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Babies Are Expensive! Total Cost of Having A Baby
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This is a post by Connie Brooks, a new mommy in Louisville, KY.
Having a baby is one of the most incredible experiences in the world.
There are no words to describe the moment you hold your baby in your arms for the first time. When their little eyes look up to you and you realize you made the little tyke. There are no words to describes the feeling of pride the first time you see them turn over, or when they crawl and then eventually walk.
While these memories are priceless, having a child is a very costly endeavor. Most parents expect to pay for the obvious things once the baby arrives like food, diapers, and clothes but they often don’t anticipate “the other stuff.” When we had our daughter, we expected to pay for more food and diapers, but we never planned for “the other stuff.” From the moment I found out I was pregnant though, a seemingly limitless chain of bills started showing up. We were literally supporting our baby from the moment we knew about her. It doesn’t have to be that way.
If you are thinking about having a baby any time soon, here are some of the expenses (“the other stuff”) you’ll want to plan for, even before your baby arrives:
1. Prenatal Care
As scary as it is to think about, most miscarriages happen within the first three months. Chances are your Ob-gyn will not even want to see you until you hit the three month mark because of this. After that, you can expect to go once or twice a month for the next six months, and even more frequently for the final three months.
Every time I went to my Ob/Gyn, it cost me an insurance co-pay of $30. We had hyperactive prenatal doctors so we ended up going even more often than average. Our cost for pre-natal doctors visits over nine months was around $500. Your cost will vary depending on your insurance plan.
2. Prenatal Diet
Your baby is literally depending on you for its nutrients. If you don’t have a healthy diet, then your baby will not get what they need, and that could have long term consequences.
The truth is, we weren’t eating very well when I got pregnant. We ate out once, sometimes twice a week, and ate a lot of beans, rice and eggs otherwise. Doing that kept our before baby food budget to around $300 a month.
After I found out I was pregnant, our food budget literally doubled. We stopped eating out, and I bought fresh organic fruits, vegetables and yogurt. The only food I craved when I was pregnant was steak (which was odd since I am a semi-vegetarian!). The steak was expensive too because I chose to buy only top quality grain-fed beef.
I did not care how much our food ended up costing us, I wanted my baby to have every building block she needed to grow. Over a twelve month period (I breast fed for three months afterward, so we kept our diet the same.) Our food ended up costing us $7,200. Prenatal vitamins added in another $270 over nine months.
3. Maternity Clothes
– I gained around 20 pounds while I was pregnant, so my clothes fit me for most of my pregnancy. However, by the eighth month, there was no containing my belly. I had to face facts and invest in a few good quality maternity clothes. I bought a week’s worth of clothes as cheaply as possible. I also used my husband’s shirts and bought things like hip-hugger pants that I could wear after my baby. The total cost of my maternity clothes was around $400. If you’re careful you might be able to get by cheaper, but it could easily cost more depending on your needs. Try to maximize sales whenever you can!
4. Baby Clothes & Supplies
We were very blessed because our friends and family gave us nearly everything our daughter would need for her first few months. If you don’t have a strong supportive network, then this will be a real expense.
Wal-Mart and Target have the most reasonably priced baby clothes. If I had to put a price on what we were given I would say that it amounted to easily $800 to $1000 worth of diapers, clothes, shampoo, and supplies. Again, we had an extremely generous family, who put all they had into helping us prepare for our baby. In retrospect, If I were the one paying for the items, I would have spent around $400 total on clothes and supplies for my daughter’s first few months – and that would have been plenty.
5. Nursery & Travel Items
The crib for our daughter was $500. Her mattress was $100. We bought a crib that would turn into a toddler bed, and eventually a full sized bed as she grew. Her car seat and stroller ran us about $400 – again because we bought for the long term and wanted something that would last through several children if necessary. You can definitely do this cheaper than we did! The total cost for her nursery was around $1,500 after decorations.
6. The Big Day(s): Hospital and Delivery Costs
How much this ends up costing you will depend on your insurance, how difficult your labor is, and how well everything goes.
