How much does it cost to raise a baby?

The correct answer would be that few parents might be able to answer this question. Few, if any parents at all, bother to calculate or make any estimate until they are about to have a child so that many are surprised to discover that raising a child turns out costlier than thought. As a study done to ascertain how much it really costs to raise your baby discovered, the financial demands of caring for the new born makes worse the emotional stress that you are already coping with.

It means, therefore, that before you think of starting a family at all, you should plan how much you are prepared to spend or how much you are really capable to spend on raising them.

At the time this research was done, it was found that many of the pregnant women who were interviewed continued to spend money the same way they did before they became pregnant without bothering to change their financial plans or make arrangements for the expected child.

When you make that plan, avoid the mistakes that parents have made for a long time- they do not count spending like hospital bills as part of that plan and are surprised that cost of delivery turns out to be higher than was expected. This added cost has overturned your estimate, if you made any at all. But your insurance, if you have one, will help out.

To make that plan, make an estimate of how much it would cost to raise your baby after birth, how much for example is the cost of daycare, nanny’s fee. How much salary will you pay if you have the foresight to know that you need extra help, a maid at home?

What does it cost to buy a cot? How much will you spend on baby food and diaper? Do not forget to add up the number of diaper changes baby needs in one day and add the cost. Add all the needs and you know how much it would cost to raise your baby.

However, the researchers took care to point out that baby’s arrival and care means less outing for you, parent. The cheerful bit about this news is that the money you have spent previously on restaurant meals, fast foods and things like that is now saved for baby’s needs.

Still you need to plan before you spend. As we see all the time, there are many beautiful baby products which litter literally every corner of the streets, all of them inviting you to come and buy. I know a woman who says that anytime she passes by some of these, she wants to have more babies- she has four already. It takes the greatest discipline not to want to pamper your baby to a few occasionally even when you say you are done with buying more children’s clothes or toys.

But there are alternatives and some Nigerian mothers are taking advantage of them; second-hand baby items. Good stuffs that people whose children have grown out of them are giving away. Imported ones are available also.

The relatives who have grown children are always happy to give if you ask nicely.

Why You Should Plan
The point is to help parents to avoid adding money issues to the demand of bringing up children. According to this finding, the people who bother to have any idea about how much it costs to raise a new baby enjoy their work as parents because they do it jointly, both father and mother, checking the estimates together. They are the ones who in the end discover that they end up spending only half of what they expected to be the cost of raising their new baby. The trick is that they look for where items are sold cheaper- those disposable napkins sold at Idumota, for example, are far cheaper than the brands we may favour and they should work as well. By using cheaper ones, you can save money even when you have to change many diapers in one day. You save energy, too.

The Demand on Relationships
Apart from not sleeping enough and having to cope with a needy baby, the financial challenges of childbirth also put a pressure on relationships. Some new parents interviewed in the study said the financial demands make them to worry more, they observed that in addition to the stress is the uncertainty and disagreement about what baby really needs.

It was also established that couples tend to work less as a team, financially, when a baby is on the scene.

Teamwork is what both parents need to make it work, they stressed. Whether the purchase has to do with the buying of a toy, discuss it together. Trash it out first before you decide the school your child should go to. Save where you can, if you solve the smaller financial demand, you are relaxed to face the bigger ones.