How Much Does It Cost To Raise An Infant?

[BOOKEMDANO]

Hello,

I am not a father but one day I hope to be one. I wanted to ask all you parents out there if raising a young child on 20,000 baht per month was enough?

I have no idea about costs such as health insurance; clothes; food; jabs for a young infant so I wonder if you could provide your input as to what 'your' monthly expenditure is for a young child - 0, 4 years of age - is please?

Also, how about the birth itself how much is this?

What is the price in a private hospital vs a government one and how does the two compare?

I dont need to know about schooling fees, just day to day costs and whether 20k would cover this?

Regards

Bookem'

[tangcoral]

Solely on the child, Yes it is enough. It all depends on what type of lifestyle you want your child to live.

Private hospitals can range from 30K-50K for natural birth and 40K-70K for c-section

About 30-40% cheaper at govt hospitals

If you plan on breast feeding then its free for first 6months to 1year

They dont eat much since they are a baby.

Your major cost is formula milk, disposable diapers and health care.

I think you can get by with 10K a month just on the basics.

Edited June 6, 2010 by tangcoral

[MikeyIdea]

I will go the other way around and work back-wards if I may. Thai courts will award 3,100 bath per month for a child, more for a very young child (as diapers and milk cost) and also more for a teenager (larger shoes cost more....). But it is not much, hardly over 4,000 bath per month. According to the LAW in Thailand, alimony if the parents split up is strictly for the child and the mother has no right to anything for herself. Now, this is just to give you a perspective. The legal minimum IS enough to feed and clothe the child but nothing else. It is of course not what you should give to a good mother who takes care of your child while you are abroad working if you love your child.

Then there is the question about where you are: 10,000 bath per month will be more than enough for a mother to raise a child very well upcountry, e.g., in the village in Buriram or where ever the mother comes from. It is actually enough to support the mothers parents too easily - if the mother stays with her parents. If the mother has to rent an apartment in e.g. Korat or another bigger city upcountry, then 10,000 bath may or may not be enough. 10,000 bath per month would be a good deal for a divorced mother taking care of her child in Bangkok. If she can get that, then she should be happy because the child really has a good and caring father paying that much. I have 2 Thai friends at work who both pay 10,000 bath per month and child, they are very good fathers and both make over 100,000 bath per month too... It is not enough for the mother to live on and raise her child on without working in Bangkok though, if that is the goal, then more is needed.

20,000 bath per month is a total rip-off upcountry. Any farang paying that much to a mother living e.g. in Buriram and bringing up their child there needs to have his wires checked. 20,000 for a mother renting an apartment in e.g. Korat and brining up her child is luxurious indeed - reduce unless rich to the extent where money doesn't matter. 20,000 bath per month in Bangkok for a mother bringing up a child is good, she should consider herself lucky. That is more than what girls with batchelor degrees working in Thai companies make.

Everything is totally up to where this family lives and if you live with the family or not, and most of all, what lifestyle you want.

When my daughter was 1 year old (4 years ago), then we spent 40,000 bath per month for the whole family (me farang, the mother and our daughter) - self-owned house with no rent, no loans, careful wife who doesn't spend money, I am not a big spender myself, took the car out every weekend for day trips. A good life and I did not miss anything, nor did our child miss anything, we didn't have to worry about money really but we weren't "spenders" either.

Today when my dauhter is 5 years old, I struggle to keep total expenditure (excluding schools) below 60,000 bath per month. This is not because the child cost that much more but rather because the wife is less happy and thereby spend more.

20,000 for the CHILD in Bangkok? Yes, no problems, easily. 10,000 for the CHILD only, in Bangkok, is also possible but a little bit tough.

Good Luck

[BOOKEMDANO]

Your major cost is formula milk, disposable diapers and health care.

I think you can get by with 10K a month just on the basics.

Thanks for the reply.

So given the location the cost varies incredibley. I am based in the North 'Chiang Mai' so prices are not as high as Bangkok I expect. So given an allowance of 10k - just for the basics - would this also include health insurance? If not, how much do you guys pay for your child?

It's good to get some idea of the cost and well-being of bringing a child into the world before doing some research into how easily I could - or could not - raise a child primarily on my income.

