Cost of Raising a Baby (7th Month)

As a first time parent, I was curious to learn how much it would cost to raise a baby. I thought the best way to accomplish this is to document each itemized spending.

In addition, I’m tracking all of the inventories of baby stuff from month to month. This can provide insight into what a baby needs for optimal care without the need to overspend.

Since most of the up-front costs are covered by the first six months, I expect the on-going expenses to be less significant.

Embarking on this research has led to a newfound fascination for me to gather data (so many data) and understand how having a (new-cutie-patootie) baby would change our household spending habits. Not only is it weirdly fun, it’s also insightful!

So without further ado, I will be sharing our total spending as of the 7^th month with itemized details. I will also give a quick update of Baby Bear’s development at the end. Hopefully this will provide some interesting insights for new or future parents.

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7th Month Inventory & Spending: $308

The first sixth month’s baby spending total $2,267 (excluding prenatal cost) therefore I will use the average monthly spending of $378 as my benchmark for next month’s expense.

Since majority of the up-front costs have been made such as baby crib, cloth diapers, and new mom breastfeeding consultation fees, I expect the ongoing monthly cost to be lower than the average, which happens to be the case for this month.

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.

1. Healthcare: $199

The biggest expense, unsurprisingly, continues to be the monthly health insurance at $120/month. We also have another $66 out-of-pocket costs for a visit when my baby had uncontrollable watery eyes.

This month I saw signs of baby teething so I bought a box of all natural remedy called Camilia to help alleviate the pain.

Additionally, she continues to experience dry skin due to the central heating system that runs 24/7 throughout our apartment building; therefore I bought two tubes of Dexeryl skin cream.

Finally, I ordered another tube of vitamin D as it is required to give a baby 0.1ml per day from newborn up till age 2. I just learned this month that this was covered by health insurance with the doctor’s prescription, so I no longer had to absorb the cost like I did during the first six months (silly me).

2. Baby Gears: $79

This month, I decided to purchase a brand new Ergobaby, which was on sale for $79 including tax and after an additional 10% discount. I couldn’t order this from Switzerland without paying hefty taxes and shipping fees, so my sister ordered it for me (thank goodness for family!).

After trying out a used Ergobaby I bought through an online auction for $5 (what can I say, I was the lucky bidder), I saw the value of having one brand new since I planned to use it quite often. Even though the used one was perfectly safe when I used it for front carry, I just couldn’t risk using it for back carry (I mean it was $5… I just couldn’t).

Surprisingly, I loved carrying my baby more than I thought. There’s something so warm and sweet about having a baby close to your heart.

3. Others: $30

Other smaller expenses include 3 disposable diapers, 2 baby wipes, a box of baby ear swaps, 2 pairs of pants and 3 pairs of adorable socks.

The disposable diapers were on sale for 50% off so I stocked up. The socks and pants were also on sale for just $1 and $5 respectively. Normally I’d resist purchasing things on sale just for the sake of the sale, but the baby is growing at a fast pace so I had to anticipate. (*cough* Okay, I couldn’t resist.)

Spending Up till 7^th Month: $2,575

The total spending for the 7th month came out to be $308 making the total 7-month spending at $2,575. Here is the 7th month’s itemized expenses and inventory list:

Related: Why You Shouldn’t Overspend on Baby Items

Baby Development at 7^th Month

At 7^th month, Baby Bear is experiencing teething that has caused a lot of pain and thus led to two very sleep deprived parents. So far she hasn’t developed any fever which is a good sign, but she did came up with a cold that could possibly be linked to the teething according to the pediatrician.

Despite her seemingly excruciating coughs, the pediatrician doesn’t advise to give her cough medicines. Unless she develops a fever or is having trouble eating or drinking (and as a result trouble pooping or peeing), then we should be more worried. Throughout the day, I tried to give her as much nursing time as possible even at the risk of engorgement, because I want her to stay hydrated.

Other than this, Baby Bear has been developing quite nicely with lots of interactions, giggles, and fascination of the world around her.

However, by the six months mark some babies can sit without support, rollover or crawl. This is just a guide for development milestone, though, as all babies develop at different pace. But at the moment Baby Bear isn’t there yet and it could be attributed to her strong aversion to tummy time.

It is recommended that babies get at least 15-30 minutes of staying at their tummy as soon as newborn, but Baby Bear can’t even last a minute of it! At a good day, perhaps she can do 5 minutes max and an occasional rollover (only twice so far). This has caused a delay in developing her muscles and gaining “fine motor skills.”

But luckily, she does have good neck control and can sit in a high chair without problem. This helps a lot with feeding solid food because it was so hard in the beginning to hold her with one arm while feeding her with the other.

As a start we fed her pureed vegetables, one veggie at a time like carrots and potatoes. She took it pretty well so we planned to introduce a more variety of food next month such as eggs, chicken, pork, fish, and rice porridge.

I’m also hoping that she can start to sit up on her own, rollover, or crawl so that she can grab more toys to play with (and because it’s fun to watch).

It’s such a joy to witness her development from a fragile newborn into a healthy baby. Every move she makes fascinate me and I’m so glad to be able to experience her growth every (baby) step of the way.

Read More: Cost of Raising a Baby in the 8th Month, 9th Month, 10th Month, 11th Month and 12th Month

How much did you spend on baby expenses for the first 7 months? Have you experienced baby teething and how did you deal with the constant crying? Can your baby sit up straight without support, rollover, or crawl by 6 months?

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