Cost of Raising a Baby (9th Month)

For the past nine months, I tracked EACH and EVERY baby expense. 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.

It may sound like a daunting task, but having the data of how much I spent on baby items including food, diapers, baby gears, etc. would allow me to better plan for the future. I’m also curious to see how my spending compares to the national average.

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 has been covered by the first six months, I expect the on-going expenses to be less significant.

Without further ado, I will now be sharing my total spending as of the 9th month with itemized details. I will also provide a quick update of Baby Bear’s development at the end.

Hopefully this information will provide valuable insights for new parents.

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Spending Review of the First Eight Months: $2,852

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.

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

Here is a summary of total spending thus far:

• First six months: $2,267 (average $378/month)
• 7th month: $308
• 8th month: $277
• Total spending: $2,852

9th Month Inventory & Spending: $187

Wow! This month, we spent significantly less than our projected average spending of $378/month. This could be attributed to the fact that the baby has practically everything she needs and any cost associated with this month was related to maintenance care.

It is worth mentioning that I do not have a budget, however, because I do not want to artificially limit any 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.

1. Healthcare: $131

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

We also have another $11 out-of-pocket costs for the baby’s skin creams (small size bottle). Initially I thought this was covered by the insurance but they ended up billing me for it!

I’m always amazed by how quickly health insurance charges us money vs. how slowly they refund us (this is ABSOLUTELY a rant, sorry).

2. Breastfeeding: $38

This month Papa Bear helped me re-ordered the Lecithin supplements, which cost $38 since he did not use any coupon despite we have some. (Do men generally not like to bust out coupons when paying? Or was it just my husband, I wonder.)

I must continue to take this supplement as long as I’m breastfeeding to prevent blocked milk duct.

Related: Why I Chose to Breastfeed My Baby

3. Food: $3

This month, I traveled back to the US with the baby to attend my sister’s graduation. Papa Bear couldn’t come because he had trainings. In this trip, I learned that traveling long distant alone with the baby was by far the toughest journey ever. But I digress.

I spent $3 on two jars of baby food on the way back since I didn’t have time to make food. I try making fresh baby food whenever possible and so far I have been able to manage pretty well.

(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.)

4. Clothing: $0

One of my friends gave me two full bags of hand-me-downs ranging from 6 months to 4 year old. I can’t use them all and it would take me ages to log them into the inventory list, so I’ll just log ONLY what’s needed.

That’s when I notice how plentiful my baby’s wardrobe already is. It’s really easy to accumulate more and more and sometimes we don’t even use some of the stuff. Having an inventory list certainly helps keeping track.

5. Disposable Items: $7

I bought a box of Q-tips made specifically for babies and two packs of baby wipes on sale.

6. Toys/Books/Games: $0

My friend gave me some hand-me-down toys including an alphabet blocks with walker, a baby book made of cloth material, and a baby doll.

7. Miscellaneous: $8

We had two binkies (pacifiers) for Baby Bear but she must have thrown away one of them somewhere when we weren’t watching. She is amazed by gravity these days so she loves throwing things on the floor.

So to avoid losing the other one as well, I bought an attachment or clip for the pacifier. I really wanted her to wean from it, but so far she’s still very much hook on it.

Spending Up till 9th Month: $3,039

The total expenditure for the 9th month came out to be $187 making the total 9-month spending at $3,039. Hooray for a month well done!

With the national spending on raising a child stood at $233,610 from birth to 17 years old according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, our first year spending may not even reach close to the national average of $13,742 per year.

This is, of course, set on the premise that we did not incur any childcare cost since I decided to take a break from work and take care of the baby.

Here is the 9th month’s itemized expense report and inventory list:

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Baby Development at 9th Month

Baby Bear’s teeth finally came out. What a relief!

We could now see two bottom teeth fully formed and one tooth at the top. There is just one more left on the top left that you can almost see it piercing out.

To combat her pain, we gave Baby Bear Camilia Teething Relief. Though she doesn’t like the taste of it, we could see a sign of relief after giving her few drops on the gum.

This month, our baby is fully sitting properly without support and she is rolling nonstop on our bed. She still struggles to sit up on her own, but we could see that she’s making an effort.

The only thing we weren’t very glad to see is that she hasn’t gained any weight for the last two months. Basically, her weight went up and down like a roller coaster and it hovers at 7.6 kg – more or less.

She has basically fallen from being the top 75% tile in terms of weight to 25% tile. This was really painful news even though the pediatrician assured us tht it’s not a big deal since she’s still growing in length.

But of course we have to try harder to feed more baby food to her. She’s not very cooperative in terms of eating which makes it extremely hard.

At the end of the 9th month, she got her vaccination, which resulted in her first fever. This, unfortunately, contributed to her loss in appetite as well. More development on that next month.

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

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How much did you spend on baby expenses for the first 9 months? What did you do to relieve your baby’s teething pain? Do you have a hard time feeding your baby solid food?