The final year of my life was past far the all-time year of my life. Why? Well, I had the amazing opportunity to scout my son, Ryker, grow upwards! As any first-time parent will tell you, Aye, in that location are undoubtedly tough times. Notwithstanding, i small smile, giggle, or milestone makes you forget the tough (sleepless) nights. Ryker was non the world's best sleeper until well-nigh eight months, so my wife and I had an ongoing joke that anything said between midnight and 4 am was non allowed to be brought up always once more. Boy, if these walls could talk.

One of my favorite things well-nigh working with our Gen Ten & Gen Y clients is that nosotros are going through or have gone through recently similar life events. Before we bought our showtime home, I retrieve beingness at a disadvantage when advising on the topic. Yes, of course, I knew the textbook answers, but we all know real life is the ultimate learning experience. The aforementioned holds truthful for having a child. I knew the budget details, the costs, the 529 plans, adding guardians, etc., merely I didn't accept the real life experience. Well today, I share the ultimate first year babe budget! That's correct, I am going to share every major price that we encountered in the showtime year of our son'south life.

The inspiration for this post is from all our amazing clients who are preparing to have their first child or recently have. I am often asked, "what does information technology cost," and I always had a good respond but I didn't have "our" answer listed out. Today that changes.

At the very stop of this mail service I have included an excel spreadsheet. In this spreadsheet, I have each topic listed with our dollar amount. The sheet is grade fillable, so please take a copy and brand it your own.

As a reminder, this was our experience, and information technology is not to say our choices are the aforementioned choices yous will make, but nosotros exercise believe we followed a rather traditional path.

PRE-Infant: Hospital & Doc Costs

I consider myself well versed in health insurance. Technically, I am a licensed health insurance agent, just I don't sell information technology. Yet, I learned a lot during this experience.

The first particular up is Mommy wellness visits (besides known as prenatal visits). We had these visits from the first fourth dimension we heard our lilliputian stinky butt's heartbeat until we met him for the showtime fourth dimension. The good news is that in one case you pay your first co-pay, it should cover all of them. Y'all should confirm this with your insurance provider, nevertheless that is the case for most.

Prenatal Co-Pay= $30

There were some other events that nosotros had to pay out of pocket for including ultrasounds (not covered for some reason…) and 1 other test that we opted for to make sure Ryker was safety. We besides had a minor fright when Ryker didn't kick for a brusque period of time, even later a sugary drink, so we ran to the emergency room (Y'all know, first-fourth dimension parent stuff). While it stinks to pay, I would do it every time just for the peace of mind. Okay, so add upwardly all those items and here is the full. We had an average health insurance plan, and then this may be on the high side (or low side with minimal coverage).

Miscellaneous Prenatal Items= $ane,208.74 ($281 of that was for our extra emergency room trip when Ryker wasn't kick, aka taking a very long nap!)

Fast frontwards 9-months, and information technology is Ryker's 24-hour interval! The first fault nosotros made was that we got to the infirmary at a bad fourth dimension. If yous ever saw The Part episode where Pam is trying to hold off until midnight, that is a skilful idea. We got to the hospital around 7pm afterward Mari's water broke. That lead to three nights in Penn Hospital. And while Penn is one of the best hospitals in the globe, it is also one of the most expensive. The total bill from Penn Hospital was $28,249. I know what yous're thinking, no style it toll that much, well the proof is beneath! This was not a C-section and we were but in the labor room for a total of six hours and a few nurses even noted that it was the easiest and quickest delivery.

The cost of having a baby.

Not only did we hit our deductible in 2017, just we also hit our out of pocket maximum for the year. The final neb that we were left to pay was $5,208.91.

Pro Tip: If yous are planning to take a baby in a given year, make sure you lot sympathize your deductible and out of pocket maximum. In that location is a good chance yous will striking them. When shopping for health insurance, inquire for a copy of the Summary of Benefits and Coverage. I attached one for you lot, scroll down to page seven, and read "Peg is having a baby."  That should be a pretty good approximate of your costs. I believe every insurance plan now provides this estimate in the benefits summary.

Ryker'due south Birth: $five,208.91

Next department, preparing for the babe to come up home!

PRE-Baby: Nursery

We bought our current firm because the family that lived here before united states did a great job on their nursery, it was so good that we didn't change a thing. The paint colors, lights, shelves, etc. were all perfect. The only thing we had to practice was furnish, so correct off the bat we saved a few bucks there.

Ryker's nursery has a crib, rocking chair, dresser with changing table and another dresser. The rocking chair and dresser were gifts.