In my case, nothing was simple. I spent two days in the hospital being induced and ended up with a c-section. My daughter had a fever when she was born, so she spent a week in the hospital on antibiotics undergoing a lot of tests. (She was fine, thank God!) They kept me for four days after my surgery. I can honestly say that for a month after we came home I dreaded going to the mailbox and pulling those medical bills out!
The total cost for her delivery was nearly $4000.
7. The Paperwork
After my daughter was born, we did have to take care of some paperwork. Particularly ordering several copies of her birth certificates. This was another unexpected cost. I’m not sure why I thought that the hospital would provide us with one – they didn’t. They sent her birth records off and we had to order an official copy. Those were $10 each, and we ordered 3, so we $30 spent on her paperwork.
8. The Aftermath
In the first few months following her delivery she and I both went back to the doctor a couple of times for routine checkups. This was not a huge expense, but it was one I did not expect. The follow-up visits probably ran us around $150.
From conception to birth, our daughter cost us about $14,000. Fourteen thousand dollars. Oh, and that does not even take into account the diapers or the eventual formula costs once I went back to work. It also does not include childcare, which thankfully, we did not have to get.
If you are considering having a baby, please make sure that you get a hefty savings account going before you take the plunge. Many of these costs we had not planned for, and that made it more difficult than it had to be. When we planned out our finances before getting pregnant, we always planned out what we thought the costs would be after we had her, and we did not take into account what it would cost just to get her to delivery!
I am very sure that if I had it to do over again, I could do it for less money. I think that I went into it from the mindset of doing what I thought was right for my baby, and the finances took a backseat. That being said though, my daughter’s birth story is an excellent example of how having a baby can easily cost you a fortune – so it’s something to think about.
How about you? Do you have children? What would you say it cost you and your spouse to have your baby? Leave us a comment below!
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Holy crap I’m glad I live in a good country. I have two kids, and in preparation for each one from conception to birth I would have to put the figure at about 2500 a piece. My spouse was also a gestational diabetic so had some food restrictions we weren’t used to and had to have a major diet shift.
Our daughter had to stay in the NICU (thankfully only for a week) and the cost for the delivery and after care totaled about $13000. Having a preemie could easily result in a few weeks in the NICU, so this is not that uncommon. Luckily our insurance covered every bit of it.
Great to know! We have our first on the way and are definitely in savings mode, particularly since my wife is a government contractor and won’t be making a dime while she’s off. We have good insurance so hopefully, we won’t get dinged to hard.
What a timely post. We just found out my wife was pregnant last week, and had our initial prenatal visit yesterday. Luckily our insurance doesn’t require a copay for these visits, and we were able to get a supply of prescription prenatal vitamins that will only cost 1 dollar per bottle.
So far, so good in that department. Luckily our eating habits won’t require any change either since we don’t eat out and cook every meal at home anyway. So aside from maybe adding a few more fruits and veggies, we should be good there.
Of course there is no idea what will happen once it comes time for delivery, and I’m not looking forward to all of the ongoing costs. But I will be opening a 529 plan immediately and begin putting a few dollars a week in that. I want to give it a full 18 years to grow and compound
I’ve never considered the “cost” of having children. All I know is that the “return” I’ve received from my two boys goes far beyond monetary measure.
Even when I take the financial perspective, my first thoughts go to a time when my oldest boy, when he was 4-years old, noticed I was away from home quite often and asked me where I was going all the time. I told him I was “working to earn money for all of the things we have.” He instantly replied, “I’d rather have my Daddy than money.”
My life changed almost instantly. I now own a successful business and I spend more time with my family than ever. Just that bit of “advice” from my son was worth much more than all the money I had ever spent on him to that date…
In fact, when I really think about it, I am in debt to him for the rest of my life…
“I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man…” ~ Socrates
Wow, thanks for all the great comments everyone!
To Traciatim: Oh, I am so glad you were able to have your little ones cheaper than I did! I totally understand the diet change too. Gestational Diabetes is tough. I remember sweating during that test. I think I was actually more afraid of that test than I was of the labor process. I am so glad everything went well, and that you were able to adjust her diet.
