Baby/postpartum expenses - am I overlooking anything? - Page 2

[neonalee]

That's a great list - I'm definitely going to use it and some of these replies myself (we use CraigsList and get hand me downs as well). This is my first so I can't say about what might be missing or not get used, but I will say that my washing machine (an LG front load) was the one splurge I allowed myself when we bought our house. I said to DP - *if* we ever decide to have kids I want to CD and therefore I need a good washing machine. I LOVE my front load, it's huge and can wash as little or as much as I need it to. We're just very lucky that the dryer (that we didn't replace) was big enough to handle the big stuff since we didn't think of that before hand!! Good luck!

[BreakfastyMichele]

As JessieBird said, if you haven't bought it all yet, hold off on some things.

I'd add to her list: blankets, bibs and baby clothes.

You don't need tons of these. You'll use blankets more in the colder months, and even then you'll only use them over the baby's carrier when you use it. We had a dozen blankets and dozens of receiving blankets, and we used two miracle blankets for swaddling and three other blankets for keeping her warm outside.

I didn't have a spitty, drooly baby, so we didn't have her in bibs until she started solids. And then, you want the BIG bibs with pockets.

With a summer baby, you'd be fine with a bunch of t-shirts in size 0-3. Sure, another outfit or two, but little (snappy, not over-the-head) t-shirts are most necessary. We plan to let our July babe live in t-shirts and diapers for the first couple months. Start the real clothes in size 3-6. For any given size, we had ~10 onesies, a few pairs of pants, ~6 sleepers and a couple rompers. Honestly, you won't know how you're going to want to dress your kid until it's out. (For instance, we had a bunch of rompers for her first summer, but she learned to crawl before five months, so she just wanted to be in onesies, so she could scoot. And we discovered too late that we loathed zip-up pajamas.) So don't feel the need to buy everything now.

One thing I'd add to your list: a nursing pillow. For my money, skip the boppy and go straight to My Brest Friend.

Good luck!

[zenproof]

here also to chime in about our unforseen costs:

tongue tie (frenulum clipped) $250

SEVERAL LC visits. $400+ it took us 10 very long weeks to get breastfeeding figured out. 10 WEEKS!!!!! ack.

FOOD FOOD FOOD! oh the value of frozen meals.

Cleaning help. yes. yes. yes.

[belltree]

Another expense that might come up is a high chair. I mention it, because you have already teething things ready. A baby toothbrush wouldn't be bad at that point either.

On another note, our little guy didn't wear clothes the first 3 weeks (and it was New England winter), just skin to skin in my bathrobe or wrapped in a blanket.

A CD with white noise to help your baby calm down or sleep, but you can make this yourself or download it cheaply.

Books to read while nursing or books on tape, but you can get those from the library.

[colsxjack]

We are also from Canada! Hello.

One thing we bought that you never mentioned was a noise machine. It plays many different calming noises such as womb, waves, rain, stream, etc. We have used it every night since our baby was born 9 months ago. It helps all of us sleep.

We are co-sleepers and still think the arms reach was the best investment. We use it to start the baby off for the night. And there are times when my DW just wants a little more space and can slide our DD into it and get some sleeping space until the baby wakes up again. Then she just pulls her into the bed with us again.
Also, it can become a play pen afterwards, although we have never used it as such.

The swing and bouncy we got for free. And although our DD never loved either of them, they came in handy when we had to put her down. She could last 5-10 minutes in either. Just long enough to run to the washroom or grab a snack.

Personally I would buy the washer. We do not have one and I spend 3 hours every Saturday washing numerous loads of laundry at the laundromat. I even did cloth diapers like that until I gave up and hired a diaper service. I would give anything for a washer.
You can get good lactation consultants for free if needed. The hospital you give birth at should have them. Also, if you have a midwife they will give lots of support for the first 6 weeks. Ours came to our house every day for the first week and phoned a couple of other times during the day.

I would get sleep sacks. Summer weight and winter weight. We love them. They keep the baby nice and comfortable and you dont have to worry about them kicking their covers off or putting them under your covers.

