How much does it cost to have a baby? Money I spent during my first pregnancy
By: Shannon Mcrae
Tags: Newborn, Baby Budget, Parenting, Budgeting, Pregnancy

How much does it cost to have a baby? Money I spent during my first pregnancy Shannon McRae Apr 17, 2019·5 min read

I kept track of every pregnancy or baby related expense that I had through out my pregnancy and the first month of my child’s life. Here is a break down of that list! In the end I would estimate about $7,454.03 was spent on my first pregnancy and child.

The prices associated with hand-me-down items are how much I estimated those items to be worth.

“No” means “not a gift, I bought this myself”.

“Did not get” means “although I originally thought we would need this, I never ended up buying it or receiving it as a gift.

Clothing

Most of the clothing for our baby we were given as gifts or hand-me-downs. When we were 12 weeks pregnant we bought some Stanford University baby clothes. It will be hard for you to make it through your whole pregnancy without buying at least SOME splurge clothing.

Not listed here but it should be is SLEEP SACK! After your baby can’t be swaddled anymore they need a sleep sack to sleep warmly because they cannot have blankets. We did not buy any sleep sacks while I was pregnant but bought 2 after baby was born, both around $25.

Feeding

If you are breastfeeding you may still want to get an emergency can of formula. I bought a small 90 oz can for $17. I didn’t use the pumping bra until I was back at work. I already had a bottle brush & bin to clean dishes in. If you don’t have these you will want them as well.

Accessories

We got 2 mirrors and 4 sun shades because we have two cars.

Health and Baby Care

Nursery

We got the bassinet from a thrift store. In hindsight this was a bad idea because you NEED baby’s bed to be safe. Buy this new and you will sleep better at night. Also we should have gotten fitted sheets for the pack and play (which is listed in accessories but baby can sleep in as well.)

Bath & Diapering

Once you spend $1000 on your amazon registry you get $100 in diapers or other baby supplies for free. We had 1 box of newborn diapers, 1 box of size 1, and 1 box of size 2.

Daycare

This is what we paid to reserve our spot at Doodle Bugs.

Toys

We also got several hand-me-down books that are not valued here, and over the course of your baby’s life you will get more and more toys. These are just the toys and books we had before she was born.

Conceiving and Other

Normally your health insurance premiums are deducted from your paycheck each month to pay for your health insurance. If you are taking an unpaid leave of absence, you will be responsible for paying these premiums. If you are being paid, then the premiums will continue to deduct from your paychecks as normal.

Doctors Appointments

This is the amount that I was actually charged at each appointment. This will vary a lot depending on your health insurance but it gives you a good idea of what appointments to expect. For more information about that check out Every Pregnancy Doctor’s Appointment. I also had 3 different health insurance plans over the course of my pregnancy (highly do not recommend but what can you do) so the numbers here are all over the place.

Birth

I had a vaginal delivery and an epidural. The “Jeannie money” listed here is the amount of money that was charged to our baby as the patient, as opposed to the mother as the patient.

This will obviously be different for everyone, but what really got me was how much the hospital does not want you to know how much this is going to cost. Even the bills afterward are very hard to read, and I have no idea what I am actually paying for. Also, why are there so many separate bills? And why do they come months and months after the procedure?

Totals

Our total costs of having our first baby end up at $7,454.03. Of this, we paid $4,174.27, and we were given in gifts or hand me downs items that I valued at a total of $3,098.76.