Pro Tip: Brand certain you are actually proficient at your infant registry. Don't be afraid to tell people what you need or ask for cash or souvenir cards to Amazon/buybuyBABY.

Nursery Cost: $794.96 (crib and dresser with changing table)

Crazy story: Nosotros bought those items from Babies"R"Us when they were on the brink of bankruptcy. When the items arrived we took them upstairs and noticed they were damaged. The marks were noticeable only didn't compromise the items. However, if yous put a very pregnant and hormonal presently-to-exist Mommy on the phone you lot will be amazed at the bargaining power. By the stop of the phone call, Babies"R"Us didn't want the liability of picking the items upwardly and shipping them back. The items were heavy, and we have a crazy staircase to our 3rd flooring. And then crazy, that when we moved into our business firm the mover cruel down our stairs with Mari'south part desk and the desk went through the wall in two places. Babies"R"United states refunded united states $720.78! That's right, Mari negotiated a 90% discount! The post-obit day they filed bankruptcy (I am simply kidding merely information technology was soon after). Nosotros lucked out here and paid a total of $74.18 to furnish our nursery.

PRE-BABY: Miscellaneous Items

Babies require a lot of items, I volition list out many of our big items, but I am sure to miss a few odds and ends.

Stroller: $500

Nosotros went with the UPPAbaby Cruz (Nosotros have an awesome friend that we trust with all her babe enquiry and suggestions. Hi Bianca!). The grandmas split the toll of this and bought it for us. Nosotros as well waited for the next year'south model to come out which saved united states nigh $50 at buybuyBABY.

Our only regret was that nosotros should have looked at the UPPAbaby Vista since we program to accept another child. The Cruz is perfect for 1 baby, but if you plan to have some other baby in the virtually futurity take a look at the Vista which can aggrandize to fit two kids (technically three kids with the skateboard characteristic).

Machine Seat: $300

You lot need this to become the infant home! I believe a lot of hospitals volition check the car seat before you get out, simply they didn't at Penn for some reason. Maybe they causeless nosotros were walking home… However, we did have our car seat to a costless rubber bank check at Penn Hospital a few weeks before Ryker was born to brand certain Dad installed it correctly. While it was about 75% correct, they did gear up a few things, so this is a good thought to double cheque! This was a free safety bank check. If you want to find one in your area, use this Car Seat Inspection search tool and enter your zippo code. Also, AAA offers free checks once per calendar month.

Ours: UPPAbaby Mesa; I loved that car seat and thought it was corking!

Mamaroo: $250 (including the baby insert)

It's like a spaceship for infants. Information technology was a cool item and Ryker liked it for a few of his early months and then he wasn't a fan. If I had to do information technology again, I don't call up this was worth the cost. However, some parents say information technology was the all-time money e'er spent. We kept ours, then hopefully the second babe will be a bigger fan.

Ours: 4moms mamaRoo.

Bassinet: $225 (Originally $250 but we got 10% off)

When you lot bring home an infant, you can't just place them in the crib and let them sleep peacefully (That would be nice though!). So they sleep in this lilliputian baby bed beside Mom and Dad's bed called a bassinet.

Ours: HALO Bassinest Premiere

Again, there are a lot of piddling things! I have a receipt from Babies"R"Us for $372 which was for his mattress, swaddles, pacifies, bottles, medicine, etc. I have another i for similar items for some other $279. Both of those trips were pre-Ryker so that was prepping for him. I am sure I tin find another $450 between Amazon and Target without any problems. While I don't recall we overspent, I don't call up we underspent either.

We as well had a fair corporeality of greenbacks and gift cards that did help to offset a lot of the small costs. Over again, exist smart with your baby registry!

Use this budget from babycenter and scroll down to their "One-Time Costs" section which does a wonderful job listing EVERYthing you lot may purchase.

Miscellaneous: $i,000

Postal service-BABY: Health Care

In one case your infant is born, he or she volition now have their own wellness visits just as Mommy did. The good news is that the same rule applies, one co-pay covers all the wellness visits in year one and there are a lot; ane calendar week, 1 calendar month, 2 months, iv months, 6 months, ix months, and 12 months.

Ryker's Wellness Visits: $thirty

As first-year parents you will probably have two-3 visits to the doctor for coughs and rashes. Nosotros had 2 visits in Ryker's first year.

Extra Medico Trips: $70 - $lx (2x co-pays of $30 each) + $10 for a medication or two

If this is your first child, your health insurance cost is going to go upwards. Your bodily insurance plan volition increase to a family programme. I tin't put a dollar value on this because every programme is different.

