In these tough economic times, I’ve been reflecting on how much money is spent unnecessarily on pregnancy and childbirth. I thought I’d write about ways that attachment parenting can help save parents money.
Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting
- By being informed about different birthing methods and medical interventions, you can be more involved in those decisions and this could help avoid unnecessary medical costs.
- Taking care of yourself and eating right will also reduce your risk of complications during pregnancy.
- You don’t need to buy pregnancy and parenting books to be well-informed either. You can check out books from your local library and/or read articles on the web.
- Breastfeeding saves a lot of money over formula feeding, and you don’t need to buy expensive nursing tops. Just wear a stretchy camisole under your regular tops, then pull up the top layer and pull down the camisole to give your child access to the nipple. I’ve also found that the cups on many demi-cup regular bras can easily be pulled down to expose the nipple.
- Breastfeeding may reduce the number of illnesses your child has. If you work, this means less days off spent at home with a sick child. You can also rent hospital grade pumps instead of buying cheap ones. They work better and will help keep up your milk supply.
- By waiting until your child is ready for solids instead of starting at the 4 month mark, you’ll save money that would be spent on that food.
- Encouraging healthy eating habits will save money on junk food and medical care.
- Another great way to save money is to grow your own food and to make your own baby food.
- Physical touch and massage can help with some medical conditions.
- You can avoid buying a stroller by babywearing instead. You can save even more money by buying a sling or carrier second-hand. Some parents can babywear toddlers too, if you can’t, you can at least babywear for the first year or so then get an inexpensive umbrella stroller.
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Ensure Safe Sleep, Physically and Emotionally
- Cosleeping means you don’t need to buy a crib, it’s a lot cheaper to create a safe cosleeping environment.
- Cosleeping also means you don’t need as large an apartment or house.
Can you think of other ways attachment parenting can save families money? How has it saved you money?
Christina blogs about life at An American Expat in Deutschland and about parenting at Mamas Worldwide.
Attachment Parenting lends itself more to simply spending time together with your kids which you can easily do in natural settings like parks or beaches, rather than having to distract your kids with expensive “stuff”.