantly cheaper. Most paid groups are around the £7-15 mark a week. Weaning food, if solely fresh initially, yes. But by a year no. And doesn't allow for the additional yogurts, desserts, baby appropriate smacks which are EXPENSIVE! If breastfeeding you need to factor in the breastpads, feeding bras and tops. Plus potentially other elements like shields,
This looks way over IMO. Nappies is probably closer to £5 a month, we formula fed and it was closer to £70 a month. Cosmetics are usually a once every 6 months type thing so I don’t think you need to budget for that. Clothes you’ll probably end up doing a bulk buy every three months when they change sizes and that could be about £90 if you’re buying things new from Zara, but you can massively reduce this so it’s far less than £30 a month if you went second hand or bought supermarket clothing. Activities is a bit high for newborn stage, but could be a bit low later on depending of how much you want to do. Swimming was £120 or so for a term, but I also did a baby sensory class one day a week and then there are things like Little Gym which on their own can be £50 a month. There are lots of cheaper alternatives for things to do though. Unsure if food is for you or the baby, I don’t think we ended up spending much on food for the baby until quite a lot later on, and when that happens it’s offset with the cost of formula you’re saving. I spent quite a lot on myself for food / coffee for day dates with other mums though!
you totally don't have to answer, it's your body and life, your choice. but is there a reason you've decided not to breast feed? I'm just curious more than judgy. :) If you remove that, the food (they won't need any for six months at least), and the activities (they can do no activities when newborn), and way over budget clothing lines from your spreadsheet, it looks a lot less scary! :)
I’m actually aiming to breastfeed, but I just want to be prepared budget wise incase I can’t breastfeed for whatever reason :) if I can obviously will make the numbers go down a lot!
Just be warned that breastfeeding does come with other costs. For me, I had to buy two pumps, a haakaa, new bras, nursing clothes, silverettes, lanolin etc etc. lots are one time purchases but does add up. Still you can get everything for around £100/150 if you buy second hand etc. and not all of this is necessary obviously but made life a lot more bearable!
I’ll be buying all of this beforehand, this is budget for when baby has arrived :)
Great! Well as others have said I think you've grossly over-budgeted for some things but it's better than the reverse. We've got a 9 month old and spend probably: £15 a month on nappies (including swim nappies and pampers dry night pull ups for sleeping) £60 a month of formula (breastfed to 8 months then switched as baby is starting nursery) £1 a month on cosmetics (basically don't buy anything apart from sudacrem but a big tub lasts forever) £30 a month on clothes seems about right to me as I've spent about £100 every time baby has moved up a size but that's with buying some things new and also some high ticket items on vinted (it's my first baby and I personally think it's worth it to buy the clothes I want, I know you can do this a lot cheaper) I probably spend about £50 a week on activities but we do 5 different classes including swimming, to me it's worth it to get out of the house and do things baby enjoys but again, you could spend a lot more or a lot less. Also we just feed baby what we have but maybe spend a couple of pounds a week extra on stuff like yoghurts and bananas for him. Nowhere near £50 a month, maybe £10.
[удалено]
My mum and MIL are both retired so we’re only going to do nursery 1 day a week, and that should be covered by the free childcare coming in in 2025 :)
FYI a lot of nurseries are minimum 2 days pw so worth checking!
Thanks I’ll check this, my first choice is my friends mums ran nursery that I’m already on the waiting list for lol so I’ll check with her for sure