To Dave: Wow, I am glad your insurance covered that total. I’m glad your little one only had to stay a week too. I remember that being the hardest thing, my baby was there, and It was tough to be able to spend time with her that first week. It all fades to a distant memory pretty quickly though, or at least it did for me when I got her home.
To James: Congratulations! I am so happy for you two!! Having a baby is amazing. I mean, without words, knock-you-over extraordinary.
To Jeremy: Congratulations to you too! How exciting! I’m thrilled for you that your insurance is that good. That should make the process less stressful for both of you. Excellent move on the 529, you will not regret it. I did the same for my daughter. Can you imagine how many things we will be able to teach them about investing as they grow?
To Kent: I’m a huge fan of your blog, It was really neat to see your comment. You are exactly right. “I’d rather have Daddy than money.” I bet that stopped your heart a bit. Every day I realize more and more how very precious this time is, and how I don’t want to miss a minute of it.
“from virtue comes money and every other good of man”. Thanks for making me think a bit. I do agree with that totally.
@Connie – Welcome aboard and thanks for this post. Emailed to the wifey. We’re three months into our first pregnancy. I’m planning on saving up a few thousand for furtniture and deductibles. Everything else I’m thinking we’ll be able to take in stride.
@Jeremy – Congrats, man!
Hey PT thanks for your comment, and congratulations!
You are smart to save. I was really glad I got furniture that would grow with my daughter. Especially when she started climbing out of her crib at 18 months. We were able to turn it into a toddler bed that night, and super-baby proof the room.
Thanks for passing the article on, glad you liked it.
The total cost of having a kid up until the age of 18 is around £150,000 UK sterling.
Then there are the university fees,etc.
It’s no picnic but you can see why we all do it.
To Thu,
Thanks for your comment! I would absolutely believe it costs that much, especially after what I paid for prenatal care. It would be neat to see what it costs to raise a child in various parts of the world.
You are right though – no matter what the costs, there are some things you can never really put a “price” on – children especially.
I am lucky that my prenatal care has only one copay for all the visits, and the total cost of care for the delivery is $3600 all covered by my insurance. I got the “expensive” vitamins for only $13/mo and bought all the baby clothes I need for the 1st year at garage sales for $100. I plan to do only minimal decorating until the child gets older. So my total is under $5k for the whole pregnancy and 1st year including diapers. You are right that babies have unexpected costs associated but I think you exaggerated them a little. If it really cost that much, there would be a lot fewer kids around!
I am planing on getting pregnant this coming november, but don’t know what insurance to get on. My husband and I are still in school and have a tight budget. Do you have any pointers to give me? I could use the help.
The indivial insurance for your health care needs I think maybe uh State Farm Health insurance if you can afford it.
Or for a while you could put the baby through dshs for a while then won’t have to pay out of pocket expenses
If can help try not to put the baby dshs because they not really that good of health insurance if you can help it.
Heidi
Until you get a good job.
Thanks so much for your help. I’m just trying to be as smart about this as I can.
Hey LC, thanks for your comment!
You did some excellent thrifty things like shopping garage sales. I think in my second pregnancy that is exactly what I will do.
The main cost of my pregnancy was because my daughter was in the NICU for a week, and because I ate only organic food for 12 months. Those two things alone raised the tally considerably. Thanks again for the thrifty tips – I’d be really interested in any more of them you have, since I do plan to do this at least one more time
I’m surprised the artivle did not also include the cost of adding a child to the family insurance. The costs average from $200-400 per month.
To Mimi – oooh good point. I did forget that! Our insurance went up about $140 a month. We just made a change this year to a policy that lets our preventative care be free, so thankfully, no more paying for shots.
Thanks for your comment!
The time to consider whether you need supplemental medical insurance is BEFORE you get pregnant. Please put it on your to-do list. Don’t assume that you won’t have any issues and they won’t be costly. You never know.
Thanks for the interesting article. My wife and I plan on having children before long so this is good information for me.
I notice half your costs are in food alone and you spend quite a lot there. I’m a little curious on how that broke down: You spent an extra $7200 in a 12 month period on food? Thats about $20 a day in additional costs on top of what you normally spend. Your before baby budget was around $300 a month. So you spent $30 a day on food?? Is that just for 1 person or does it cover 2 people (you say ‘our’ and ‘we’ about the food budget).
