American here, kids are 11 and 13. I have no memory of paying anything for our doctors, testing, delivery, anything at all. I had health insurance for myself, and my wife was unemployed for at least one of those births.
Posts like this really fuck with my head. We were living in a trailer on one income and somehow it was all free? Had to have been, I’d remember the budget hit back then. We didn’t get any sort of welfare, not even food stamps. But we must have?
Also, their infant to toddler years were basically free. Clothes, toys, furniture, whatever, all $0. My ex might spend $10 on FB Marketplace and score a monster garbage sack of basically new clothes. Only real expense I remember was diapers. No getting away from that!
There are dozens of FB groups, even in this little metro, giving baby stuff away. You buy it, use it a few months or a year, pass it on. Want a car seat? There is at least one at someone’s curb here in the hood, right now tonight.
My wife breast fed our first, couldn’t go as long for second born. First go round she bagged and donated milk. Second go round, we got that milk back. We did spend a little on formula, but much was donated.
Just don’t understand why people act like babies are so expensive.
The author of the article earns more than 4x the federal poverty wage, so they aren’t eligible for subsidized health care like most Americans. They also consider a $200/month cellphone bill to be necessary for their childs birth (?). The comments on the article also point out more potential issues with the authors math.
American here, kids are 11 and 13. I have no memory of paying anything for our doctors, testing, delivery, anything at all. I had health insurance for myself, and my wife was unemployed for at least one of those births.
Posts like this really fuck with my head. We were living in a trailer on one income and somehow it was all free? Had to have been, I’d remember the budget hit back then. We didn’t get any sort of welfare, not even food stamps. But we must have?
Also, their infant to toddler years were basically free. Clothes, toys, furniture, whatever, all $0. My ex might spend $10 on FB Marketplace and score a monster garbage sack of basically new clothes. Only real expense I remember was diapers. No getting away from that!
There are dozens of FB groups, even in this little metro, giving baby stuff away. You buy it, use it a few months or a year, pass it on. Want a car seat? There is at least one at someone’s curb here in the hood, right now tonight.
My wife breast fed our first, couldn’t go as long for second born. First go round she bagged and donated milk. Second go round, we got that milk back. We did spend a little on formula, but much was donated.
Just don’t understand why people act like babies are so expensive.
The author of the article earns more than 4x the federal poverty wage, so they aren’t eligible for subsidized health care like most Americans. They also consider a $200/month cellphone bill to be necessary for their childs birth (?). The comments on the article also point out more potential issues with the authors math.
???