[MikeyIdea]

The city of Chieng Mai is a bit cheaper than Bangkok but not that much actually. I get my daughters health insurance from work so not sure, I don't think that 1,000 bath per month is enough. I recommend that you always pay costs like healt insurance, school, hospital bills yourself - and keep the receipts! If you and the missus ever have domestic problems later, then you need evidence that you are the one who has paid for the child

There is nothing wrong, 10,000 bath per month is enough but basic living, less is spartan living, more is nice® living. Excluding health insurance I would say

[sarahsbloke]

I live in Chiang Mai, with my Thai wife and 12 YO Thai stepdaughter

Her government school is free, lunch is free, but books and assorted uniforms have cost 4000bht this year. I give her 20bht for snacks everyday she is in school (she usually saves 10bht of that).

Health insurance, nothing, government hospitals good enough.

Family food bill about 100bht a day (for the 3 of us)

Having a baby, my wife would like 20kbht to have one in a hospital (doesn't seem too expensive to me)

You don't need disposable nappies, extremely expensive as not usually used by Thai families.

Yesterday we had a big family day out, swimming pool (80bht), nice evening meal, big fish tab tim, 4 other dishes, 2 sticky rice, 1 steamed rice, 2 large chang classic, 2 spy classic, 1 bottle of water ....... 480bht. Thailand is cheap if you don't go to English-speaking places.

I would say 5kbht a month would be plenty for another mouth in the family.

My previous gf had a 2 YO daughter that I supported but farmed out to a nanny (gf only visited the kid, outings now and then), that cost me 5kbht a month inclusive 24/7

(gf not very maternal, preferred to not look after kid herself but looked after me very well, but unfortunately had to go as total psycho)

Edited June 7, 2010 by sarahsbloke

[BOOKEMDANO]

Health insurance, nothing, government hospitals good enough.

Family food bill about 100bht a day (for the 3 of us)

Having a baby, my wife would like 20kbht to have one in a hospital (doesn't seem too expensive to me)

You don't need disposable nappies, extremely expensive as not usually used by Thai families.

Hi SB,

Thanks for the detailed information.

It's not that I have an aversion to Thai government hospitals, i'm confident they do an equally good job as most private one's; however, I guess the difference can be compared to a 3-star hotel and a 5-star one. They both accomodate and serve you, only one does it with more regard for their patients in a more flamboyant surrounding.

However, what happens if a 'major' illness took hold and surgery was needed. Even then a government hospital could prove expensive, so for peace of mind health insurance for the family is a top priority.

Another poster mentioned nappies being expensive, I guess when it comes to the time these things can be factored in accordingly. But for now I guess after reading some of these posts 10k in a city like Chiang Mai will cover many of the basic needs to support a young bambino in the early years.

But still, I need to ask, 'how much are you paying for medical coverage'?

[MikeyIdea]

I asked our HR department and they forwarded this to me, approx 600 bath per month for the cheapest package. Sounds a bit cheap for a infant, I think. There should be phone number to Bupa in the file, I suggest call and check

www.bupa.co.th Phone Bangkok 02-2347755

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Edited June 7, 2010 by MikeyIdea

[freethefour]

These topics are getting boring and there are too many of them.

Is <insert amount> enough money to <insert subject>.

Work out how much you earn, how much you spend and then

think about what you can do for your child. This is simple stuff

guys and I am sure most of you are more intelligent than me

but from these topic questions you would not guess so.

[BOOKEMDANO]

I asked our HR department and they forwarded this to me, approx 600 bath per month for the cheapest package. Sounds a bit cheap for a infant, I think. There should be phone number to Bupa in the file, I suggest call and check

www.bupa.co.th Phone Bangkok 02-2347755

That is the kind of link I was after. Thank you very much for taking the time to ask around your dept. I can now look into some proper health care cover, for now, and the future.

As for the other poster on the subject of "would X be enough if I had Y".

I understand your frustration of asking a seemingly 'simply' question but thinking about bringing a kid into the the world is a big deal - wouldn't you agree? Yeah it makes sense that you work out your outgoings and simply cut what you can, where you can, and divide up what's left; but because I have no idea about the sort if costs I would incur as a father, albeit a potential one, I thought that the money avaliable to me to raise a kid - 20,000 baht - would it be enough? For a subject I have no idea about I decided to ask those in the know.

To be it simply, It's not really a rhetorical question since I didn't know the answer, hence making this post quite a valid one, and yours, rather obsolete .

