# Babies R Us: How do you sleep at night, besides on a gigantic pile of my money? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 23, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890 "2004-06-23T22:24:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/41 "2004-06-25T18:25:36Z")
> [@Zette](#): > > Enlighten a non mom. When you say formula costs say $15/can or $20, how long does that last you? Are you talking about a tall can of premade liquid or the powder stuff that you use up and mix per bottle? I have zero concept and am curious. I mean, if you’re formula feeding a baby exclusively, how much does it cost (average) per week for food? Well for me, a case of formula (concentrate, not powder. I found that the powder caused my son more gas. Not fun.) lasted ~a week so I was paying 75-100 dollars a month for formula (25 a case). When it went up (39) it jumped to 117-156 dollars approximately. I stocked up before all the old one sold out though and switched to a cheaper brand now. It’s also cheaper now that we’ve started solids. It’s not as bad as the people pushing breastfeeding on me made it out to be (the ones who insisted that I hadn’t tried hard enough, that did I try this? or this? Gah I tried it!) I was told by a _lactation consultant_ that it would cost me upwards of 300/month to buy formula. ---
**Author:** ![MinniePurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@MinniePurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinniePurl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/42 "2004-06-25T19:41:09Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > Well for me, a case of formula (concentrate, not powder. I found that the powder caused my son more gas. Not fun.) lasted ~a week so I was paying 75-100 dollars a month for formula (25 a case). When it went up (39) it jumped to 117-156 dollars approximately. I stocked up before all the old one sold out though and switched to a cheaper brand now. It’s also cheaper now that we’ve started solids. > > It’s not as bad as the people pushing breastfeeding on me made it out to be (the ones who insisted that I hadn’t tried hard enough, that did I try this? or this? Gah I tried it!) I was told by a _lactation consultant_ that it would cost me upwards of 300/month to buy formula. We spend about $100/month for LittlePurlBoy’s formula-- about 4 giant price club-size cans each month. He’s 3 months old, so still exclusively on formula. Although we do put rice cereal in each bottle (on the advice of his pediatrician-- it helps him keep it down. Otherwise he spits up nearly all of it.) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/43 "2004-06-25T20:08:03Z")
We ended up buying a lot of ours over the internet. IIRC (and my youngest is 4 1/2, so its been awhile) we’d go through about 2 cans of Carnation Smart Start a week. What bugs the hell out of me is why is it anyone’s business why I needed to buy two cans of SmartStart a week! Instead of judging, can we just assume for two seconds that Chastain and his wife are intellegent adults who weighed the options and made the choice that was right for them. Maybe it was health. Maybe it was adoption. Maybe it was a latching problem. Maybe PND. Maybe it was medication. Maybe Chastain considers his wife’s breasts his own property and was overtaken by jealously at having to share his toys. Maybe they said “oooohhhhh - I know, we really want to spend $100 a month on formula, it will make us feel wealthy.” None of our business when the rant is about cases of formula being priced higher per oz than the seperate cans. ---
**Author:** ![emulsified](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emulsified/32/2915_2.png) [@emulsified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emulsified)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/44 "2004-06-25T20:40:34Z")
As another new parent, I can sympathize with this rant. However, I was certain it was going to be about diapers. Thank goodness my wife is able to breastfeed otherwise I’d have something else to complain about. My lil baby seems to wait until just after he’s changed to let loose his bowel storm. Then he cleverly waits until mid-rechange to pee all over the changing table. I exact revenge by taking naked pictures of him to show his future girlfriends. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/45 "2004-06-26T09:56:50Z")
> [@emulsified](#): > > My lil baby seems to wait until just after he’s changed to let loose his bowel storm. Then he cleverly waits until mid-rechange to pee all over the changing table. > > I exact revenge by taking naked pictures of him to show his future girlfriends. Wait 'til he starts reaching into his diaper and fingerpainting on the walls with what he finds there. Now _that’s_ a Kodak moment. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/46 "2004-06-26T16:54:58Z")