[hildare]

debating whether to add this or no, but, for the sake of planning, i will.
if the only extra money you have would be spent for the washer, i'd think a little longer about it.

also something else to think about:
you may want at some point to have someone come help you with the babe- if you don't have a good free support system, a good sitter to come watch your lo in home as you do work you've been neglecting, take a bath, etc. or give you a break to get frisky or go on a date with your partner.. it's good to budget for that too.

also, (you got a pump so i'm assuming you're pumping some) my dd ended up not being compatable with a whole range of bottles and i shelled out lots of dough to end up with the "right" ones (breastflow)..
i guess my point is, to give yourself a good bit of "padding" with the budget for the unexpected. good luck!!!!!!!!!!!

ah/ i am editing this b/c i see that you are canadian. i guess the hospital thing is not an issue for you!!!!

[zenproof]

marpac sound machine. RULES.

its the most perfect white noise out there.

there is always the $20 ikea highchair. we love ours!

[Jacqui]

I second the Noise Machine! It is much easier than having to discover your baby needs noise to sleep and running the hair dryer all night! Homedics has one for around $20 it has definitely been in our top 3 of baby items we could not live without. The other 2 being our ergo and sadly our bouncy chair (where our little guy still takes his naps at 6 months.!) but you sound way more prepared than I ever was!

Good job on the huge cloth diaper stash. We are washing our 12 cloth diapers every other day!
Maybe pick out a few books you would enjoy reading for those early days where lots of time is spent sitting and nursing. ...and food food food! Breast feeding moms can never have enough food!

[Jacqui]

if you have the extra money planning for a postpartum doula a few times a week for the fist few weeks would be lovely.....

[hotharmony]

My suggestion is for the washing machine BUT an $800 washer is a lot especially if you are cloth diapering, consider getting a normal washer and not a front load HE since you want more water to wash your diapers in.

I have ready many threads on women returning their brand new HE washers for old fashion top loaders.

[belltree]

Originally Posted by hotharmony

not a front load HE since you want more water to wash your diapers in.

I have heard that now multiple times, but I don't get it. People in Europe cloth diaper as well and over there front loaders are the norm. I cloth diaper as well and don't have problems with our frontloader either.

[lizsky]

I'm not an expert (just had my 1st baby 5 weeks ago), but the thing I'd add is you may need clothes for yourself. I used to wear size small shirts pre-pregnancy and none of them fit now...with my larger chest I need size large. This shouldn't be a very big expense though...I'm sure you could borrow them or get them cheap off craigslist. (I personally have preferred tops with easy access for breastfeeding...most days I wear a nursing bra or nursing tank under a zip hoodie)

Congratulations mama!

[expat-mama]

[1stBabyAt39]

Here's another vote for food! It's great to have easy food on hand that doesn't require a lot of prep. I sent DH out for fruit, granola bars, bagels, etc. the day we came home from the hospital. And it was wonderful when people brought us meals!

One thing that helped tremendously was taking a breastfeeding class beforehand. Have you taken one or signed up for one? It might cut down on the lactation consultant expenses after your baby comes. When it came time to BF the baby for the first time, it went really well & luckily we didn't need any further assistance. The nurses in the hospital checked to make sure she latched on properly twice before they released us, but that was about it.

Other than that, you have a great list! Oh, and I also second the My Brest Friend pillow. It's the one thing I have used several times a day every day.

[batsister]

You sound well-prepared, and others have given some great suggestions/feedback. I'll add:
-you don't necessarily need to pay for lactation help. LLL leaders are volunteers, and in addition, some pediatricians' offices have LCs that are included in the first few visits (quality can vary, however).
-you may want to save some of the money for printing birth announcements and photos (also, have a digital camera with memory cards on hand), if that interests you
-if you have family that live far away, you could use surplus for travel money to take the baby to see family when s/he is a few months old.
-good idea having multiple wraps/carriers

Good luck!

[7swans]

One thing I'd add to your list: a nursing pillow. For my money, skip the boppy and go straight to My Brest Friend.

