Saturday, February 12, 2011

Formula Sticker Shock

I have lots of milk.  Baby Gen is chubby, happy and certainly well-fed.  If Gen lets go in the middle of a feeding, more often than not I end up spraying half-way across the room.  It's great entertainment when we have guests over (kidding!).  Pumping, though, is not my forte.  Somehow the machine just doesn't trigger my milk making hormones like that cute little baby face.  I can pump a half bottle in one sitting, but only if I give Gen a bottle to ensure that I'm full when I pump.  See the predicament?

So, since Richard surprised me with the news of a fancy supper out on the town, I needed milk.  With 4 days to prepare, I figured I'd have plenty of time to pump a feeding for Gen.  Nope.  2 ounces is not going to tide her over.  Six months old, and Gen will be having her first taste of formula.  Sigh.

At the grocery store, I located the baby aisle, found the cases and cans of formula and nearly fainted.  Oh. My. Goodness.  A case costs $47.99  Atrocious!  I finally settled for 6 cans of ready made for $19.99!  Even the powder DIY cost an arm and a leg.  If I had to formula feed all the time, I'd have to sell my first born to afford it. 

By my calculations, if the typical baby drinks 5 bottles per day at 6 ounces per bottle (this is an older infant), then it would cost $12.50/day if using the pre-made Nestle brand.  That's $87.50/week and $375/month.  Wow. 

So far, breastfeeding has cost me about $55 - including breast pads, Lansinoh, and a pump.  Granted I got an awesome deal on the pump, but still. 

True, the store brand powder stuff would be less expensive (but not for me since I'd end up throwing most of it out because I couldn't use it up in the 30 days), and with all the breastfeeding stuff you can buy (which advertisers would have you believe is *essential*), the cost difference won't be so extreme as my example.  However you look at it, though, money talks.  My money says, "There's no taste like homemade!"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, is the powder more expensive in N.B ? Because here, a can of powder from Nestle (the big can) cost 26-30 dollars. It was only costing us 30 a week.

-N

Emilie said...

The prices I used were for the already mixed formula. The powder was a lot less, but I can't remember how much. When Maddie was on formula, it wasn't $87.50/wk, but she was on food, too and wasn't drinking that much milk.

In general, though, groceries are more expensive in NB. A gallon of milk is almost $7, a 500g cheese is over $8. The up side - potatoes are free if you glean them yourself!

Abigail said...

Craziness!!