My son is a manager for Babies R us. I showed him this thread last night, and here are his commnets The formula is the same price if you buy 1 or 6. The sixpacks are considered “cases” and are opened up to resupply the shelf with single cans (if they were two different prices this action would screw up the inventory control something fierce) He then called his store and had someone scan both a single can and a case, case price = single can price X 6. He seems to recall a price change (reduction) a few months back that knocked the price of formula down almost $2 a can. He suspects that the shelf price on the single cans got reduced, but not the shelf price on the cases. This would account for the $10 difference in price. The correct price would have scaned at the register. As far as the purple shirted drones answer, his comment was hey the guy probably makes $6.75 an hour. He has trouble getting correct information out of them. Sorry to spoil such a great rant with facts, you may now continue. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/47 "2004-06-26T17:01:54Z")
> [@LilyoftheValley](#): > > **Babies R Us** They are unbelievably condescending and confusing. > > You see, I’d seen it in the Babies R Us section of my local Toys R Us, but it was up on a shelf and I could not sit on it to try it out. > > So I’m looking around the big Babies R Us, and I don’t see it. I ask the furniture salesguy, “Where’s the glider that’s on sale?” > > Furniture Salesguy (sneering down nose): “We don’t haaaaave sales here.” > Me: “Well, I saw it in a different Babies R Us and it was on sale.” > FS: “You must be wrong.” > Me: 😕 > FS: “Was it online?” > Me: “Uh, maybe…but I saw it in the Babies R Us in \.” > FS: “Ooooooh. You mean inside Toys R Us. That’s a different store. They sell low quality things.” > Me: “Different store? But it has the same name…same logo…the same baby registry…” > FS: “Different store.” > > I mean, what the hell? My son also read this post and laughed out loud. **Toys** R Us != **Babies** R Us. You will note that contrary to what you posted, they do not have the same name. According to my son they also do not have the same merchandise selection. (as you discovered) Your complaint is the same as going to Sam’s Club and complaining that they don’t have the same merchandise selection as the Wal-Mart in the next town. TRU and BRU share the same corporate ownership, but do not share sales, or merchandise lines 100%. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/48 "2004-06-27T01:37:17Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > My son also read this post and laughed out loud. **Toys** R Us != **Babies** R Us. You will note that contrary to what you posted, they do not have the same name. According to my son they also do not have the same merchandise selection. (as you discovered) > Your complaint is the same as going to Sam’s Club and complaining that they don’t have the same merchandise selection as the Wal-Mart in the next town. TRU and BRU share the same corporate ownership, but do not share sales, or merchandise lines 100%. Ummm…I didn’t say it was Toys R Us itself. Glad he laughed. :rolleyes: _What I said is…_ There is a section in my local Toys R Us store which: [ol] [li]Is separate from the rest of the Toys R Us store[/li][li]Has a _big_ logo over it saying Babies R Us[/li][li]Advertises that you can register there for your (Babies R Us) registry[/li][li]Allows you to purchase items from others’ Babies R Us registry[/li][li]Accepts Babies R Us coupons[/li][li]Carries most of the same items and sales as you get online when you type [www.babiesrus.com](http://www.babiesrus.com)[/li][/ol] If the difference between the two places is so obvious to your son that he would laugh at a customer, I’m glad I mostly choose not to shop there. To me, it’s about as clear as mud. Anyway, if you read my post again, you’ll find I wasn’t complaining about the lack of one particular item, I was complaining about the condescension I received from the salesman about something I found confusing. Well, now I know why: management supports it. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/49 "2004-06-27T01:40:29Z")
> [@LilyoftheValley](#): > > To me, it’s about as clear as mud. Clarification: _before that incident_, it was as clear as mud. I learned the difference after I talked to the furniture salesman. But prior to that, living in an area without any official Babies R Us freestanding stores, I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/50 "2004-06-27T10:30:02Z")
> [@MinniePurl](#): > > We spend about $100/month for LittlePurlBoy’s formula-- about 4 giant price club-size cans each month. He’s 3 months old, so still exclusively on formula. Although we do put rice cereal in each bottle (on the advice of his pediatrician-- it helps him keep it down. Otherwise he spits up nearly all of it.) Sweet merciful crap! The amount you and the other mothers pay _floors_ me - when I learned how much the stuff cost (through working at a grocery store) I assumed it was because it lasted awhile. Now I see that it’s price gouging because you can’t just stop buying formula. Damn! Breast feeding clearly has its aggravations, but if you’re using formula the money alone would make me vomit blood every time I went shopping. This is why I will never, _ever_ have children. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/51 "2004-06-27T13:50:39Z")
