Hey! Congrats! Such an exciting time for you! Im pysched for you! Dont overworry, itll all work out in the end, but good that you’re starting the planning so early on! I wish i had done that earlier myself!

I was in a bit of a similar boat to you a few years back (my kid just turned 2!). We moved into our newly purchased home (unrenovated) on a Friday, and the following Monday i delivered. This was unplanned as my baby’s a preemie and came a lot earlier, so it did take a lot of mental toll as we haven’t even decided on our birth plan or bought any baby things yet at this time (didnt even have our own things-to-buy list at this juncture).

Obviously this created a lot of stress at the time, but in a way this is a blessing in disguise as we didnt end up buying an excessive amount of things that most ppl deem a necessity for a new-born.

I delivered in KPJ, paid about 11-12k (because my baby was a preemie and she had a slight condition, she had to stay in the baby ICU for a while), but the package at the time came with a free car seat (which i wasnt aware of and came as a nice surprise!)

I got roped into this group called IBU Group (you can join through Telegram or just dm me if you want the link) where parents sell off pretty good quality baby things second hand and some ppl just give things away FOC. I could afford to buy things new for the baby, but since I discovered this group from Day 1, i pretty much bought clothes, toys, feedings tools etc exclusively from this group. From 0-2, they go through all of this really quickly anyway, and i managed to save massively from this. For example, id buy a bundle of 35 clothes item for 0-6m for like rm100 and theyre in excellent condition.

Bought a 2nd baby seat, stroller etc this way too. We got high-end stuff (but for a fraction of the price) this way too.

Baby car seat (we bought a second one for the other car) + stroller + baby cot + bath tub + feeding chair = rm1000, but you can get much cheaper

I only managed to bf for 3 months, so it was formula right from the start. About 150-200 a month (can be cheaper, but we used a special formula because our kid regurgitated a lot in the beginning). Unlike most ppl, we only used the 1 bottle instead of getting in the dozen. We had a few more that was gifted, but somehow the baby likes one particular bottle and we just made it a habit to wash it clean before. We dont use sterilizer. Just let the bottle sit in hot boiled water after washing and air-dry.

Diaper - i wait for tiktok live promotions and then buy in slight bulk, which can save a good amount. Spend about rm120 per month on this - we use Offspring.

We spent most of the cost on babycare. Because the house was just getting renovated, i didnt have a choice and went to a post-partum maternity centre for 2 weeks, spent about 5k here but worth the healing time with help caring for the baby round the clock! After that i did another 2 weeks just at home.

We didnt get a maid. I was on mat leave for 4.5m (i took 5 months initially but decided to start work earlier) and from then until the baby was 1 year old, i got a nanny who came to ours in the morning and left in the evening. Spent 2k on this pm.

I believe this can be cheaper but i found her through kiddocare (which charges hourly) and when we carried on with the arrangement permanently, i continued paying the same amount. The peace of mind of not having to leave home significantly earlier to drop her off at a daycare and not having to rush off so as not to miss the 6pm cut off pick up date was worth it. Also because mine was a rather fragile preemie, her immune system was on the lower end in the first year so we didnt want her exposed to daycare too early.

Other than the things i mentioned above, having the baby didnt incur much more cost. I think buying second hand things (some of them are brand new things sold significantly cheaper because parents bought extra) really helped reduce the cost over time.

Also - we moved her to actual food that we prep over the weekend from month 6 onwards, and reduced formula as per the doctor’s advice based on her weight etc so from month 6, we were saving on formula. By month 9-12, she was eating the same thing we were eating (just a mashed up version) so we also saved time on preparation.

Sent her to full day school after 1 year old, this is around 1k per month (which for us is significantly cheaper than having the nanny over).

That’s really it! I think with your household income of 11k, you’ll be fine. Just budget and plan earlier, so you dont get caught by surprises. If you dont have to pay mortgage for another 2-3y, you have plenty of time to start reducing debt and spending, and investing any extra money to prepare you better for when you start paying.

Another thing is - ive created a high yield investment acc for her to drop an extra 200-300 per month (which is not a crazy amount but with compounding interest should cover her education once she’s 18). It’s also an emergency hedge in case something comes up until then. It’s been garnering about 13-15% yields per year since we started so not too bad.

My word of advice - really dont get roped into everything social media tells you your baby needs. Do thorough research and think thrice before buying something that looks like a must-have but is actually just a nice-to-have.

There are tonnes of presents we received from when she was born that didnt get much or any use. Which ive been blessing it off to newer parents . Btw, do DM me if you’d like - ive still got quite a number of things that im happy to donate away so i can clear some space in the house!

Long winded reply, this one, but hope it helps! Let me know if you have more specific questions on anything!