>Dear Friends: >Our local nursing mothers counselor training course asks the trainee to >calculate the cost of exclusive formula feeding for 6 months, including >bottles and associated equipment. The students this present term came up >with figures between $350 for 6 months (using the cheapest powdered generic >brand) to nearly $1500 (using the most expensive ready-to-feed newest >brand). > warmly, >Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE This is my first post to Lactnet as I mainly read, learn, and plan to become a lactation professional someday. For now, I'm just trying to get my twins to their first birthday! I recently did some math on the same issue myself and came up with the following numbers: Granted, I'd be buying double the formula but... We spent: $150 to rent a hospital grade pump for 3 months $100 to visit the LC three times $35 for the SNS $150 on supplemental formula that went in the SNS and bottles until I built a full milk supply $50 for the pumping kit (tubing, flanges, etc) $40 for two expansion packs of bottles/nipples/nipple rings/nipple caps $5 for a used boppy that was too small $8 for a used Hugster pillow that was okay at first but became too small $35 for a EZ Nurse Plus twin nursing pillow that was heavenly until recently when we stopped nursing simultaneously $12 for the Mothering Multiples book (worth every penny) $150 or more on Motherhood nursing shirts of both long and short sleeved varieties $100 or more on nursing bras as I've gone through 4 or 5 sizes $17 on freezer bags for EMM and that's not counting what we got free or borrowed: bottle warmer PIS (would have been $250 new) various other books like "The Womanly Art..." So, that's close to $700 or more, plus the tear and sweat equity involved. A quick look at drugstore.com tells me that a can of Enfamil Lipil that makes 188 ounces of formula costs $25. Assuming 60 ounces per day (for two babies - I know that is high for the early days but formula doesn't save forever and the leftovers get tossed a lot) for one year, that is 116 and 1/2 cans for a grand total of $2912. I guess it was worth it after all. Jennifer Upton RD, LD/N Our nursing story - http://www.geocities.com/troll2_98/ hoping to become a LLLL and IBCLC someday *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html