Ah, yes. The cost of children. My son was 13 months old when my daughter was born. Both of them we paid for formula from about 6 1/2 months to a year. They were both in diapers or pull ups until 3 1/2 They are both daycare kids. Formula was around $120 a month. Diapers another $100 or more. And I had two in the baby room at daycare at the same time! That was (in 2000 dollars) $1600 a month! Its amazing anyone can afford children. 'Course, there are ways to do it cheaper. SAHMs don’t pay for daycare. Home daycare is cheaper than center daycare. Breastfeeding is significantly cheaper - even if you pay $30 to rent a hospital pump a month and add in the cost of extra food for your extra calories. If you do use formula, generic is cheaper than name brands Cloth diapers aren’t easy - and some people say by the time you factor in all the detergent and hot water, not much cheaper, but it is cheaper - and generic diapers are cheaper than Pampers. But even at the low end, babies aren’t cheap, and its always a shock to new parents to discover how not cheap. ---
**Author:** ![MinniePurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@MinniePurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinniePurl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/52 "2004-06-27T15:37:05Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Sweet merciful crap! The amount you and the other mothers pay _floors_ me - when I learned how much the stuff cost (through working at a grocery store) I assumed it was because it lasted awhile. Now I see that it’s price gouging because you can’t just stop buying formula. Pretty much. And nowadays, most mothers using formula aren’t doing it because they want to. I’d much rather breastfeed, because it’s not only cheaper and healthier, but it helps the mother lose weight. But my breasts are apparently more decorative than functional. Ironically, I’m quite well-endowed, so you’d think I’d be a regular human dairy cow. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/53 "2004-06-27T16:07:18Z")
Wow, has no one heard of WIC? I only had to pay a bit out of pocket if Alex was particularily hungry one month. There are income qualifications though. Before I went on maternity leave, my household made too much. My first day of leave though, when my income went down to zero, we qualified. WIC is the best thing ever. I paid no more than $50 (and that’s way overestimating, I’m sure) for formula the whole year my son used it. I ended the year with a few leftovers and gave them to a local food bank. Luvs diapers are great. I think I pay less than $10 for a pack of 68, size four (at :cough:Wal-Mart:cough:). You know what pisses me off though? As the sizes go up, the number of diapers per pack goes **down** , yet the price _also_ goes up. WTF? We buy/sell clothes at Once Upon a Child, except when Alex was brand new because I was stubborn and thought he **needed** new clothes. He still gets new clothes, but I buy them out of season when they’re on sale. Last fall when he was 4 months old or something, I picked up a bunch of 12m summer clothes at ridiculous sale prices – 2 and 3 piece outfits for $3-5, shirts for a dollar each, etc. (again, at :cough:Wal-Mart:cough:). Wal-Mart sucks, and they treat their emp… I mean, **associates** , like shit (I know, I was one), but damned if they don’t make my life easier. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/54 "2004-06-27T16:11:42Z")
I should add that you only have to report your income to WIC once a year. My WIC rep. told me that even if I went back to work (actually, she said if I won a million dollars… HAHAHAHA!!!) the next day, I’d still be in the program for a year. Your children are allowed to be in the program up until the age of five, provided your household falls within the income guidelines. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/55 "2004-06-27T18:10:43Z")
