How Much Does it Cost to Have a baby?
The joy of having a baby is incomparable. There’s this certain ecstatic feeling from the time you learned that another bundle of joy will soon be added to your family up until the moment he or she is born. However, it is also an inevitable fact that because of this event, we have to be prepared, not only physically and emotionally but financially as well. The pleasure of having a baby is priceless but we also have to admit that having one is really costly.
How mush does it cost to have a baby? At the onset of pregnancy there are already lots of things that we have to buy or be prepared for. Pre-natal check ups, including laboratory tests, ultrasound, vitamins and other medications can roughly amount to around $1000 – $1500. You also have to allot a budget for the baby’s needs, like the infant wear, feeding bottles, etc. Childbirth is another occurrence that you have to prepare for. Nowadays a normal delivery could be around $5000 to $8000, Caesarian delivery is more expensive ranging form around $10,000- $12,000. These estimates do not include unexpected expenses due to complications.
After childbirth, there are more expenses that you have to be prepared for. These include the cost for the baby’s diapers until he or she is potty-trained. More or less this will be around $1600- $2300 at 7-8 diaper changes a day. You can save by using cloth diapers, provided that you are to launder them. If you are to hire a laundry or diaper service then it could be as expensive as disposable diapers also. Most importantly, we have to prepare to spend for the baby’s milk formula. It will approximately cost you around $1500 – $2500 until the baby reaches 1 year old. That’s why breastfeeding is advised, not only because of its nutritional value but because it will give you a considerable amount of savings. You can use that savings for other things like adding a baby’s room, other baby needs like a stroller, car seat, crib, etc. Other significant things that you have to be prepared for are the baby’s check-ups, vitamins, medication and immunization. This will more or less cost you around $2000- $3000. Moreover, if you decide on going back to work, childcare can almost cost you around $3000 to $4500. These estimates exclude unexpected expenses while the baby is growing up.
Being given these cost estimates for having a baby, just shows that we should be financially stable before we decide on having one. Deciding to have a baby certainly entails a lot of responsibility. Therefore, family planning is advised. The expenses of having a baby does not end there, child rearing could definitely cost a lot more. So, we should be all the more careful in our actions and decisions.
Babies are undeniably one of the God’s most precious gift and for us to be able to show our appreciation and gratitude to Him, for giving us these little angels, we should be able to take care of them appropriately.
Related posts:
Filed Under Costs, Health | 1 Comment
Tagged With Cost to Have a Baby, How Much Does it Cost to Have a baby, What does it Cost to Have a Baby
Comments
One Response to “How Much Does it Cost to Have a baby?”
Leave a Reply
my wife and I just had a baby boy and we just got the bill from the hospital. we didn’t use any drugs, not even an iv for the delivery. Just for the deliver it was $2600. Each night in the room was just over one thousand dollars. all in all just for the hospital for my wife and new son it was just over $8,000, and that doesn’t even include pre-natal care or pediatrician care. It is totally crazy.