Pro Tip: If you and your spouse are on separate plans, now may exist a adept fourth dimension to get the entire family on one programme. I am still amazed past how many are on separate plans, and I think the biggest factor is that it is a lot to comprehend when making a alter with health insurance plans. The main reason to be on ane plan as a family is one family deductible/out-of-pocket maximum.

Family Health Care Programme: Increasing

Postal service-BABY: Kid Care and Bodyguard

Child care is no joke today! You should be prepared to add a 2nd mortgage on your budget just without the actual 2nd dwelling.

Allow's start with the average in Pennsylvania since that is where nosotros call dwelling (Employ this awesome calculator to plug in your state).

The average annual cost for baby care in PA is $10,640 or $887 per month. Go on in mind that PA has ii major cities (Philly & Pittsburgh) followed by A LOT of farmland, so that boilerplate is pulled downwards. In Philly, I usually quote $2,000/month for infant care. With about kid care, equally your child gets older the costs will come downwardly, they aren't as delicate equally they become older and usually the child/caregiver ratio increases.

Fun fact, infant intendance in PA costs only $i,967 less than in-state tuition for a 4-year public higher and is about the same average toll as hire.

For budgeting purposes, we will round upward and utilise $i,000, however, if you alive in one of the major metropolitan areas, yous should be prepared to pay much more than (Example: Philly at $ii,000/month).

Our story, we don't pay for childcare. Mari and I made the conclusion early on that we wanted Mari to stay home with Ryker and that we would then hire someone to replace Mari which we did. So while we don't pay for childcare straight, we did take to brand changes to our budget to allow (financially) for Mari to stay at home.

Twenty-four hour period Care Cost: $1,000

The first half-dozen-months or so yous probably won't go a babysitter, especially if it is your outset child. Why? Well, you don't trust anyone with your infant, even grandparents were on spotter from the Nest Cam! For us, we were only worried nigh keeping him alive, let alone going out. We took him a lot of places, even as an infant in the center of a cold winter in 2017. We would bundle him up and accept him to brunch with united states of america. As Mari would say, "They come into our lives, and we want them to be comfortable with our lives."  The funny story is that Ryker attended a few brunches with abysmal mimosas and the environment was relatively loud (not headphone loud but loud). And the kid would merely sleep, information technology was amazing. Today, we tin can take him anywhere and he is very comfy. Nosotros took him to Boston in December and he barbarous asleep during his first NHL hockey game (Go Bruins!). The Bruins scored, and he kept sleeping (picture below).

Babysitters for your baby budget.

I think date nights are vital (phone call me old-fashioned!) but having a trusted bodyguard or ii tin go a long way! In Philly nosotros have two astonishing babysitters that we ofttimes use, in add-on, we have two grandmas who volition gladly hop on a railroad train to Philly to spend a few days with their grandson. Grandparents are complimentary (sometimes we encompass the Amtrak ticket) but we usually pay our babysitters $15/hour. The average in Philly for our needs seems to be $xiii-$xiv per hr (based on this resource from Care.com). The calculator from Care.com is pretty awesome, y'all can enter your nil code and other specifics to get your average hourly rate.

I am assuming two date nights per calendar month with a 4-hour fourth dimension block at the $15/hour.

Babysitter Price: $120

POST-BABY: Food

This section comes downwardly to two things breastfeeding vs. formula. This is not saying one is right or wrong, yous do you!

The main factor is that one is free and one is about $150/m based on the average.

For us, we were very fortunate that Mari was able to breastfeed Ryker for the first year of his life. So we have never bought formula. As new parents going into information technology, nosotros didn't know what to look. What if he didn't similar breastfeeding, what if Mari's supply only lasted vi months, which is why nosotros didn't have a set food budget. The other fun fact was that Ryker got his first molar at 5 months and then they came in i after the side by side. By ix months the kid could shred meat similar a king of beasts! Mari is a cracking cook and makes dinner every night (Yep, I can cook as well but she is much better), so she would take a clamper of our dinner (pre-salt or any crazy spices) and alloy the foods in a blender (likewise known equally puree). Once Ryker got more and more comfortable with solids, we connected to add more and more. By 9-10 months he was eating what we ate but just cut up smaller.

I experience that we were very fortunate in the food section. Our son drank breast milk so transitioned to our dinner in pureed format and and then minor pieces. For u.s.a., I never adjusted our food budget for him. As he gets older and eats like a crazed growing teen, nosotros will probably take to double our Costco budget for bulk buys. Of class, nosotros take fiddling snacks and treats that we buy him when we get to the grocery store, merely we are talking about $25- $50/month and that didn't happen until 9 months or so. Milk, clasp yogurts and fruits, animal shaped everything, etc…

Pro Tip: Don't buy a breast pump until you contact your insurance provider! Many insurance providers will pay for your breast pump. Our breast pump was free from insurance.