Unfortunately there isn’t WIC here… I don’t know of any place to get cheap diapers/food (other than the usual shopping around and carefully) I agree with Wal-mart making things easier. I usually buy there because it’s cheaper than the grocery store and I can buy a lot of bigger clothes for cheap in anticipation of my son fitting into them. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/56 "2004-06-27T18:16:27Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > My son is a manager for Babies R us. I showed him this thread last night, and here are his commnets > The formula is the same price if you buy 1 or 6. The sixpacks are considered “cases” and are opened up to resupply the shelf with single cans (if they were two different prices this action would screw up the inventory control something fierce) He then called his store and had someone scan both a single can and a case, case price = single can price X 6. > He seems to recall a price change (reduction) a few months back that knocked the price of formula down almost $2 a can. He suspects that the shelf price on the single cans got reduced, but not the shelf price on the cases. This would account for the $10 difference in price. The correct price would have scaned at the register. > As far as the purple shirted drones answer, his comment was hey the guy probably makes $6.75 an hour. He has trouble getting correct information out of them. > Sorry to spoil such a great rant with facts, you may now continue. Hey, nice to hear from somebody in the know. However: If the register had rang up the SKU number, it would have come up as the exorbitant $137.00 it was listed at. I checked the SKU at one of the “check it yourself” SKU-ringer-upper things they have for convenience, and this is the price it was listed at. I’ve no doubt bringing it up to the front and complaining would have resulted in more trouble than it was worth. Sad to say, **that** is the true fact of the matter. If the people who work there can’t be bothered to find out the true answer, and instead offer up a cursory “they do it on purpose because of convenience” then this isn’t the store I want to toss money at anyway. But thanks for the answer “from the inside.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/57 "2004-06-28T00:52:47Z")
What’s with these coupons and why don’t I have any? We’ve bought about a gazillion cans of formula for our twins! Our pediatrician gives us lots of freebies (I think everyone else in her practice is breastfeeding) but we go through 'em fast. Is there a secret password? One note in defense of formula - even though I could try to regulate their feeding, since I don’t have to worry about letdown & wet shirts, we’ve been feeding on demand instead of on a schedule. Well, I had baby Girl at the hospital to get her cold checked out (one of those 4 a.m. cough/breathing things) and everyone kept asking if I wasn’t breastfeeding, because she’s really big and (other than her cold & ear infection) really healthy. I’ve wondered if part of the reason why formula babies sometimes don’t grow as well is because parents aren’t responding to their cries with food. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/58 "2004-06-28T04:14:27Z")
fessie, depending what brand you buy they may have a ‘baby club’ and when you register they often send you free samples, coupons, newsletters and other things. Search ‘Baby Freebies’ in Google and you’ll come up with a bunch of stuff, you’ll also find there are some freebies that are just for mothers of multiples. I’ve gotten formula, coupons for diapers, formula and cereal, newsletters, diaper bags, cereal samples… lots of things. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/59 "2004-06-28T13:28:52Z")
WIC qualifications in Minnesota [http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fh/wic/#fam](http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fh/wic/#fam) We make enough money that formula and diapers were never a major burden for us, nor would we have qualified for WIC - but its still expensive. I really feel for the people just above the income requirements - too rich to qualify for WIC, often having lived pre-children on two incomes, bought a house based on “our combined income is $80k,” often clueless on how expensive children are going to be. Then the children come, and BAM!, they spend the next ten years trying to scramble. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890/60 "2004-06-28T13:56:56Z")
Fessie, I don’t use Formula and I have coupons out the wazoo for the stuff. A metric ton at first, but six months later I still get them. Maybe they got my info at the doctors? Your best bet would be to go to (what ever company you use) website and sign up. I did that for pampers and huggies and I get a lot of coupons that way. Once you get on a list, you get on ALL the lists, I am sure. Gerbers sends me stuff (coupons and insurance junk). Kids book of the month. etc etc. I could be that I shop at BabiesRUs online, though… one last thing that saved me a lot of money: [www.babycatalog.com](http://www.babycatalog.com) if you become a member (25-50 bucks), you get 10% off of almost everything. When the strollers went on sale, I got the sale price, the discount, free shipping and no tax. You can’t beat their prices on some stuff when you factor in everything. The best part? I didn’t have to go anywhere! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babies-r-us-how-do-you-sleep-at-night-besides-on-a-gigantic-pile-of-my-money/251890.md?page=4)