How Much Does It Cost to Have a Baby? See My Budget

How much does it cost to have a baby? When my husband and I were first floating the idea of expanding our family, it wasn’t easy to find answers to this question. Every Google search led me down a rabbit trail of delivery costs by state and the cost to raise a child from birth to 18 years (sometimes it’s just better not to know that one).

We just wanted to know the full, real picture: how much does a baby cost (including delivery, the baby gear, the lost income, the whole nine yards). Put another way, how much money did we need to set aside in our Baby Fund category in YNAB before bringing a new person into this world?

For anyone not familiar, YNAB is the budgeting app that I use (and also where I work part time!). It’s the reason I have all this information in such detailed form.

After planning for and having a baby, I am happy to share the results with you to make your Google hunt a little easier! Listed below is every baby-related dollar we spent over a period of 13 months (from conception through our baby’s first four months of life).

My hope in sharing these numbers is to provide one reference point. You may look at these expenditures and think “Wow, that’s a lot!”, or “Wow, that’s not very much!” Each family’s experience and preferences will be different, but I wanted to give you my experience as I know this information was hard to come by when I was in your shoes.

About Us

Names: James and Laura

Ages: 30 & 31

Location: Houston, TX

Job: Small business manager, part-time support specialist

How Much It Cost to Have Our Baby: $7,162

Here’s the high-level summary of what it cost to have our baby from conception through our baby’s first four months in the world.

• Medical Costs: $2,874
• Maternity Leave Income Replacement: $2,079 (how much we saved to cover my lost income during maternity leave)
• Nursery: $564
• Maternity Clothing: $463
• Diapers & Wipes: $293
• Education & Apps: $192
• Baby Gear: $157
• Medicine & Vitamins: $122
• Baby Clothing: $102
• Feeding: $67
• Toys & Books: $41
• Baby Bath Time & Toiletries: $14
• Miscellaneous: $194

Total: $7,162

Below you’ll find the detailed breakdown of every expense we incurred. Your list of must-haves might look a little different than mine, but this was what worked for our family.

To paint the most accurate picture, I’ve also included the items we received as gifts from family and friends. We had so much generous support to offset our costs!

More than anything, I hope this can help inform and inspire those who are considering becoming parents to take the plunge. The upfront costs are not a small amount, but nothing compares to the joy of meeting and loving your child!

Want to start planning for your own baby budget? Get started with a free 34-day trial of YNAB today.