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VillageGir
I'd love to hear what one (or more) thing (or things) you parents absolutely loved during your child's newborn weeks and the first year. I'm thinking about my baby list and registry. Thanks!
@Andrew: what exactly do you mean? Like, earplugs for dad? Yeah, um, that's not gonna work in our family. We're taking turns getting the baby.
Answer
My twins nursing pillow. I only use it for them one at a time, but if I was stuck on a desert island with them and could only bring one thing... that would be it.
Although without diapers it would get pretty stinky.
You can't take them home without a car seat of course.
For toys the doorway jumper KILLS SLAUGHTERS DESTROYS and ANNIHALATES all other toys. My guys are 5 months and been rocking out on them for 2 months.
ONLY the Graco is worth getting. I got the Evenflo - SUCKS. Worthless in comparison.
Graco doorway jumper cost $30, but worth $300 for fun.
I have all the stuff, all the toys, everything. For toys, Graco doorway jumper. I feel sorry for babies who don't have them.
I got the slings, I got the baby bjorns, I have the infant swings, bumbos, boppys, activity mat (okay, that one is IMPORTANT), I have 3 strollers, I have lots of bottles, pacifiers etc. gotta go with nursing pillow for feeding and for toys that doorway jumper.
I use prefolds and thirsties cloth diapers to. Much Much cheaper than disposables. For cloth get those, but if not using cloth that's fine to.
I change my guys on a waterproof mat on the floor. It is 1000 times better than a changing table. Because we do naked tummy time, play with them before and after changing... we do tons of floor time, and just change a diaper while we are down there.
I didn't have much help with the cleaning. Would have been great, but everyone who came to help me wanted to give them a bottle instead of helping me clean but I was breastfeeding so had to constantly tell them (my mom mostly) no. *sigh* Yes, help cleaning would have been nice.
Oh wait, an infant scale. I found that reduced my worries when breastfeeding. If you start to doubt your supply etc. you just weigh the baby and make sure they are gaining properly. Well worth the money. Pillow trumps it, but it is still a great thing to have for $30 from amazon.com. It also is a standing toddler scale for when they get bigger. Regular scales don't weight things less than 50 pounds very accurately, and infants not at all!
The best gift I got was my double electric breast pump... and the Kiddopotamus swaddlers! That is a tie actually. No, swaddlers win. Those velcro swaddlers will give you an extra couple hours of sleep or so a night. You want those very very much. Just 1 is fine. Costs about $12.
My twins nursing pillow. I only use it for them one at a time, but if I was stuck on a desert island with them and could only bring one thing... that would be it.
Although without diapers it would get pretty stinky.
You can't take them home without a car seat of course.
For toys the doorway jumper KILLS SLAUGHTERS DESTROYS and ANNIHALATES all other toys. My guys are 5 months and been rocking out on them for 2 months.
ONLY the Graco is worth getting. I got the Evenflo - SUCKS. Worthless in comparison.
Graco doorway jumper cost $30, but worth $300 for fun.
I have all the stuff, all the toys, everything. For toys, Graco doorway jumper. I feel sorry for babies who don't have them.
I got the slings, I got the baby bjorns, I have the infant swings, bumbos, boppys, activity mat (okay, that one is IMPORTANT), I have 3 strollers, I have lots of bottles, pacifiers etc. gotta go with nursing pillow for feeding and for toys that doorway jumper.
I use prefolds and thirsties cloth diapers to. Much Much cheaper than disposables. For cloth get those, but if not using cloth that's fine to.
I change my guys on a waterproof mat on the floor. It is 1000 times better than a changing table. Because we do naked tummy time, play with them before and after changing... we do tons of floor time, and just change a diaper while we are down there.
I didn't have much help with the cleaning. Would have been great, but everyone who came to help me wanted to give them a bottle instead of helping me clean but I was breastfeeding so had to constantly tell them (my mom mostly) no. *sigh* Yes, help cleaning would have been nice.
Oh wait, an infant scale. I found that reduced my worries when breastfeeding. If you start to doubt your supply etc. you just weigh the baby and make sure they are gaining properly. Well worth the money. Pillow trumps it, but it is still a great thing to have for $30 from amazon.com. It also is a standing toddler scale for when they get bigger. Regular scales don't weight things less than 50 pounds very accurately, and infants not at all!
The best gift I got was my double electric breast pump... and the Kiddopotamus swaddlers! That is a tie actually. No, swaddlers win. Those velcro swaddlers will give you an extra couple hours of sleep or so a night. You want those very very much. Just 1 is fine. Costs about $12.
She's pregnant. What are some of the costs associated with pregnancy and child rearing?
Joe Schmoe
Neither of us have ever had kids. What will be the biggest challenge? How much does day care cost? Diapers? Etc.? Will I be able to finish college? I need to hear about other peoples' experiences.
Answer
My husband is an accountant and figured this out as much as he could. Please be aware that we live in a high cost area so we are paying more than say, the Midwest.
1. Medical care - Maternity care and the doctor's fee for delivery is usually a flat rate. This includes all your prenatal visits and a basic vaginal delivery fee for the delivering physician. This does not cover blood work, ultrasounds, urology testing, vaginal cultures, etc. These are billed at whatever rate you have with your insurer. The actual stay at the hospital will be a room, bed, nursing plus materials cost. I would call your local hospital and insurer to figure out approximately what this will come to.
2. Day care. Completely depends on who, how and where. Count on at least $800/month on the low side for home-run daycare with much more for a franchise facility. We are fortunate in our area because we can get qualified nannies who are recent immigrants who will cook, clean and watch the children for $1000/month.