I have a hand-me-down Jolly Jumper nursing pillow from when my niece was a baby, but I have been eying the My Brest Friend. I hadn't seen any reviews of it, so I'm glad to hear that it's good! I'll add it to my "if we can afford it" list.

Books to read while nursing or books on tape, but you can get those from the library.

Books on tape, that's a fantastic idea! I will have to go to the library soon and stock up.

We are also from Canada! Hello.
...
You can get good lactation consultants for free if needed. The hospital you give birth at should have them. Also, if you have a midwife they will give lots of support for the first 6 weeks. Ours came to our house every day for the first week and phoned a couple of other times during the day.

It's always nice to meet a fellow canuck. DH is actually from Toronto, too.

I think we will end up going with the free lactation consultants if we need more help than we can afford. Sadly, we were not able to get a midwife, but we have a couple of postpartum visits with our doula so that should help a bit. Your midwife sounds awesome and I really, really wish we could have found one.

debating whether to add this or no, but, for the sake of planning, i will.
if the only extra money you have would be spent for the washer, i'd think a little longer about it.

also something else to think about:
you may want at some point to have someone come help you with the babe- if you don't have a good free support system, a good sitter to come watch your lo in home as you do work you've been neglecting, take a bath, etc. or give you a break to get frisky or go on a date with your partner.. it's good to budget for that too.

I did a little bit of recalculating, and it would clear out our baby fund (other than the money put aside for the LC, etc.) for about a week or two. The washer is on sale right now, otherwise I'd wait a little longer. We do have a regular savings account, but we try not to touch it. We've been putting about $500 a month aside for the baby, so it shouldn't take too long to replenish the $800 we're looking at spending. It looks like she might arrive a little bit early, so that's the reason I'm a little worried!

We're lucky enough to live a couple of blocks from my father, who is retired and will be helping us out a ton for the first few months. I definitely want to get him something nice to say thank you, so I'm going to add that into the budget!

marpac sound machine. RULES.

its the most perfect white noise out there.

Homedics has one for around $20 it has definitely been in our top 3 of baby items we could not live without

Ooh, I'm going to look for those because the only one I've seen is from Conair and it didn't have great reviews.

My suggestion is for the washing machine BUT an $800 washer is a lot especially if you are cloth diapering, consider getting a normal washer and not a front load HE since you want more water to wash your diapers in.

It is a lot of money, but that's including tax, delivery and a 5 year warranty. It's actually a HE top loader, which has really great reviews from cloth diaper users. It's also one of the few that's supposed to be great for people who live on upper levels (we're on the 2nd floor). It's the Maytag Bravos, if anyone is interested. It may not be as great as it sounds, but after doing our research I feel pretty good about it. We actually used to have a front loader and I hated it!

I'm not an expert (just had my 1st baby 5 weeks ago), but the thing I'd add is you may need clothes for yourself.

Definitely a good idea! We already dedicate part of our budget to clothes, luckily. I was tempted to get some maternity clothes that are more suitable for the warmer weather, but I've decided to tough it out in my jeans and save the money for postpartum stuff.

One thing that helped tremendously was taking a breastfeeding class beforehand. Have you taken one or signed up for one? It might cut down on the lactation consultant expenses after your baby comes.

I'll have to look into that. I don't know if there are any offered near us, but I would definitely love to take one. I did pick up Dr. Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding and the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. I'm starting to read them now so hopefully that will help out. It's good to hear from someone who didn't have issues! It makes me feel a little less stressed about it.

if you have family that live far away, you could use surplus for travel money to take the baby to see family when s/he is a few months old.

That's one thing I was forgetting about! We'd like to visit my SIL this summer so I'll have to add some train tickets into the budget.

It's been really great reading everyone's ideas! It's definitely given me a lot to think about. We're going to take a look at the washer tomorrow night and if they can sweeten the deal a little bit we will probably get it. I'm going to continue putting as much money aside as we can, though, and I'm definitely going to up our food budget a bit!