How Expensive is a Baby? - Three Month Update

What is the three month cost of ownership for a baby? We've tracked several expenses that are directly attributable to the baby and aggregated them here.

 

What Expenses are Included?

• Medical - cost of delivery/c-section + cost of hospital stay (including NICU) + all associated trips to doctors' offices (all are what we owed after insurance)
• Diapers - cost of diapers + cost of wet wipes used in diaper changes
• Formula - cost of baby formula
• Baby Safety - cost of car seats + cost of rug and pad for baby to lie on for tummy time, play time, etc.
• Daycare - cost of daycare
• Lost Wages - wages lost from mother's FMLA + cost of mother's benefits during FMLA - disability insurance payout - wages gained by cashing in vacation and sick leave
• Nursery - cost to set up the nursery

Note that this leaves out many expenses that we either did not track separately and/or could not directly attribute to the baby. Examples of these are baby clothes, bottle expenses, and utilities. This means that the cost estimates that follow are likely underestimates.

 

Results

The three month totals for each category are listed in the table below:

The expenses listed above are plotted vs. time as they accumulated in the interactive chart below:

As can be readily seen from either one, the total cost is ~$12,950. If you would like to remove the lost wages section because it is a lost income rather than direct expense, you end up with a total cost of ~$6,750. It is also interesting to note that having insurance doesn't really protect you from massive medical expenses, even for routine procedures like child birth. My wife is a state employee with great insurance, and the baby was covered by both my wife's and mine (Cigna), but the medical costs still dominate every other expense.