Jim
I would say this number depends a lot on your lifestyle. My wife is currently pregnant and aside from a bigger house the biggest expense was her clothing. She works in a professional environment where she needs to maintain a certain dress code that she couldn’t maintain with a growing belly. Unfortunately the clothing wasn’t cheap and although I’m sure some lower cost options existed this has been the one item that has been really expensive.
Now the one thing I have to say we don’t have to contend with medical bills in Canada which definitely helps. I wonder what the cost of actually having the child (not the pre-labor costs) are. What can an expecting parent and financially conscious person expect after the child is born?
To Anon: Yes, I totally agree with supplemental medical insurance. We had insurance through my husband’s job, but not through mine – that’s part of the reason we had such high co-pays for the prenatal visits and the vitamins.
To Jim: The food budget was 3 meals a day, + snacks, for two people, and pretty much everything was organic. It was extremely expensive, but worth it to me. I knew that my baby was getting the very best I could give her to grow on. It’s hard to find both organic and non-gmo foods (genetically modified).
To Matt: The total cost of having a baby definitely depends on your lifestyle. We got reamed on food expenses, but I was lucky that I did not have to pay a lot for clothing. I think we have a couple of upcoming articles on what things cost after the baby is born. I’d love to have your opinion on those too.
Thanks for the great comments everyone
I only had to pay a co-pay at my first prenatal visit, which was anywhere from 4-6 wks. pregnant w/my kids. The rest was completely covered, ultrasounds, office visits, delivery, hospital stay, etc.
I was also lucky that 2 of my best friends are the same size as me and we all would pass maternity clothes to each other depending on who was pregnant at the time. That’s not to say I didn’t buy any maternity clothes, because I did!
It’s different for everyone, however, this is a great article!
Well, I have a class assinment and we have to watch an egg. Yet this project may seem silly and unneccisary more kids who are teenagers are becoming pregnant. One of my daily questions was; List some of the expenses you as a parent would have before a baby would be born. Record the approximate cost of these items. So when I look on here I am truly wowed to see how much a baby must cost parents and to think that this is only in their younger years of birth to my guess of 1-2 years old. Wow, how do you do it?
-13 year old child-
Hey Student, u sound like u are in my class, we have to do exactly the same thing.~ Trevor from NC
To Anna: Wow! That’s wonderful that you had such good insurance – Who do you use? Lucky also to be able to trade those maternity clothes. I ended up donating some of mine to a friend too. It’s nice to be able to trade out, and help where you can because things are so expensive.
To Student: You, know it really wasn’t easy. Thankfully my husband and I make enough money that we could afford to do things like we did. If we had made less, then I would have borrowed anything I could, shopped at discount and goodwill stores, and certainly not eaten as well as I did.
There are ways to do things cheaper, but as a parent (or at least many parents) we want out kids to have the best we can afford to give them. Especially while they are developing. That is why it is so important to get a good education, and even learn skills on the side that can make you some money. Money gives you choices, like my choice to eat organic food. And usually, the education brings the money! Thanks for your comment!
The cost of a misscarriage after 2nd month:
Prenatal visit: $500
Lab test: $600
Outpatient DNC (hospital & Doc): $12,000
Prescriptions: $300
We did receive reimbursement for $11,000. The remainder was out-of-pocket.
Connie great advice. I am currently expecting my first child and didn’t account many of what you talked about. It definitely was helpful and insightful. I hope to offset some of my cost because my husband has very good insurance which pays 100% of the birth cost and I have a very supportive family and network of friends who are sharing the wealth of hand-me-downs. I think my little one already has clothes and accessories up until the age of 8.
Thanks for the great article.
Thanks Michelle!
Congratulations on your first baby!!! How exciting. I hope that everything goes very well for you – I know it will.
Cheers,
Connie
Yeah, price of having a baby changes where-ever you are.
I used a midwife, insurance covered 80% I paid 20% which was about $1800 for all 9 months of care and the birth. I had 3 ultrasounds, good thing we had insurance each one had a facility fee of $2000/visit and a doctor fee of $800/visit. With our insurance we had to pay $150 total to to doctors and $300 for the facility fee. 3 ultrasounds cost almost $10000, which is more than my entire 9 months of care and delivery of my daughter.
