I often hear parents complain about how much it costs to have a baby: how expensive all the things you supposedly need are, not to mention the hospital costs of labor and delivery, especially now that the U.S. has the highest cesarean rate in the world.
Fortunately, you don’t have to believe the Baby Industry hype. It is possible to save hundreds—if not thousands—of dollars, and untold environmental resources by parenting closer to nature. Here is some of what the Small Footprint Family did when we had Babyzilla.
Consider a Homebirth. If you are a low-risk pregnancy like I was, and you prefer to have a natural childbirth without pharmaceuticals, a homebirth is a safe, low-tech, eco-friendly and inexpensive way to have a baby.1 In fact, for low-risk women, homebirth is just as safe as hospital birth.2 The average uncomplicated vaginal birth costs 68% less in a home than in a hospital, and births initiated in the home offer a lower combined rate of intrapartum and neonatal mortality, and a lower incidence of cesarean delivery.3 Not only do you get to relax and bring your precious one into the world in the comfort of your own home, but you help conserve all of the gas, electricity and other expensive resources that go into a “high-tech,” hospital birth.
Babyzilla was born into her father’s arms in our cozy bedroom on March 24, 2008. Afterward, our midwife cleaned the house, did our laundry, and left us in bliss in our bed. All of my prenatal care (including tests), post-natal care, and the birth itself cost a mere $2,500, which is less than most people’s out-of-pocket deductible expense and co-pay for a hospital birth. Some insurance companies will even reimburse for birth at home or at a birthing center. Compare that to the national average cost of hospital birth: $10,000!
Savings: $7,500 and up
Breast Really is Best. Recent controversy notwithstanding, the science is definitive: breastfeeding is far and away better than formula feeding. While not every new mother is physically capable of breastfeeding, the overwhelming majority of American mothers can, especially with the support of a lactation counselor. Breastfeeding is considered so essential to the health of a mother and her baby that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least a year, and the World Health Association recommends at least 2 years.
Formula feeding increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) as well as diabetes, leukemia and several other diseases, costing us all a minimum of $3.6 billion dollars a year in healthcare costs.4 The AAP says each formula-fed infant costs the healthcare system between $331 and $475 more than a breastfed baby in its first year of life. The cost of treating respiratory viruses resulting from not breastfeeding is $225 million a year.5 For the national Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), supporting a breastfeeding mother costs about 45 percent less than a formula-feeding mother. Every year, $578 million in taxpayer funds buys formula for babies who could be breastfeeding.6, 7
Formula is not only substandard to breastmilk healthwise, but its manufacture is also extremely resource intensive and toxic to the environment—even the organic brands. An entire industrial complex goes into making formula! The farming required to make formula requires vast tracts of land ravaged by the monoculture of genetically-modified (GMO) corn and soybeans, heavy machinery, synthetic fertilizers made from petroleum, toxic pesticides, and more.
If every child in America were bottle-fed, almost 86,000 tons of aluminum would be needed to produce 550 million cans for one year’s worth of formula, including lining the containers with dangerous BPA! A recent study showed that 1 in 3 cans of infant formula contained enough BPA in a single serving to expose an infant to BPA levels more than 200 times the government’s traditional safe level of exposure for industrial chemicals.
But formula is not the only problem. Bottles and nipples require plastic, glass, rubber, and silicon; production of these materials can be resource-intensive and often leads to end-products that are not-recyclable. All these products use natural resources, cause pollution in their manufacture and distribution, and create trash in their packaging, promotion, and disposal.
Lastly, formula feeding is extremely expensive for families. It costs between $700-$3000 a year to feed a baby with formula, and the organic formulas may even cost more. While some may view this as the cost of convenience, I would argue that we need to make it easier and more acceptable for working moms (and all moms) to breastfeed and/or pump their milk during the first years of their babies’ lives. Our economy, our health and our environment depend on it.
Savings: $3,000 so far
Skip the Nursery. During my pregnancy, my husband and I wondered why a baby needed her own room and furniture. I mean, when you think about it, what does a baby care about whether the bumper and the lamp match the blankets? All she really wants is to feel safe and be close to her parents. And all we wanted was to know she was safe, and to have a good night’s sleep. So, we decided that Babyzilla would sleep with us, and we didn’t buy a crib, changing table, dresser or any of the furniture and decorations that would go into a nursery that she would only use for a few short years, and never remember.
By co-sleeping, not only do we not have to get up at night to feed her, but she sleeps soundly without needing “training,” and her little snuggly wonderfulness greets us every morning with a big, toothless grin. In fact, Babyzilla won’t need her own room or furniture until she’s old enough for the Big-Girl Bed, around age 2 or 3, at which point we can get a bigger place to live and transition her to the furniture that will last her entire life at home. And this saves a lot of natural resources, and a lot of money—which we put into a big, king-size family bed!
While we chose to create a family bed, you could just as easily buy a co-sleeper or remove one of the sides of your crib and push it up against the bed. Whatever you choose, baby will be close at hand, and you will use less space and resources in your home.
Savings: $1,500 and up
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The Baby Industry makes a fortune on the fact that baby clothes are relatively cheap and will only be worn for a short time before they are too small. That every family feels compelled to buy such quickly obsolete products like baby clothes, furniture and toys again and again may line the pockets of CEOs, but on a massive, nationwide scale, it is inherently unsustainable.
Consider buying your baby furniture, toys and clothes at thrift stores or on Craig’s List. Check in your community for baby clothes swaps. Ask your girlfriends and relatives for hand-me-downs. Used clothing is not only eco-friendly and cheaper, but the neurotoxic, fire-retardant chemicals they put into many baby clothes (especially pajamas!) have most likely been washed out already, making them a safer option for your little one.
We were fortunate to collect enough hand-me-downs from friends and relatives (including some brand new clothes that were bought for another child but never worn) that we didn’t have to buy a single article of clothing for Babyzilla until she turned 10 months old! It can be done.
Savings: $300 and up
Total savings so far: At least $12,300
Stay tuned for more money- and Earth-saving parenting strategies in Part II.
- “Annalisa Barbieri: I gave birth at home – and here’s why - A hospital is not a natural environment for a natural event,” The Independent, April 16, 2009.
- “Home births ‘as safe as hospital.‘” BBC News, April 15, 2009
- “The Cost-Effectiveness of Home Birth.” J Nurse Midwifery. 1999 Jan-Feb;44(1):30-5.
- Jon Weimer, “The Economic Benefits of Breastfeeding: A Review and Analysis,” Food and Rural Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report 13. (March 2001): 1-4.
- Lawrence M. Gartner, Arthur I. Eidelman, “Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk,” American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement, Organizational Principles to Guide and Define the Child Health Care System and/or Improve the Health of All Children
- Thomas M. Ball, Anne L. Wright, “Health Care Costs of Formula-feeding in the First Year of Life,”Pediatrics 103, (4 April 1999): 870-876.
- “Over 101 Reasons to Breastfeed,” Leslie Burby, 2007. An outstandingly well-researched and footnoted article.
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