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Most of those things are not convenient to working parents.
Cloth diapers without the diaper service is a handful, making babyfood is time consuming and after working all day (babies dont eat food til 4-6 months old) I dont want to be working in the kitchen, i want to be having quality time with the baby.
Babies cannot go in an umbrella stroller till they are much older. 6 months - 1 yr i think.
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Originally Posted by 925mine
So here's our most reasonable list:
Breastfeed = $000.00
Make own babyfood = $30.00+- (processor. Anybody have better figure on this?)
Cotton diapers = $40 - $50 initial (guessing), plus Dreft or Ivory (Dreft recommended, Ivory leaves film)
Sleepers, clothes and undershirts = showers but maybe $100
Recieving and crib blankets = $50 (but a lot from showers)
Most of those things are not convenient to working parents.
Speak for yourself - I'm a working parent too and I disagree. I've already spoken to the baby food and the stroller, so I won't repeat myself.
The thing I would say with cloth diapers and working though is to check whether your daycare provider will agree to use them. Some will and some won't. I know plenty of working parents who use cloth diapers though.
So here's our most reasonable list:
Cotton diapers = $40 - $50 initial (guessing), plus Dreft or Ivory (Dreft recommended, Ivory leaves film)
A cover & inserts cost b/w $10-$15. A NB is going to need more than 4 diapers.
Keep in mind, one set of cloth diapers is not going to fit a 8 month old when they are sized for a NB.
Dreft is NOT recommended b/c of the buildup it leaves on the fleece. Plus, Dreft is way too expensive.
The upfront cost of cloth diapers is closer to $200 (cover, inserts, detergent, water costs for washing the diapers, etc). Plan on doing this 2 or 3 times.
Yes, money is definitely saved when diapers are $20/package but it will still cost more than $40 for cloth diapering a NB.
I've never heard of a daycare center allowing cloth diapers due to hygiene purposes. We ran into that issue when my #1 was in daycare at 9 months.
Cloth diapering is the best route to go if it fits a routine. And that routine can take some time to get down b/c it does requiring constant washing when they are NBs due to the amount of inserts they go through in a matter of 8 hours. And the pee & poop does get on the covers & thus you gotta change the cover. But, it's so much nicer on a baby's bottom....but, the reality is that cloth diapering does cost money. I'd say after 2 years though it evens out & a cloth diaperer saved 1/2 that they would have spent on disposable.
We stopped at 9 months so while I did see a savings, it wasn't huge. I did it more for my son than for the money, though.
What amazes me though is how much garbage we threw out when we had 2 in diapers. I'd say every week we had a least one garbage bag of diapers. And diapers do not decompose....I hope over time cloth diapering makes a stronger comeback for all its benefits.
Speak for yourself - I'm a working parent too and I disagree. I've already spoken to the baby food and the stroller, so I won't repeat myself.
The thing I would say with cloth diapers and working though is to check whether your daycare provider will agree to use them. Some will and some won't. I know plenty of working parents who use cloth diapers though.
It is a matter of preference and i use organic babyfood so that is not the issue. I just dont want to sit around working in the kitchen after working all day. What's your commute like? Perhaps that has something to do with how much after work time you have to puree.
So about these cloth diapers- do they just sit in a bag sopping untill you remove them from the daycare? Or do you have the daycare people rinse them? I haven't seen one that takes them but i am sure someone there must.
It is a matter of preference and i use organic babyfood so that is not the issue. I just dont want to sit around working in the kitchen after working all day. What's your commute like? Perhaps that has something to do with how much after work time you have to puree.
So about these cloth diapers- do they just sit in a bag sopping untill you remove them from the daycare? Or do you have the daycare people rinse them? I haven't seen one that takes them but i am sure someone there must.
I just thought I'd add my two cents about making baby food and cloth diapers.
The day care that I worked at DID accept children in cloth diapers. They had their own diaper pail with a lid and the parents were responsible to empty them every day. They were no more difficult than disposables, and those babies never had diaper rash the entire time I worked there.
As for making your own baby food, it doesn't have to be a major process. If you are having green beans for dinner, make an extra batch and freeze them in ice cube trays. The same for all fruits and veggies. I understand that you are tired at the end of the day and want to spend time with your child, but really , it is not as time consuming as you may think.
Most of those things are not convenient to working parents.
Cloth diapers without the diaper service is a handful, making babyfood is time consuming and after working all day (babies dont eat food til 4-6 months old) I dont want to be working in the kitchen, i want to be having quality time with the baby.
Babies cannot go in an umbrella stroller till they are much older. 6 months - 1 yr i think.
What??? I always used cloth diapers and made babyfood and worked full time.
You'd rather fill up the landfills with plastic and disposables than take 5 minutes to throw a load of diapers in the washer??? You'd rather spend hundreds of dollars instead of taking 5 minutes to throw a load of diapers in the washer??? Diaper service, sheesh. That's pretty lazy.