I’m glad I went the route I did, the average hospital birth in Washington state, out-of-pocket $100000, and thats with no extras or complications.
They say that once they’re born a child costs you $200000 in 18 years.
This is actually a GREAT article. I would have never thought of these expenses until the expenses comes and I have sickell cells. That mean hospital bills! It is top priority to my boyfriend and I in having a baby because he didnt have a father so he wants to be fully prepared from conception. We are saving and I will start my diet from now. I cant wait to read the article about babies expenses from age 1 to 18.
Two questions:
did you had any nuchal translucency test? The physician request it but my insurance in no going to pay for it. I call different places and no word about price, jut …come and get it because you need it, do not worry about the price. Any advice how to get the price?
Any advice how to deal with the cost and the insurance. We were trapped in the middle between the health provider and insurance and we could find a way to move it even that both understood that something was wrong. Each other say the culprit was the other.
Thanks,
Oscar
Currently paying over $600/mo just to add my wife to my works insurance. They said $1300 with child! Once the baby is born I’m getting them on their own plan about $350/mo. So actually cheaper after the baby. The only reason for paying the excessive amount right now is it covers almost everything for birth minus $1000 deductible.
Wow, what kind of vitamins did you get that cost $30 a month? The ones my wife got prescribed are only $8 or so.
Our health plan has a $2000 per person “out of pocket maximum”, and furthermore I am putting the money into our health care flex account so it should only cost use $1500 or so of take-home pay.
My wife is getting almost all her clothes at thrift stores. She is being flexible, if they don’t quite match her style but are decent enough, well, she’s not going to wear them that long is she!
Other than that we’re trying not to change our life too much. There will be plenty of changes once the baby is here
On the other hand, we’re buying a new car to fit our growing family – it’s going to cost a lot more than 9 months worth of organic food!
I am in my first pregnancy, and my doctor sent me to Target to get my prenatal vitamins – 200 vitamins for $8! He seemed to think these were as good as any other vitamins.
That’s right, my wife paid $8 for a 3-month supply. Makes me wonder if some of the other costs are also 10x what they could be…
That could have come in handy….
A kid costs over half a million dollars. I mean instead of feeding your kid 3 times a day for 365 days a year times 20 years, you could have used that same money and compounded it at 12 percent with good stocks.
Many people don’t understand math or the power of compounding that’s why they have a kid.
So the question becomes would you use a condom to get over $500,000 aka half a mil?
That’s crazy yes. but a child is more importand than a material product that can’t even be backed up.
Dear Connie,
Thank you so very much for the article. I believe it is a very interesting one for sure! I am 9 weeks pregnant and have changed my eating habits about 2 months ago. Our budget for food increased from $450/month to $800/month. I had one whole month in which I could not eat anything else, but fruit. And I got tired of oranges and strawberries/blackberries after a week and I started getting cravings for cherries…a tiny basket of cherries…and it’s $20, because they’re not in season. That is so outrageous! We spend $60 just on cherries one week. And we also switched to an all organic diet. I believe it’s worth the extra money to have a healthy child.
As for insurance, I have insurance through my husband and my co-pay is $20/visit. I calculated the costs of having a baby last year when we started trying (I included the nursery and formula, etc) and it was between $12,000 and $14,000 like you were mentioning. I believe for the first child we will have everything new, although we have some friends who offered to give us some clothes from their kids. I will also be breastfeeding for the first 3 months and then when I go back to work we will probably do a mix of formula and breastfeeding. Now I’m only hoping that my delivery will go without problems and that the baby will be healthy:) Again than you so very much for the wonderful article.
Btw, did you take any prenatal classes? My husband and I will take an infant/child CPR class and also a “preparing for baby” class together. I calculated the cost of these classes -as well as the cost of my prenatal yoga classes- when I did my average cost for the first year.
Good!
Thank you!
Make sure your married before you make decisions on family.
Don’t be a single Mom or Dad if you can help it make sure the woman or Man is the right women or man for you.
