In the cost of formula, what costs are being included in addition to the
purchase price of the formula itself?   
Depending on what type you buy, the cost varies a lot, but assuming you are
following the recommendations not to give unmodified cow's milk to children
under a year, you could pay about US $80.00 per week for the first two
weeks, which is what it would cost for ready to feed formula, supplied in
individual 2 ounce bottles. If you then went to quart jugs of ready to feed,
the cost drops all the way to around US $60.00 per week, and if you mix it
yourself from powder it costs *only* about US $30.00 per week, assuming
approximately a quart per day by the time the baby is consuming the
reconstituted powder product. None of this takes into account the formula
wasted when the baby doesn't drink it all and you have to discard it, only
to need to mix up more shortly thereafter. These prices were on the shelf I
photographed at an outlet of a major US drugstore chain in November, and I
don't know whether they are higher or lower than in grocery stores.  I was
there to buy my favorite toothpaste and it was about the same price as in
stores.
Either way, $1000 doesn't even get you through the first six months in
formula alone unless you use powder from day one, and you still have to
figure in the paraphernalia to serve it in, the cost of washing it all, the
added waste disposal expenses if you pay by volume for that, and the time
you spend shopping for it, toting it home, preparing it and cleaning up
afterwards.  After that, you can start thinking about what the expenses of
the baby's more frequent illnesses will do to your budget, and miscellany
such as cleaning your nice clothes and any furniture baby has puked on.
In contrast, formula where I live costs about $10 per week if using powder,
and even if you use ready to feed, at about $1.50 for 6.5 ounces, you could
probably keep a baby adequately supplied with calories for under $25.00 per
week in the first two weeks.  Most parents here think that ready to feed is
exorbitantly expensive and buy powder.  I assume the difference in price
between here and the US is due to the complete lack of advertising costs for
breastmilk substitutes here, not because the US products are three or four
times as fabulous. Almost every other item in the grocery store costs quite
a bit more here than there.

Rachel Myr, Kristiansand, Norway

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