If you take a couple hours on the weekends and make the babyfood, (mine was on food MUCH earlier than 4-6 months old), then put it in the freezer in handy small containers, in only takes a few minutes to take a couple out at a time to warm up and use, or at dinner, make a few extra servings for your baby and freeze what you don't use in small containers for another day. Pretty soon you have quite a few servings frozen. How is that so difficult???
When you have a newborn, they are very light. Use a sling thing until they can go into an umbrella stroller (No, they don't have to be 1 year old to sit in one, they start sitting up by themselves at about 5 months, so soon after that you can use one.
If there is a stay at home parent... not much if you already have a place to live, have health insurance, and are able to breastfeed. The only thing I've really needed are a small crib, clothes, and diapers. If you are home with the baby and exclusively breastfeeding, the baby probably won't start solids until 10 months at the very least. Sometimes babies with constant access to the breast will go 14 months or more exclusively breastfeed. I have six children and only 1 ever ate baby food.
If you are a working parent factor in childcare cost, formula if you can't pump, packaged baby food, diapers.
We use portable cribs instead of the "real" cribs... they are easier in many ways and MUCH cheaper.
I had a homebirth and it was actually more expensive than a hospital birth because the insurance fought us over coverage. We ended up paying $4000 out of pocket. Whereas going to the hospital has cost us between $0-$1000 in copays.
If there is a stay at home parent... not much if you already have a place to live, have health insurance, and are able to breastfeed. The only thing I've really needed are a small crib, clothes, and diapers. If you are home with the baby and exclusively breastfeeding, the baby probably won't start solids until 10 months at the very least. Sometimes babies with constant access to the breast will go 14 months or more exclusively breastfeed. I have six children and only 1 ever ate baby food.
If you are a working parent factor in childcare cost, formula if you can't pump, packaged baby food, diapers.
We use portable cribs instead of the "real" cribs... they are easier in many ways and MUCH cheaper.
I had a homebirth and it was actually more expensive than a hospital birth because the insurance fought us over coverage. We ended up paying $4000 out of pocket. Whereas going to the hospital has cost us between $0-$1000 in copays.
HTH.
Good post! Also, if you co-sleep, you can do away with the price of the crib too.
OUCH, islandmommy: I thought my homebirth was expensive at $2500!
The day care that I worked at DID accept children in cloth diapers. They had their own diaper pail with a lid and the parents were responsible to empty them every day. They were no more difficult than disposables, and those babies never had diaper rash the entire time I worked there.
Yah, that. The center we went to just kept a separate pail for the cloth diped kids which the parents provided. It's not really any more work for the provider. Also, many people use home providers who are often more willing to work with you on things like this.
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As for making your own baby food, it doesn't have to be a major process. If you are having green beans for dinner, make an extra batch and freeze them in ice cube trays. The same for all fruits and veggies. I understand that you are tired at the end of the day and want to spend time with your child, but really , it is not as time consuming as you may think.
I usually made all my baby food on the weekends in large batches and froze it in ice cube trays. I would do different foods different weeks to build up a variety of choices and then use a cube or 2 at a time for her meals. I would take out the cubes in the morning and put them in a little tupperware thing for daycare, and by the time it was time for her to eat it would be thawed. They would heat and mix breastmilk in it to thin it out and warm it some. We started at about 5.5 months and continued until she was on the full school lunch menu, around 12 months.
My commute time is kinda hard to say, and here's why. It's about 20 minutes from my house to work, but I don't go straight there - I stop at daycare in between, which is on the opposite side of work from my house. So it's like 30 mins to daycare, then like 10 mins at daycare for the drop-off stuff, then like 10 mins to work. When all is said and done, it takes me almost an hour from my front door to work. Same thing in reverse on the way home. When she was the age that I was making baby food, it was probably even longer because I nursed her at daycare at drop-off and pick-up until she was almost a year old. I still nursed her on my lunch break until she was almost 2. I spent a lot of time at the daycare...
What??? I always used cloth diapers and made babyfood and worked full time.
You'd rather fill up the landfills with plastic and disposables than take 5 minutes to throw a load of diapers in the washer??? You'd rather spend hundreds of dollars instead of taking 5 minutes to throw a load of diapers in the washer???
It takes more than 5 mins to take care of cloth diapers unless you are ok with washing them with poop on them. They need to be soaked, somewhat handwashed, & then put in the washer. The better care you take of the inserts the longer they will last.
That's very generous of a daycare to take cloth diapers. Never have seen one myself but sure they are out there somewhere.
Oh, yeah, not everyone wants to use cloth diapers or make their own baby food or even breastfeed.
If a person is looking on ways to be cost effective, there are many different avenues to go.
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Use a sling thing until they can go into an umbrella stroller (No, they don't have to be 1 year old to sit in one, they start sitting up by themselves at about 5 months, so soon after that you can use one.
