Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

RWJF is a national philanthropy, working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.

Learn more at RWJF.org.

This is NPR's Life Kit. I'm Diana O'Pong.

I remember the day I walked into the baby section of a store after finding out I was

pregnant. I felt elated and simultaneously terrified. I was staring at all of the products

available and looking at the cost of everything.

Convertible car seats ranged from $100 to over $500, and I didn't even know what that meant.

There were jumparoos that were almost $200.

And the fancy baby swings and nursing chairs that swiveled seemed significantly outside of my price range.

I didn't know which products were best, what I actually needed, or how to decide how much I really needed to spend, but from

where I was standing in that baby aisle, it looked like it was going to cost thousands of dollars.

And that wasn't even everything it looked like the baby would probably need

that first year. Babies come with so many unknowns, and the fear started to overtake my joy really

fast. Instead of being excited, I was just stressed. Plus, people close to me had opinions on the

importance of organic diapers or cloth diapers, which had a monthly service fee.

Did I really need all of this?

Rumor has it, babies are expensive, Farnoosh.

What does having a baby actually cost?

Well, if you ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture,

which I didn't realize they were the experts, but they have actually tallied the figures.

That's parent and money expert Farnoche to Robbie. Looking across, you know, all the different

...