Anyway, my question has been answered and I now have a good idea of the kind of cost I can expect to pay and a useful link to follow up on the health insurance issue.

Many thanks

[chris5346]

hello,

we have just had a baby in chiang mai :

we started off at the RAM hospital which i think is probably the most expensive - the first 3-4 months of visits were costing 3000 baht a month because of extra vaccinations and blood testa etc, then they got a bit cheaper maybe 1000-1500 a month then you go every 2 weeks towards the end and they were maybe 1000 a time, they said that the prices were 35000 for natural birth and extra 15,000 if you require a c-section, we also got the impression that these were the minimum charges for delivery and maybe can add another 5000 or so if any complications.

we decided not to have the birth there and went to the siriphat or something which is the large public hospital - prices for birth were 20000 and 33000, when we got the bill they tried to charge 34000 something and i pushed then a little and they dropped price to 33100, i think it depends what extras you require.

one problem with the siriphat is it gets very busy and my gf said the delivery room wasn't as good as she has had b4 in other more expensive hospitals - maybe not enough doctors to go around etc ? we stayed for 3 days or something and the after birth service was probably as good as it gets.

i think there's some cheaper hospitals also ?

if we could have known what the RAM were going to charge then maybe would have been better there for us also i think there's a good one on the san sai road same as RAM.

as far as baby items go then it's upto you really - if the weathers hot then you don't need half the clothing you need in europe, we shopped around and got good quality items in sales - robinsons and central and there's some smaller private shops also, if you look around you can get bits from here and there and save quite a bit enough to pay for the birth, once your organised and have most the things you need the extra costs isn't much - maybe 5000 baht a month ,

i'm doing it on 30000 a month but if you have to buy a car and we upgraded things in the house etc like aircon etc then it soon adds up.

i can make a bit of a list for you if yu want or if you got any questions lemme know,

chris

[chris5346]

you can get some cheaper options than bupa,

this one called D4U health care :

http://www.dhipaya.co.th/Main/HomeEng.aspx

they do yearly policies range from 1500 - 7500 .

all the banks and companies like tesco's etc do insurance.

regards,

chris

[anonymouse]

I have two kids six and three, they get more expensive as they get older. I live in Chiang Mai.

After the initial hospital costs, and clothes, bottles, cots etc they cost about the same amount as my mums pet dog does in the UK if they are breast-fed.

My daughter goes to a government kindergarten which costs around 400 baht a month.

My son goes to private school and is in a bi-lingual programme that works out around 4,000 a month, the bus that takes him to and from school is another 1,000 a month.

Then its food, healthcare, toys, books,dvds, clothes and school stuff.

Once they are both older I'll transfer them to an English Programme that will cost around 16,000 a month - once they start at University I'll be living on rice gruel

You also have to factor in holidays and things like that, before me and the wife could go away for a cheap weekend somewhere but a trip to Phuket in a couple of weeks time for a week is going to cost me around 60,000 baht for flights, hotel and misc expenses.

Saying all this they are worth all the money in the world to me.

Edited June 11, 2010 by anonymouse

[phuketrichard]

Solely on the child, Yes it is enough. It all depends on what type of lifestyle you want your child to live.

Private hospitals can range from 30K-50K for natural birth and 40K-70K for c-section

About 30-40% cheaper at govt hospitals

If you plan on breast feeding then its free for first 6months to 1year

They dont eat much since they are a baby.

Your major cost is formula milk, disposable diapers and health care.

I think you can get by with 10K a month just on the basics.

My daughter was born in a private Thai hopspiatl in Phuket and for natural birth and 2 nights in a private room 6,800 baht in 1994 so even double that its still cheap.

10,000 a month!!!

if there wearing pampers and eating bottled baby food maybe but if there living thai style 2/3rds that anywhere but in Bangkok unless your paying rent for them other than her moms place.

Mothers milk is free for the first months ( my daughter was breast feed till she was 16 months and was never sick) But thai girls dont like to breast feed for they think it will make there breasts unattractive later which is NOT true. Clothes very cheap/ shots cheap as well

Once their off mom and start on rice and such costs are low. INsurance?? no idea as we never had it till she was 8 or so then for a fmaily of three on Bupa it was like 40,000 baht/year and that is the Platinum plan.

If your provding 20,000 baht your feeding and taking care of the whole family!

Edited June 13, 2010 by phuketrichard