Cost of Raising a Baby (11th Month)

What I learned after tracking each and every spending we made on our firstborn is that expenses can be manageable simply by paying attention to them. I was curious to find out the cost of raising a baby, hence I embarked on a mission to do so.

What started out as a curiosity actually became a way to curb our desire to spend frivolously on cute baby items, which is very easy to do.

While every parent’s situation is different, hopefully this information can still provide some useful insights on the financial side of parenthood. Find out exactly how much we spent for the past 11 months.

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Total Cost of Raising a Baby for 11 months: $3,763

I aggregated the first sixth month’s baby spending since it was the toughest period where I did not have time to track spending month-by-month. This was exasperated by the difficulty of breastfeeding as an inexperienced mom.

Once the baby reached the 7th month, everything became more manageable so I had time to analyze and concretely detail all of the spending by month.

The following is a table of all of the spending we made thus far.

Table of Costs by Category:

You can also read more details of the previous months here:

• First six months: $2,267 (average $378/month)
• 7th month: $308
• 8th month: $277
• 9th month: $187
• 10th month: $242
• Review of Total 10-Month Spending: $3,281 (excluding prenatal cost)

11th Month Baby Cost: $482

This month, the baby expense is higher than the average spending of $378/month. It’s the first time we spent over $400/month, which is really not a bad statistic.

It is worth mentioning that I do not have a budget, because I do not want to limit spending for the baby. (As a new parent, you could never know what might happen.)

Rather, I strive to make conscious decisions and consult with my inventory list every time I make a purchase. This proves to be quite effective in maintaining a mindful spending habit.

Healthcare: $145

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

We also have another $25 out-of-pocket costs for the pediatrician co-payment.

Food: $64

My breast milk supply continues to decline as the baby eats more solid food and consumes more infant formula. I also added cereal to her milk from time-to-time when she doesn’t have much appetite to eat food, thus begins a vicious circle of her taking less of my milk and so I produce less.

In addition to the $45 spent on infant formula and cereal, I also spent $19 on store-made baby food.

(Note: This 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.)

Related: Why I Chose to Breastfeed My Baby

Disposable Items: $33

This month, we traveled to France and Austria so we pretty much used disposable diapers throughout the month, instead of the usual cloth diapers routine. As a result, we stocked up on $21 worth of size 3 and size 4 diapers.

The rest of the spending went to baby wipes, Q-tips, and baby toothpaste.

Related: Six Benefits of Cloth Diapers and Why I Love Them

Baby Gears: $230

We bought a new stroller that is compact for traveling. This is why our cost went up this month.

The Bugaboo Cameleon was just way too bulky for travel. We needed something much more compact so we decided to buy a brand new travel stroller that is compact enough to fit inside an airplane overhead.

Miscellaneous: $10

We bought a larger size baby bottle as the baby is drinking more formula, and some batteries for the music books.

11th Month Itemized Spending

The total expenditure for the 11^th month came out to be $482 making the total 11-month spending at $3,763. Not too bad for 11 months along! It’s certainly way lower than the national average of $13,742/year (or a total of $233,610 from birth to 17 years old) according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Here is the 11th month’s itemized spending and inventory list. Stay tune for the FULL YEAR cost of raising a baby coming next month.

Itemized expense report:

Related: Why I Track All of My Baby Expenses

Baby’s Development at 11 Month Old

Baby Bear made a huge developmental leap this month by being able to sit up on her own and stand with support. It was amazing to watch those first steps!

On the flip side, she hasn’t been eating very well lately. I noticed she has developed certain affinity towards certain food such as oatmeal, bananas, and apples.

Unfortunately, she’s becoming more of a picky eater. At times, she just wouldn’t open her mouth when I feed her. It’s actually very frustrating especially knowing that she hasn’t gain much weight lately.

Luckily by the end of the month, she surpassed the 8 kg (or 17.6 lbs) mark finally. Here in Switzerland, we have places within a community where moms can go weight their baby on a scale and get advices from midwives free of charge.

It’s a good thing when you have doubts and needed a sounding board, but it could be quite draining if you check the weight too often.

Nevertheless, it’s been very helpful for me to track the baby’s weight just to make sure that her lack of appetite isn’t something serious. Since our community center is literally 5 minutes walk away, I go weight Baby Bear every other week.

Besides the eating problem, we also experienced her first vomiting session. It was horrible to go through which lasted a whole afternoon. She must have vomited three times!

I sense that the constant travel hasn’t been very pleasant for a baby. Despite our desire to travel with our daughter, I think we should slow it down for the following months.

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

What was the most amazing development you witnessed at 11 months? What has been your cost of raising a baby? Do you travel with your baby often?

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