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Breastfeeding was cheaper for us.

I bought a pump - $300
A box of pads - $8
Tube of Lanolin - $10
Bottles - Would have had to buy either way
Extra pump parts - $15 (convenience not required)
Boppy - $30 (but many that FF also buy one).
2 nursing bras - $60 (I would have needed 2 new bras postpartum anyways. I wore them for a year which is what I consider the regular life span of a bra.)

Breastfeeding. Only because we got our pump (freestyle) for $189. And because I got a generic Medela dbl pump to leave work for free with insurance).

I bought 2 nursing bras, 1 nursing cami, reusable breastpads, freezer bags. (less than $100 total)

Bottles, warmer, boppy, covers, nipple shield were all gifts or from hospital.

I nurse when I'm at home and pump on my office days (3x a wk)

BFing was cheaper for us. My pump was a shower gift from my BFF. I bought milkies and about 3 boxes of pads. I have 1 nice nursing bra that cost me $100 and 3 cheap ones that cost about $100 total. I didn't even use my pump that much since I was home for her first year so I probably could have lived without it. I'd guess over 13 months I'm less than $500 deep to feed her.......... now bento supplies.......!

BFing was less expensive for us. My pump, hands free bra, nursing cover, nursing pillows, pumping bottles and some feeding bottles were all gifted. I had to buy storage bags and I splurged on a few nursing tanks, different bottles and bottle warmers.

Hmmm I'm not sure the cost of FFing, but I think BFing is cheaper.

Pump - bought with BRU gift cards
extra pump parts - got at hospital so insurance paid for it
nipple cream - $10
Boppy- hand me down, new cover was a gift
another type of nursing pillow - $60
Nursing bras - $80
Nursing camis (I have 6! yikes. I wear them everyday tho) - $120
reusable nursing pads - $50 ? I bought the bamboobies
bottles - would have needed either way

ETA: oh I forgot my hands free bra and storage bags, so probably $400 all together.

what is that? $320, so we'll say $350. How much does formula cost???

oh man breastfeeding would have been way cheaper. i bf until he was 7 months but he was heavily supplemented with formula the whole time anyway. we spend a lot on formula every month! he's a big eater, eats the premium enfamil, and it's expensive here. we probably spend around 140$ a month on formula.

we also have the freestyle, and a bunch of breastfeeding stuff from when he was younger.

Formula. LO has MSPI so it would have been covered by insurance.

Breastfeeding: Sinlge electric pump ($80), breast pads (only used for first few months), pump freezer bags (don't pump into bottles), nursing bra ($20 at target), increase in grocery bill to eat dairy, soy, nut/peanut, egg, & wheat free (~$150/mth, $1,800/yr)

Formula feeding: Neocate formula (4 cans = $140, 1 can lasting ~ 3 days, 1 year of formula = ~$4,200+)

Yep, breastfeeding has definitely been cheaper!

BF for sure - I maybe spent $500-600 on pump/bras/pads/storage bags, but would have had to pay for all formula costs out of pocket. And the pump and bras will be able to be used again for a second child hopefully.

@MamaMoose: Depends on your insurance policy. My sister's son has MSPI as well and her ins. policy didn't cover it so at 9 months out, she is still on a dairy free diet.

@winniebee: Our insurance is through the NFL players association and it's kind of absurd how good it is. I have yet to find anything it doesn't cover (I was able to get any pump I wanted totally free). So I would be SHOCKED if it wasn't covered. I think we'll probably have to supplement at some point before she's a year old so I guess I'll find out. I'm kind of obsessed with our insurance and it will be a sad sad day when we are no longer eligible for the plan.

Breastfeeding. I really didn't have many costs. I bought a manual pump for about $25, and it worked well for me, it didn't take me long and much easier to clean and lug around, my insurance will cover an electric this time though so that'll be free. I bought 2 nursing bras for $20 each but I wore regular bras with no problem, probably $15 worth of lanolin, maybe $20 worth of storage bags, and $20 worth of nursing pads.

So I spent about the cost of one month of formula.

BF is definitely not free, but still seems to be cheaper. The real question is how long I can keep this up once I go back to work.

I think I've spent about $400-$500 and I'm almost 3 months in. I've bought: my breast friend pillow, boppy pillow, nipple cream, gel soothies, nipple pads w/ cooling beads, 4 nursing tanks, 1 nursing bra, 5 boxes of nursing pads, freezer storage bags, storage bottles (after reading that antibodies stick to the storage bags), extra pump parts, nipple shield for early weeks, probiotics, bottles.

The real cost is time. In additional to all the nursing sessions (every 2 hours, and continuous in the evenings in the early weeks), I've spent way too much time 1. worried that I was losing my supply, 2. convinced I had thrush, 3. researching a 2nd pump to keep at work, 4. waking up in the middle of the night to pump to freeze. Also, I'm going to need more more/nicer nursing bras for work.

However, there's something so nice about nursing/cuddling a baby in bed. So, I guess it's pretty priceless.

**pump was free from insurance.

BFing. I don't count things I'd have to buy anyway (like bras which i replace every 6 months, A&As I use as covers, bottles, etc), so an LC visit, $10 tube of lanolin, nursing pillow, 2 packs reusable pads and a pump. Maybe $500? BUT, all of those besides the LC were shower gifts which is a financial benefit, since I would have borne the cost of formula and didn't bear the cost of BFing.

neither would have been too expensive at all- we got a free pump, so all i've had to buy were some nursing pads, bottles, pump parts, etc. and my doctors office has free formula of each and every brand in the waiting room, but we have never taken any.

Breastfeeding. We were given our (used Medela PIS) pump from my SIL. I bought new tubing and an accessory set (~$30). Our Boppy, lansinoh lotion (didn't need) and nursing pads were gifted. By the time I finished the box of pads I didn't stopped randomly leaking all of the time. The only on-going cost I have is breast milk storage bags, but I'm a SAHM and really only pump 2-3x a week so I go through them slowly (pack of 100 for $18).

I haven't researched how much formula would be but I can only imagine it would have been more expensive for us.

I don't know how much formula would cost, but BFing has been pretty inexpensive so far: Medela double electric pump (free with insurance), four nursing bras (80), four nursing tanks (70), nursing cover-up (35), storage bags (free from SIL), lanolin (shower gift -- used only once so far!), Boppy (shower gift), hands-free pumping bra (35), assorted bottles (shower gifts). So six weeks in, I've spent 220 bucks.

Hmmmm I'm guessing formula, but will update when I get around to calculating it! Btw, pump was gift so considering it free....

We calculated our cost of formula to be $6 a day, which works out to $2,190 per year. We were using premixed formula, which is more expensive. Now that LO is not spitting up all the time we are changing it up to powder, which is about half the cost. Even at half the cost that would be over $1,000 a year.

Formula was definitely more expensive and would have been even if I could have breast fed. Because I had a breast reduction 19 years ago, insurance paid for my pump rental to help build a supply. I was only getting a couple ounces a day so it didn't work for us.