10–12 Months: What This Month Costs, What to Buy, What to SkipModel month ~$190/mo model · about 7 diaper changes a day · 20 oz formula/day model. All prices are model examples — run your real numbers in the simulator.
Standing, cruising, first steps: pull-on diapers earn their premium for many families now, food becomes three real meals, and the first birthday quietly approaches with its feeding transitions to discuss with your pediatrician.
Model month at 10–12 Months
■ Diapers — $50 ■ Feeding (formula model) — varies by family ■ Wipes & basics — $39
Feeding is shown at a formula-model level for scale; breastfed and combo-fed months sit lower on that segment only. Everything else is stubbornly similar — babies are egalitarian that way.
Buy (this stage earns it)
Plan the formula landing: last cans should empty near the transition, not after.
Shift food budget into family groceries as baby eats what you eat, adapted.
Sell onward the outgrown gear (swing, bouncer) while it still has 'baby' value.
Restock the emergency shelf — mobile babies generate new categories of mess.
What one day of diapers costs at 10–12 Months, by unit price
Store brand, 17¢$1.19/day
Mid-range, 24¢$1.68/day
Small packs, 35¢$2.45/day
Same stage, same baby — the only variable is the pack you reached for.
Skip (this stage punishes it)
A warehouse case of the current diaper size bought days before a growth spurt.
First-birthday spending spirals — the guest of honour will remember the box, not the theme.
New bottles in the old size as the first birthday approaches.
Your two numbers for this stage
Diaper changes a day: 7 — at a 24¢ model diaper that is $1.68/day, or about $50/month. Keep your real unit price under your written target and this stage is handled. Everything else this quarter is commentary.