Baby Costs For The First Year

What should you be considering as the major baby costs for the first year of your precious little one?

New parents have a lot to think about. Saving for college and retirement and all the new baby gear. What about lifestyle changes? How does your commute and living situation change?

Let’s dive into some of these topics.

Newborn Baby Costs

Hospital Trip Costs

Canadian parents are fortunate for significant savings compared to our southern neighbours. For the hospital trip in Canada you’ll need to consider:

• Parking
• Snacks
• Hospital room activities

We’ve had three babies in Canada now and our largest expense was hospital cafeteria coffee. All total, the hospital’s costs are under $100 for Canadian parents in most situations.

For the American parents to be I’m sorry I don’t have better news here. Parents.com determined a vaginal birth to cost between $5,000 and $11,000. A c-section likely lands in the $7,500 to $14,000 range.

One-time Newborn Baby Costs

If you’re having your first child there will be a lot of baby gear to buy. We saved significant amounts of money on our second and third kids where you’re able to reuse and hand down the essentials.

We have a budgeting calculator for new parents to calculate baby costs for the first year.

You’ll need to consider the obvious things like strollers, cribs, clothes and bottles. But also make sure you think about things like babyproofing supplies and a breast pump. There are lots of little items that add up quickly. In one-time costs, there is more than $3,000 worth of items you’ll need.

The one thing I wish I’d realized earlier is to buy used. Used items will save you hundreds of dollars over new items. The stroller we bought for over $600 new we sold a few years later for just $60 – still in great shape too.

Keep an eye on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for deals on your baby stuff. With careful monitoring you can score some great deals. We found items from grandparents who only used them a new times and some items brand new from double gifts at a baby shower.

I recommend starting with the basics only. If you’re starting a baby shower you’ll receive a lot of these items from your friends and family anyway. You’ll find different items more or less useful than others as well. I know we can’t live without our diaper genies. We have two and it saves a lot of walking out to the garbage with each poopy diaper. But they do stink. And the refills cost money – and are more expensive than they should be. It’s much easier to add things as needed than spend way too much upfront.

Monthly Baby Costs

Clothes

Baby clothes add up – fast! We got so many newborn onesies as gifts I don’t think our first wore the same one twice before he had outgrown them. This happens on repeat through the 3-month, 6-month, and 9-month clothes. Finally, 12-month clothes give you a few months longer relief when your baby finally stops growing like a weed.

I’ve read figures on Investopedia that baby clothing costs – on average – $56 per month. That’s too low and completely unrealistic if you’re buying new clothes. Just two new onesies are about $15. Unless you’re doing daily laundry – $56 isn’t in the ballpark. But you can absolutely save a ton of money on clothes. Buying used clothes is great for babies. As we just talked about, they barely wear them. So even used clothes aren’t all that “used.”

Diapers and Wipes

Diapers and wipes are another significant monthly expense for new parents. The average monthly cost for diapers and wipes is $70 for the first year. Your monthly cost of diapers and wipes will decrease as your baby gets older. When your baby starts to sleep through the night there is a diaper change – or two – less per day. Solid foods help as well.

You might be surprised to learn that Costco is not the cheapest place to get your diapers in Canada. Amazon and Walmart both beat Costco’s price by over 30% per diaper. I love Costco – but just not for diapers.

Food

Formula is powder gold. It costs a lot and before solid food, you’ll go through a ton of it. About $100 a month is realistic for a formula-fed baby. Thankfully when you start on solid food you’ll go with far less.

I see solid food attributed to high costs per month but we didn’t find that to be the case for us. We made out own baby food from ingredients we buy anyway. Sweet potato mash, apple and banana, and other similar recipes were staples of our kid’s diets. If you’re sticking with solid food meals like these for your baby it is just throwing an extra sweet potato, apples and bananas in your cart on each shopping trip. It has a cost but it’s much more manageable than formula.