I will base this budget on formula plus a few extra dollars at the store. Adjust based on your goals.

Food Costs: $200 ($150 Formula + $50 Miscellaneous)

Look at those chompers!

The best baby budget!

POST-Babe: Diapers

They poop and pee A LOT! If yous want to employ cotton diapers and wash them and reuse, god bless you and you are much stronger than us. I accept seen what my son does to diapers, and while I don't love my washer and dryer, I would never put them through that suffering.

The average baby goes through six to x diapers a day, which, according to the National Diaper Bank Network, can set you back $70 to $80 per month.

Make life easy, sign up for a diaper subscription at Amazon or Target. We used Amazon for just nearly the unabridged first year and recently changed to Target since he is not as sensitive anymore.

I guess Amazon used some type of algorithm to price diapers because the cost changed each month (even when the size was the same), however, it was ever betwixt $40-$50 per month. That was for a box of 150 diapers which seemed like more than plenty each month, and then I estimate Ryker averaged closer to five diapers per twenty-four hours. There were certainly a few emergency refills needed but non that often, maybe 2-iii that I tin can recall. With that said, allow'southward boilerplate our costs vs. the national average of $80 and call information technology $65/month.

With diaper changes, comes babe wipes. You lot volition besides become through a lot of babe wipes, they somehow get the main cleaning item you lot take in your dwelling. We are avid Costco fans, and so I ordinarily catch a box of Kirkland Baby Wipes every other fourth dimension nosotros go.

Diapers & Wipes Price: $87 ($65 Diapers + $22 Wipes)

POST-BABY: Clothes

It helps to take a cool family here considering hand-me-downs are vital. Mari's cousin delivered boxes (almost an SUV total) of clothes, non once but twice (Julia y'all are the best!).

Dad tip: Remember what I said earlier, they poop A LOT and somehow it seems to always become on clothes. And then you have to use "frail" laundry detergent that tin can't even remove a water stain let solitary fluorescent colored poop. Exercise yourself a favor and don't buy anything nice. Certain, purchase the special occasion outfit, but for the day-to-day onesie, buy intelligently.

The USDA says you volition spend $640/year on wearable for a child ages 0-2. That seems high for our situation, but without the hand-me-downs, I tin can meet that as a fair number, peculiarly if it is your first child. Let'due south go with it.

Wearing apparel Price: $55 (~$640 annually)

POST-BABY: Miscellaneous Items

Whether it is a miscellaneous item bought on Amazon or at Target, or you lot but signed them upward for music classes, you will have month-to-month miscellaneous expenses that don't fall neatly into a category. It could be toiletries, toys, books, media, 529 plan contributions, diaper bag refills for your Diaper Genie or a meg other things, but they will occur.

I was torn between using $50 or $100 for this department, so let'due south become with $75 per calendar month. That may be on the loftier side for some and low side for others simply again, information technology seems fair looking back on our spending.

Miscellaneous Items: $75

Mail service-Baby: Auto Seat #2

I know, I know, we already bought a automobile seat, what the hell Chad?!?! Well depending on how fast that munchkin grows you may need to upgrade the machine seat to the "big kid" motorcar seat.

Either keep the current motorcar seat for your next baby, only always keep an eye on recalls and expiration dates for any old automobile seats. Or if no more kids are in the hereafter, sell it. Those mommy groups and Facebook groups are the all-time to sell infant items.

Ours: Britax Boulevard Clicktight

Price: $300

Drum roll please….The Grand Total: $28,361.61

In that location yous have it, the ultimate start year baby budget! It may not be perfect, but I truly walked through our home to brand sure all major costs were deemed for, and went through credit card statements and past order histories from Amazon. I am certain I missed some items or some items that were gifted that didn't show up on a transaction (Examples: Baby Clothes, Pack 'n Play, Safety Gates, etc).

If you want to expect for some of the items I may accept missed, this budget from babycenter was very detailed.

Never in a million years did I call back my get-go iii,500+ word blog post would exist on the cost of raising my son, what tin I say, I am a proud father! To Ryker, if y'all e'er read Daddy's weblog post in the future, while you were expensive, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I tin't wait for all our futurity adventures together. I love you.

"The ultimate outset year baby budget" excel spreadsheet ! The sheet is form fillable and then make information technology our own.