Parenting, Version 3.0- Part 2

Anneliese in her OsoCozy prefold diaper and a snappi.
(She had a bandage on her belly at the recommendation
of the doc cuz her belly button was bleeding a bit.)

Yesterday, I shared a little update on my life and how it is raising 3 kids now instead of two...
Originally it was going to be one long post, but as I saw how long it was getting, I decided to break it into two. So here's some more updates, this time focusing more on the money related aspects of parenting 3 kids, more so than the emotional and other issues.

I had a post a bit back about what expenses I anticipated for my new baby. I knew I was having a girl, so I knew clothing would be an issue, but I didn't bring it up in the post because I didn't want to admit that I knew, otherwise I felt people would pester me to find out the sex when it was something I wanted to keep a secret...
So, what expenses did I end up having so far, and what expenses did I think I would have but ended up not having? How much did I spend on the baby this far?


Well, for clothing, I ended up getting lots of wonderful girls clothes as hand me downs from friends and relatives (some loaners, some gifts). On top of that, my mother went to the thrift shop and got me even more stuff, so I have a large enough supply of 0-3 month clothing for my baby to even last through blowout diapers and not get stuck. If I would have needed to have bought it all, I don't know how much it would have cost me (ETA: just asked my mom, and she says no more than $15), but I feel blessed to have such generous people in my life that I've spent nothing on baby clothing.

I posted before about my cloth diapering dilemma, what to buy and all...
In the end, I bought 6 pairs of Econobum diapers from Amazon.com using Amazon giftcards that I earned from Swagbucks.com. I've been very pleased with them so far!
With my boys, I had 4 Bummi's Whisper Wraps... and they weren't so good... They were cloth on the inside and if any poo got on them, they needed to go in the wash as the fabric absorbed the poo... Even if there was no poo on them, they held urine in the inside layer and ended up being wet and stinky when I changed them, so I'd have to switch them every single diaper change. 4 was definitely not enough- I was always, always, always running out.
Now, these Econobum diaper covers have a plasticy layer on the inside, which makes them not absorb urine, and any poo that gets on them wipes right off! I'm finding myself not needing more than 2 or 3 diaper covers- the 6 I bought has been way more than sufficient!

These diaper covers are one size fits all. Well, do they really fit all? No, probably not. They're a little big on my baby, born 7 lbs. They aren't so tight around the legs, even on the smallest setting, so sometimes a little wetness seeps out around the legs onto her clothing, but not always, depending on how I arrange the diaper legs and how frequently I change her. But any kid born smaller than my baby probably won't be able to fit into these diapers straight away.
As for larger sizes? On the largest setting, my 95th percentile for height 2year old, Ike, fits into these diaper covers, which makes it terrific- because I can use the same diaper cover on my 3 week old and my 2 year old for his nighttime diaper. (He was waking up to use the toilet at night, but waking 3-4 times a night and only wanted me to take him! I'm so glad he "regressed" and now sleeps through the night and pees in his diaper.)

The one thing is- the prefold diaper that comes with the Econobum is a little large, much larger than my infant sized OsoCozy prefolds that I bought when Lee was a baby, nearly as large as the Premium size (the larger size that Ike wears). While I can put it on Anneliese by using the bikini twist fold and folding down the top a LOT, I'm using the OsoCozy ones generally, as they're much less bulky and fit her bottom much better.

So, outlay for diapers? ZERO! I love Swagbucks!!

I did buy one pack of disposable diapers for after birth, for those times that I wasn't feeling up to using cloth... The package cost me $6.50 for 52 diapers...
Uhm, speaking of making my life easier... the disposable diapers make my life harder, not easier. You know why?
Because I haven't had a single leaky, blow out diaper with my wonderful Econobum diapers. At all.
But nearly half the time that my baby is using disposable diapers, she leaks so much, through 3 layers of clothing, so when I change her, not only do I need to change a diaper, I end up needing to change her short sleeve onesie, her long sleeve undershirt, her pants, and her stretchy (and sometimes another layer if she's wearing one on top), and wash it all... Whereas with cloth diapers, I just need to take change and wash the diaper and that's it!
So I actually have less laundry to do with cloth diapers than disposables, funnily enough.
And since I use the easy bikini twist for diapers, securing the prefold with a snappi and then covering it with the prefold is pretty easy! (No intricate folding things a million times or using any diaper pins...)

I bought 2 packages of pacifiers- they were buy one, get the second for 25 cents- so spent 5 dollars on 4 pacifiers... I don't always use pacifiers, but I like to offer them to my babies in the hopes that one will actually use a pacifier instead of making me their pacifier, but hadn't had any luck with my first two kids, and this baby is confused about why I'd give it to her but is willing to suck from it occasionally- a boon when she wants to nurse but I can't get to her that second, so at least she is temporarily comforted...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did buy a baby carrier. Spent approximately 100 dollars on it. My big post baby splurge. But it's so worth it. I have left my house a few times already with the baby, and haven't taken a stroller even once. I considered it a few times, but especially when it's cold, I'd rather my baby be wrapped up close to me, sharing my body heat, than in a frigid stroller on her own. Its also much easier using a baby carrier on the bus than a stroller, and considering that the bus is my primary means of transportation (other than walking), a baby carrier is really worthwhile.
Because I spent that money on that carrier... I decided that I'm fine with the strollers I have. Maybe in a few months when my baby is bigger and summer is approaching, I'll buy a cheap umbrella stroller, but in the meantime, I'll be fine with what I already have.

So far I spent $111.50 on my baby.
My homebirth cost me $500 dollars... and I still have to write why I feel that was a worthwhile expense and why it wasn't anti-frugal... No, I haven't forgotten.
My homemade cloth postpartum pads cost me $10 to make. (And about those- they worked just fine, were more than absorbent enough. Though I do suggest for comfort to change them frequently and not just when they "look full". 10 wasn't really enough- 15 would have been better if you were wondering.)
I spent $6 dollars on a package of disposable nursing pads, but I finished those up and am now using homemade cloth nursing pads (instructions on how to make your own in a future post).
$516 dollars on stuff for me related to giving birth.
For a grand total of $611 dollars spent on everything connected to the birth of this new baby, and only $117.50 if you don't count the medical care.
That's it.

Nothing more.

Babies... They ain't free. But they certainly ain't the fortune people make them out to be...

(In case you're thinking that the only reason I didn't need to spend much money on this baby is because she's my third... other than my nursing pillow that I got hand me down from my sister in law, and my pack-n-play bassinet that I only use rarely and don't even need because I generally co-sleep, and my car seat that I bought when Lee was born- but don't even use because I travel by bus, and my prefold diapers, and my hand me down baby blankets, I'm not even using anything from my previous kids... so if Anneliese was my first kid instead of my third, she only would have cost me less than 100 dollars more- mainly cloth diaper prefolds- than what I spent on her now.)

How much did you end up spending on your new babies? What brand of cloth diapers did you use if you cloth diapered? Did anyone opt for a baby carrier instead of a stroller, at least at first?


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