It not the best time to be single Mom or Dad when the child is an infant because then you struggle of Paying your babies expenses.
Also I think when divorce couples should help pay child support even if they make a whole lot of money still.
Even if they aren’t allow to see their child.
If you become a parent make sure your job pays well for family.
And try not to get a job that pays once a month as in payroll check because then your messed up.
Budget well for your family.
Be a reponsible parent.
Heidi
I couldn’t agree more! My husband and I decided that when we got married it was for life and beyond! No turning back. My husband has created our budget that forcasts for an entire year so that I know we’ll be okay for at least one more year. We are both currently working to save up for school and our first baby. I so agree with avoiding the once a month pay, you can get in all sorts of trouble when you’re living month to month with only one pay check. Things have deadlines, keep your options open.If you have a family go all the way, be married, and be responsible.
Heidi, I love your perspective on this. It is so true. Single parenting is not fun, my aunt is struggling even now and her daughter is 13 years old, she’s still single and works every day.
My wife and I spent about 800,000 won in South Korea. Currently the exchange rate is about 1200 won to the dollar, so that would be about 650 or 700 dollars per child. We have five children now. That price included all hospital visits before and after the baby, plus three days of rest in the hospital upon the birth of the baby.
Dear Natahaniel.
Could please give me information about your birth in South Korea. Which hospital it was? I heard it costs 6 000 000 won in Korea, that’s why was worrying to give a birth here
Lets not forget the food, clothing, and shelter for at least 18 years.
Larger cars, health care, college.
Opportunity cost, hundreds of thousands yet worth every penny in this material world.
Wait, what is the definition of a “semi-vegetarian”? Sorry i had to ask because my spouse was a vegitarain prior to meeting me
haha…I gues you could say I’m a “semi-vegetarian.” I have problems digesting meat and a lot of the time I can’t stand the look of it or the texture. I will eat meat, but I prefur not to.
I live in Canada, free health care and still our baby costs a lot of money. I’ve read some of your posts, and I am horrified at how much money the greedy government gets away with charging… i was especially disgusted hearing you have to pay to have your baby in the nicu. What would happen to the baby if you didn’t have the money?
I will never live in the states… its too scary.
use protection and you wont have to pay for it
Sometimes I wish I could get out of the states. It’s true that about 23% of everything we earn is sucked up by taxes. Not to mention the poor businesses that have to pay 1500.00 per employee and are taxed three times!
Having a baby might just leave us with nothing left but current income. It’s too expensive and sadly there are reasons behind it all. People buy what they can’t afford. Debt and taxes are the cause of it all.
I’m having a baby now and its the worst thing that ever happened to me, yea its so called gods gift but I’m to young for this and my job doesn’t even pay me good enough. I already know my life is over, I messed up big time, I guess now ima just work for ever and not even for me, its for a baby I never even wanted, I advice all men out there to please use protection, trust me having a prego girlfriend when u don’t want to have a baby is the worst feeling in this world.
Try to be positive. I know its hard – but what other choice do you have at this point. Rather then feel like shit – you are better off trying to make yourself happy and enjoy it.
Go to the nearest crisis pregnancy center in your area or contact a local Catholic Church and ask for the person in the diocese that handles the “Gabriel Project” or Catholic Charities. There are MANY resources out there through crisis pregnancy centers and churches. This does not have to be the end of the world for you three. I promise!
In the future, look at NFP to help plan your family. http://www.ccli.org/ is a good place to start.
I don’t understand why people are spending $800 a month on groceries. I have an organic garden that requires little care, and anything I don’t grow I get from the farmers market. Eight hundred dollars is just throwing money down the drain. Put that money into a prepaid college fund for your child.
I agree! There are cheaper ways to get organic foods. Plus, it helps to do some research on what foods are worth buying organic and which ones aren’t. Many of the foods with a thick skin, such as avocados, do not matter either way because the pesticides do not go through- and you do not eat the skin to begin with!
I had a baby boy through C-sec, I stayed in the hospital for 4 nights and 3 days, it cost us almost $40,000…
though our insurance paid more than half still whats left is a lot.