You must have known that I am actually a mother now . My girl is turning 2 years old soon. After being ‘promoted’ to motherhoods, i got to learn that a child really takes up a lot of time and money. Recently, there is an interesting post about the financial consideration of having a newborn baby. After read the article, this sparks the idea of writing this post to share with you the financial side of being a new parents.

Pregnancy and Delivery Cost

The regular check-up during pregnancy is between Rm80-150 per visit at a private clinic in KL, as frequent once a month.

I had to go through caesarean because my baby head is too big . I stayed in the hospital about 3 days. We spent about RM7,000++ in total of hospital bills. Usually , a normal delivery will cost about Rm4000 at private hospital. It costs a less if you go government hospital which is fully subsidised. Of course the only difference is the level of service.

Confinement Month

It is a tradition for a chinese mother to be confined for 30 days after giving birth. This period of time allows the mother to rest and rejuvenate.

1. Staying at confinement centre- In KL, a typical confinement centre charges about Rm2500-3500. They employ local babysitters to look after your baby. You will be served 5 meals a day. One of the famous confinement centre is Ai Xin

2. Employ a confinement lady – This will cost about RM2800 and above. You will need to prepare a place for the confinement lady to stay. Normally she will help to take care of the baby and cook some special food for the mother. Most confinement ladies dont do house works

If your or mother in law can replace the confinement lady, you will be able to save a few thousand ringgits. I was lucky as my mother in law ( my hubby want to ) taking care of me during my confinement period

Insurance for the Child

The most important coverage for your baby is the medical insurance. For a standalone medical card, the premium may be a few hundred ringgits. Some people like to buy the packaged plan when there is life coverage, including 36 critical illnesses, medical card plus some savings for future education. Depends on your budget, you can start a plkan as loa as RM100/month. For my daughter, we bought her a packaged plan, including medical card plus savings, it costs us about Rm300++/month

Medical Bills

For a healthy baby, parents will still pay medical bills for:

1. Normal sickness – RM30-100. It costs more if you are seeking consultations from paediatrician

2. Vaccination – nowadays, there are so many vaccination needed to be injected intou your baby’s body. It causes pain on our baby and also parents. Roughly over Rm2,000 needed to be spent on full vaccination at a private medical centre. My daughter is having another injection in 19/2/2010. sigh

New Tax Relief for parents

With a new born baby, you can pay less tax, include:

1. Child Relief –  Rm1000 ( only for one of the parent)

2. Child Education Policy – RM3,000 (for both parents)

Caring for the Baby

After the confinement period, you will have a new member at home. A baby needs a lot of caring. You will have to arrange one of the following:

1. Employ a babysitter – You can send your baby to the baby sitter. It will cost RM550-800 for week day care only, or RM800-1200 for 24 hours care. I will prefer to have my baby sleep under the same roof with us. My girl is so cute and lovely. I wouldnt wnt her spending to most of the time at other people’s home/ A baby will bring a lot joy to your family.

2. Being a full time stay-at-home-parent – Some enw mother will resign from work for few years to look after their baby. This really makes sense because the first few years are very crucial> The baby grows so fast!! If you go to work too early ( when your baby is still asleep), and come back too late ( when your baby already asleep), you will onlu see her/him grow longer, not taller.

3. Maid Service – Another possible arrangement is to employ a foreign maid, and have a senior at home to eatch over the maid. Upfront fees of about RM7000 need to be paid to the foreign worker agency to engage a maid. Please ecpect the maid to arrive about 2 months later. You can choose maid from Indo, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia or Philippines.

Prepare for leave from Work

In Mmalaysia, a new mother will be given two months paid maternity leave. But there is no such leave for the father. You may need to do the necessary preparation to be away from work for quite a long while.

Another consideration is not to waste your annual leave. If you are an employee, somehow you will need to take emergency leave to bring your baby to the doctors from time to time

1. Food – Since Chloe is born, the milk powder has increased in prices several times. Some branded milkpowder such as Enfalac A+ cost RM70/tin. A can only last about a week. Be prepared to spend over Rm250/month for the best baby food if mother can’t or won’t breastfeed.  later on, when the baby grows over 6 months, you can buy the ‘Step2’ milk powder and it will be a little cheaper. 

My Chloe is taking a ‘step 3’ milk powder- Enfagrow which cost about RM90/tin or RM49/refill pack. My Chloe is taking porridge every morning and evening, so we save some money in the milk powder

2. Clothes – Can get used clothes from your relatives and friends for your baby. Used clothes are not so nice-looking, but softer and more comfortable. IF you buy too many pieces of clothes, most of them will be worn a few times only because the baby really grows rapidly. For my baby, some of her clothes, she wear not more than 2 times. My mum in law always nag at me for buying so many clothes for Chloe

3. Diapers- There are super cheap diaper like tesco Brand, and also the most expensive branded diaper like Mamypoko. If possible, u can use cloth diaper which will save money in long term. We actually use cloth diapers when chloe was small, and Huggies diaper for her at night

4. Toys –  I dont know about other babies. But my daughter doesnt really like her toys. She plays a new toy for a few times and she will be bored. What she likes the most is our Handphone and laptop

Do you need a bigger home?

The house we are staying in currently is a 2 room- apartment (rented). But we are moving to a new 3 rooms-Condominium very soon. The new condominium is going to be very empty and wont be heavily renovate

Put it brief, if your current home is not baby-friendly, you might need to consider a more suitable house. You may need more rooms, more space and bigger garden etc ( Hubby,Chloe needs a bungalow )

Total Cost of having a baby

The numbers below is just estimation. It is for the purpose of giving you a financial guideline if you are planning to have a new baby.

One Time Cost:

1. Delivery – RM4,000       2. Confinement – RM3000     

Regular Expenses (per month)

1. Insurance for the baby – Rm100     2. babysitter/maid – RM550         3. Baby Food – Rm300

4. Medical Bills – Rm100        5. Cl0thes/Diapers – RM200

So, be prepared to have a net worth cut during delivery and confinement, and then a cut of at elast Rm1000 every month from your cash flow.

It is true that raising a child might cause more than a million ringgits. But is it worthy? My answer is a big “YES” . You can’t buy the happiness of being a parent. What do you think??