Budgeting for Baby – The First Month (Part 2 of 3)

Posted: 09 Jan 2009 07:52 PM CST

The first month is the month of excitement for new parents and is also the time for your bank account to feel the impact on your finances from starting a family.

Before your bundle of joy arrives back home, you would have to consider the following:

1. Caregiver
2. Clothes & Accessories
3. Room and furniture

The figures given are approximate as the pricing varies a lot with brand you choose especially for bigger ticket items such as cots, strollers, car seat etc.

1) Caregiver

Some families hire a confinement nanny to help out with the mother and baby. In some cases, if you have a mother or mother-in-law who is able to help, that would be a bonus. Confinement nannies don’t come cheap. They cost about $1,800 to $1,900 a month to hire. You may be considering getting a foreign domestic worker (FDW) or a maid to help out. They can cost $330-$350 if you are hiring a FDW from Philippines. The foreign worker levy is $265 or $170 (concessionary rate if you qualify).

2) Clothes and Accessories

Baby clothes can cost $3-5 a piece for top and bottom. Baby detergent is also recommended to clean baby’s clothes separate from the adults’ clothes. Your diapers ($26 per pack), wipes ($3 per pack) and drapolene ($5) /destitin ($12)cream, luyi oil ($2) are all consumables that need to be factored into your budgeting.

Your baby’s bathing accessories are also needed. Nowadays, hospitals provide individual baby bathtubs for hygiene purposes. But you would need to get baby bath, shampoo etc. For my daughter, we use Lactycyd ($9 a bottle) which is a PH neutral bathing liquid you pour into the wash. You may not need to get a lot of shampoo as sometimes the hospital’s baby goodie bag come with free samples from manufacturers.

3) Room and Furniture

This is the major capital cost of having a baby. A cot ($200-$500) and mattress ($40-$100) is required. Lining the sides of the cot with a bumper is helpful later on when your baby learns to crawl and sit up. Having at least 2-3 bedsheets are handy for times when your child accidentally wets the bed (when the diapers are not fastened securely or when the baby regurgitates milk).

If your place has mosquitoes, a mosquito net is highly recommended as a physical barrier is the most effective way of preventing mosquito bites.

When feeding your baby, a bassinet for feeding could be useful and later-on, a high chair when your baby becomes old enough to sit up.

How do you get your baby from point A to point B? A stroller ($80-$1000) is also helpful to transport junior from point to point. If you drive and use your vehicle to carry your child, a baby car-seat ($200-$500) that can take in infants up until they are 18 kg in weight.

A visit to Baby Hypermart or Baby’s Kingdom is helpful as you can find out what is the costs like for various brands of cots, strollers, car-seats, high chairs and other related accessories. Baby stuff nowadays costs more perhaps due to the fact that with fewer children, parents are willing to spend more on better quality items for their precious offspring.

Money Saving Tips

Given that you roughly know when your baby will be due, it’s good to make a trip to find out prices and ranges of stuff you may need for your baby BEFORE he/she arrives.

Unless your baby is born just before the Lunar New year period, you can get the other stuff as and when you need it. I.e. stroller, high chair.  No need to go overboard by buying everything in advance. During the first month, you won’t be bringing baby out much so the cot, mattress, mosquito net (optional), clothes and bathing accessories are important. Thus, it’ll be useful to check out nearby shops around your neighbourhood for stores selling baby consumables and accessories. There will be items you need/realise you need along the way.

Your baby will grow up very fast, so you don’t have to buy large quantities of clothes and toys that he/she will outgrow. Friends and relatives can be very helpful in donating used items that are in good condition, check around for hand-me downs. Even for my daughter, we accepted hand-me downs as many of baby’s clothes last only 3-6 months, after that, they start to become too small for her to wear.

The important thing is to set aside some budget for these plus contingencies so that you are in a better position to budget for baby.

Be well and prosper.

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