Cost of Raising a Baby (10th Month)

For the past ten months, I tracked EACH and EVERY baby spending to find out the cost of raising a baby.

Gathering this data was a difficult task as it required a lot of attention to details. However, having this information is an eye-opener and a great exercise to help us understand our spending habits as parents.

Hopefully, this information can help you plan for your future especially if you’re a new parent.

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Total 10 Months Cost of Raising a Baby: $3,281

Did you know that it cost an average American household $233,610 to raise a child from birth to 17 years old? This excludes higher education and prenatal cost.

That amounts to an average of $13,742 per year!

So far, the total cost of raising our baby came out to be $3,281 for the first 10 months. This is considering the fact that we didn’t pay for childcare cost since I decided to stay home to take care of the baby for the beginning stage of her life.

This total also does not include the cost of grocery as it’s hard to itemize this spending since we buy in bulk.

Since Baby Bear started to eat solid food at 6th month, we’ve definitely bought more grocery. I’ll have to do a projection of this after I’ve gathered the total 1-year data.

Table of Costs by Category:

Note that the first six months were very tough period for first-time parents so I did not have the capacity to track a detailed monthly spending.

After I got the hang of things as a new mom, I started to gather all of my digital receipts together and got crunching!

You can read more related posts on the baby cost for the previous months here:

• First six months: $2,267 (average $378/month)
• 7th month: $308
• 8th month: $277
• 9th month: $187
• Review of Total 9-Month Spending: $3,039 (excluding prenatal cost)

10th Month Baby Cost: $242

This month the baby expense is once again lower than the average spending of $378/month. This could be attributed to the fact that the baby has everything she needs and any cost associated with this month was related to ongoing “maintenance” care.

It is worth mentioning that we do not have a budget, because we do not want to limit spending for the baby. (As first-time parents, it’s hard to budget what might be the actual expenses.)

Instead, we target a minimalist approach and spend mindfully on things that matter.

The following are more details of each category expenses. At the end of this post, you will also find out Baby Bear’s 10th month development.

Healthcare Cost: $138

The biggest expense, unsurprisingly, continues to be the monthly health insurance at $120/month.

We also have another $18 out-of-pocket costs for the baby’s skin creams. Initially I thought this was covered by the insurance but they ended up billing me for it! Healthcare is always puzzling for me.

We reordered the vitamin D drops, which is recommended to take once per day up to age 2. This was covered by the insurance.

Food Cost: $65

This month, my breast milk supply was running low so I supplemented infant formula. I chose the local Swiss brand, Bimbosan, which cost $37 for 3 packs of 400g each. The baby seems to want to drink more these days so I stocked up to make sure she has enough.

She also lost her appetite from the fever she got last month so I bought some baby food, total $12, to diversify her taste buds.

We also went to France this month to visit my in-laws so I bought more baby food, cereal and snack for the trip total about $16. It seems like the prices are increasing in France these days due to inflation.

(Note: This category consists of baby food in a jar, infant formula or gears that assist with feeding. Her normal food cost is absorbed in our grocery bill, as it’s hard to itemize how much carrot, potato or rice she eats since we buy in bulk.)

Disposable Items: $11

We stocked up on baby wipes this month so we bought three Pampers traveled sized packs and two normal sized packs in a generic brand.

We started to try out dry baby wipes in which we had to add water before using. My friend had recommended this to me as a more cost effective, but most importantly, chemical-free alternative.

It’s one step more work to run to the bathroom to add water, and sometimes its just not feasible when the baby is impatient to have her diaper changed, so I’m still trying to get used to it.

This month, we didn’t have to buy any disposable diapers because we stocked up in the previous months when there was a promotion. We also use cloth diapers interchangeably to reduce waste and diaper cost.

Miscellaneous Cost: $28

We used Uber to take Baby Bear to the children’s hospital emergency room due to her high fever at night. The round trip costed $28. Thank goodness for the convenience of Uber!

Clothes & Toys: $0

Even though we haven’t spent much on these lately, her amount of clothes and toys actually racked up somehow!

This is thanks to the gifts we got from family and friends. All of these gifts and hand-me-down are definitely enough for one baby. As a matter of fact, we still have some new clothes we haven’t used.

And sometimes, our apartment feels like a tornado storm has hit with all the toys and clothes everywhere.

10th Month Itemized Spending

The total expenditure for the 10^th month came out to be $242 making the total 10-month spending at $3,281.

At this rate, we can guesstimate the total first year spending to be around $4,000 – $5,000 (this includes a projected cost of grocery since Baby Bear started eating solid food.)

Itemized expense report:

Baby’s Development at 10 Month Old

Last month after Baby Bear had her 9^th month vaccination, she got a fever, which slowed down her appetite dramatically. This was her first time getting a full-on fever that lasted three days.

We took her to the emergency room once we saw that her fever wasn’t coming down, but the pedestrian assured us that everything was okay.

Since she didn’t have much appetite, it became really hard to feed her.

To combat this, I had to find alternative food source like pre-made baby food from the supermarket since it contains salt and sugar for flavor. It’s not my preference, but it’s better for her to eat something than to lose weight.

I found that she really likes to eat oatmeal with a mix of fruit packages. Hopefully this will make her gain weight. We’ll have to find out if it works the next time we go weight her.

I also started to supplement infant formula since she became much more thirsty due to her fever and because I no longer produce enough breast milk.

Related: Why I Chose to Breastfeed My Baby

Not to mention, it’s getting harder to breastfeed her now since she learned to bite. I may have to consider weaning her real soon.

Ever since Baby Bear took the bottle, she bonded a lot with her dad whenever he feeds her. This is always such a sweet moment to watch (it melts my heart every time).

Finally, all four of Baby Bear’s main teeth (two top and two bottom) came out. What a relief! She’s not longer in pain and we finally got more rest.

Slow & steady development

Baby Bear is slow on meeting her development milestones in terms of sitting-up, rolling, crawling and standing. But since every baby develops at a different pace, there’s no need to worry just yet.

On the other hand, she is a very joyful, talkative and animated Baby Bear!

So far she can sit without support, but she couldn’t sit up on her own. She also loves to roll around now which is so fun to watch, but she’s not crawling yet.

And I saw that some babies can already stand on their own at 9^th month, wow! I’m trying to encourage Baby Bear to stand more on my lap and play with her by lifting her in a standing position. She doesn’t seemed to like standing though.

I know in time my baby will get there. What’s important is that she’s happy and healthy.

On the speech front, she’s a talker! She loves to interact with us and try to make out sounds. She loves to laugh and smile all the time, and even shout out loud.

All in all, I’m so happy and I feel grateful that I get to watch her grow into a healthy, playful 10-month baby.

Read More: Cost of Raising a Baby in the 11th Month and 12th Month

How much did you spend on baby expenses for the first 10 months? What kind of food does your baby like to eat? Can he/she sit or stand up by him/herself yet?

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