Naptime Blog

Having children is an expensive venture. Many new expenses are added; I always said I would wait until I was financially ready for children before I had them. The more I thought about it, I realized no one is ever really ready. I have learned some money saving tricks, here are a few. Only register for what you really need, this way people shopping off of it will get helpful things. I took a friend who had three children with me to register, and we did it in a day. I wish in the beginning I would have registered for a convertible carseat. Tristan was a big baby when he was born, and around 4 months was very long and not fitting in the carrier. So the money spent on one carrier and two extra bases only lasted a few months.

I started off breast feeding and it was bumpy from the start. Around two months we started supplementing with formula and by four months he was completely on formula. I researched and read about all of the different formulas, I wanted to know what I was feeding my son. I decided to try Member’s Mark regular formula. Tristan did fine for awhile, then he started spitting up. So we switched to Member’s Mark Gentle Infant Formula. It has partially broken down proteins so it is easier on baby’s tummy. That worked for a little bit then he started spitting up bad again. Our pediatrician said to just try different options. That is when we switched to Parent’s Choice Sensitivity, this one still has the milk proteins but the lactose carbohydrates are taken out. We have had no further issues since finding this formula.

You will find some people that swear by the name brands and others that might even look down on you, but if you do the research you will see all store brand formula is tested with the same standards as the national brands. I save a lot of money feeding Parent’s Choice, I did a price comparison when making the choice about what to feed my baby and I save almost $50 a month buying store brand.

Recently I was in the baby section of a toy store and a woman was reading all the different cans of formula. I was buying jarred baby food that was on sale. I could tell she was a new Mom, so I asked her if I could help her in anyway. She said that she had tried breastfeeding but it wasn’t for her so she wanted to start formula feeding. I told her that I feed Parent’s Choice and explained how the FDA regulates all baby formula and if she wanted to save money to go to Walmart or Target and try a store brand. We talked back and forth and she asked how long I had been feeding and what my experiences were. She seemed a little hesitant about buying a store brand, so I said buy a can here of whichever kind you want and then go get a store brand and you will see they are the same.

She asked for my phone number in case she had any issues, I was hesitant because she was a stranger and she could be crazy. So I gave her my cell phone, at least then she would not be able to tell where I live. She called me a few weeks later, her name is Casey and her baby is 5 months younger then mine but we have become great friends. She doesn’t have a Wal-Mart by her so she feeds Target brand formula. One night Casey and I were researching store brands and it turns out a lot of the major ones are manufactured by the same parent company. So if I go to Target and I need formula I grab a can of theirs.

-Chrystal