3. Diapers. Cloth diapers are more work, but less expensive. Cloth diapers now are entirely different from what they used to be. http://www.fuzzibunz.com/ http://www.happyheinys.com/ If you go with disposables, buy them from Sam's Club or Costco or equivalent. I would buy wipes in bulk from them as well. If we buy them from a local store, they run about $18-20/pack. The packs get smaller as the sizes get bigger. They start at around 40 diapers and go down from there. Babies go through about a dozen diapers a day to start and then taper down some. You will spend a ton of money here.
4. Feeding. Breastfeeding saves well over $1000/year. You will need a breast pump which runs up to $350. (Buy a good one such as a Medela dual electric.) You will also need smaller items such as nursing bras, nursing pads, etc. You will want to have some bottles and maybe a bottle warmer on hand so that she can express her milk with the pump, and others can feed the baby when she is not with him. I can't speak to formula feeding. We aren't planning on going that route.
5. Setup costs. Buying used can save you a ton of money, but you will need to do research to ensure that the items meet safety standards. I would suggest www.craigslist.com. Do NOT buy a used crib mattress. Buy this new for sanitary and safety reasons. I would also suggest that you buy a new infant car seat and base. If the car is ever in an accident of any kind, the infant seat and base must be replaced, even if they look perfectly undamaged. I wouldn't risk someone's selling you a seat that may have been in an accident. We had to buy new since in our area, the cost weirdly ends up being the same between the 'normal stuff' that we would buy and the used 'ultra-luxury' stuff that people sell. We budgeted $2000 and came in just below that, but that included everything - car seat, base, stroller, crib, mattress, changing table, all possible accessories, breast pump with all other breastfeeding items, bottles and nipples, bottle warmer, toys, glider rocker with ottoman, clothes, 500 wipes, 2 -3 weeks worth of diapers, etc. For this amount, we completely and fully outfitted an entire nursery by shopping sales, generous baby showers, and spending a lot of time online looking for quality, but less expensive baby furniture. We did buy a changing table that is really a dresser with a change table on top so that we didn't have to buy him a dresser when he is a toddler or to use for both children if we have a second (dresser for the first and changing table top for the second).
Our pregnancy was a complete and total surprise. (We were told that I probably couldn't have children.) We immediately began to save and make financial arrangements. We also reduced our expenses by cutting down on si
My husband is an accountant and figured this out as much as he could. Please be aware that we live in a high cost area so we are paying more than say, the Midwest.
1. Medical care - Maternity care and the doctor's fee for delivery is usually a flat rate. This includes all your prenatal visits and a basic vaginal delivery fee for the delivering physician. This does not cover blood work, ultrasounds, urology testing, vaginal cultures, etc. These are billed at whatever rate you have with your insurer. The actual stay at the hospital will be a room, bed, nursing plus materials cost. I would call your local hospital and insurer to figure out approximately what this will come to.
2. Day care. Completely depends on who, how and where. Count on at least $800/month on the low side for home-run daycare with much more for a franchise facility. We are fortunate in our area because we can get qualified nannies who are recent immigrants who will cook, clean and watch the children for $1000/month.
3. Diapers. Cloth diapers are more work, but less expensive. Cloth diapers now are entirely different from what they used to be. http://www.fuzzibunz.com/ http://www.happyheinys.com/ If you go with disposables, buy them from Sam's Club or Costco or equivalent. I would buy wipes in bulk from them as well. If we buy them from a local store, they run about $18-20/pack. The packs get smaller as the sizes get bigger. They start at around 40 diapers and go down from there. Babies go through about a dozen diapers a day to start and then taper down some. You will spend a ton of money here.
4. Feeding. Breastfeeding saves well over $1000/year. You will need a breast pump which runs up to $350. (Buy a good one such as a Medela dual electric.) You will also need smaller items such as nursing bras, nursing pads, etc. You will want to have some bottles and maybe a bottle warmer on hand so that she can express her milk with the pump, and others can feed the baby when she is not with him. I can't speak to formula feeding. We aren't planning on going that route.
5. Setup costs. Buying used can save you a ton of money, but you will need to do research to ensure that the items meet safety standards. I would suggest www.craigslist.com. Do NOT buy a used crib mattress. Buy this new for sanitary and safety reasons. I would also suggest that you buy a new infant car seat and base. If the car is ever in an accident of any kind, the infant seat and base must be replaced, even if they look perfectly undamaged. I wouldn't risk someone's selling you a seat that may have been in an accident. We had to buy new since in our area, the cost weirdly ends up being the same between the 'normal stuff' that we would buy and the used 'ultra-luxury' stuff that people sell. We budgeted $2000 and came in just below that, but that included everything - car seat, base, stroller, crib, mattress, changing table, all possible accessories, breast pump with all other breastfeeding items, bottles and nipples, bottle warmer, toys, glider rocker with ottoman, clothes, 500 wipes, 2 -3 weeks worth of diapers, etc. For this amount, we completely and fully outfitted an entire nursery by shopping sales, generous baby showers, and spending a lot of time online looking for quality, but less expensive baby furniture. We did buy a changing table that is really a dresser with a change table on top so that we didn't have to buy him a dresser when he is a toddler or to use for both children if we have a second (dresser for the first and changing table top for the second).
Our pregnancy was a complete and total surprise. (We were told that I probably couldn't have children.) We immediately began to save and make financial arrangements. We also reduced our expenses by cutting down on si
Title Post: What is the one thing you couldn't live without when your baby was born?
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Rating: 92% based on 925 ratings. 4 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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