The cost of having a baby in Toronto can be divided into four separate categories: the birth, one-time gear, the monthly essentials, and childcare. If you have OHIP the medical side is close to free, so the numbers that actually increase your budget are daycare, the income you give up on leave, and the benefits that pay you back. This 2026 guide puts real Ontario figures on each one, including what a baby costs per month in the first year.
This is the money companion to our Toronto pregnancy guide and to The Ultimate Guide to Having a Baby in Toronto. Toronto Baby Guide was featured in The Toronto Star on what it costs to raise a child in Canada.
Quick answer
In the first year, a baby in Toronto costs roughly $290 to $490 a month for diapers, formula and clothes, plus $950 to $4,000 in one-time gear. Prenatal care and the hospital birth are covered by OHIP. Licensed infant daycare is the big cost at $478.50 a month with CWELCC or near $1,800 without it. Most Ontario families spend $12,000 to $25,000 in year one, and the Canada Child Benefit pays back up to $8,157 per child.
Key takeaways
- Monthly essentials are $290 to $490: diapers, wipes, formula if you use it, and clothes in sizes that change fast. That is the recurring cost before childcare starts.
- The birth is covered: OHIP pays for prenatal visits, delivery, and a standard hospital stay. Without OHIP, a hospital birth runs about $16,000 to $25,000 once physician fees are added, and midwife care $3,000 to $5,000.
- One-time gear runs $950 to $4,000: the crib, car seat, stroller, and feeding kit are the big items. Buying second-hand cuts this by half or more.
- Daycare is the real cost: a licensed infant spot in Toronto lists near $1,800 a month, or $478.50 at a CWELCC centre. Waitlists run 12 to 24 months, so join during pregnancy.
- Leave income drops: EI parental benefits pay 55% of your earnings to a $729 weekly cap in 2026, or 33% on the extended option.
- Money comes back: the Canada Child Benefit is up to $8,157 per child under 6 for July 2026 to June 2027, plus up to $1,760 from the Ontario Child Benefit, both tax free and income tested.
1. What OHIP covers, and what you still pay
If you have OHIP, the medical cost of having a baby is close to zero. OHIP covers prenatal appointments with a family doctor, obstetrician, or registered midwife, standard bloodwork and ultrasounds, the hospital delivery, and routine newborn care. Midwifery care is fully covered whether you give birth in a hospital, at a birth centre, or at home.
What you pay for out of pocket
- Private or semi-private hospital room: $300 to $400 a night, often partly covered by a workplace health plan.
- Doula support: $1,000 to $2,500 for birth, more for overnight postpartum care, also referred to as a night nurse. Not covered by OHIP.
- Lactation consultant: $120 to $180 a visit privately. Toronto Public Health and many hospitals offer free breastfeeding clinics.
- Prenatal or postnatal physio, massage, or chiropractic: $90 to $160 a session.
- Prescriptions and dental for the baby: children from birth can be covered by the Canadian Dental Care Plan if your family has no private plan and adjusted net income under $90,000.
If you do not have OHIP
Ontario ended the three-month OHIP wait in 2024, so most new permanent residents and eligible work or study permit holders are covered from the day their OHIP application is approved. Apply in your first week in the province. The people who still pay the hospital directly are the ones OHIP does not cover at all: visitors, people on short permits, and anyone without status. International students usually carry a mandatory university health plan.
Toronto-area hospitals set their own rates for uninsured patients and ask for payment up front. As a guide, one Ontario hospital’s published 2025 rates are about $16,000 for a vaginal birth and $19,000 for a caesarean, before the obstetrician and anaesthesia fees, which are billed separately. Private pregnancy insurance bought before you conceive is the usual way to cover this, and registered midwife care outside OHIP runs roughly $3,000 to $5,000.
2. One-time gear: what to buy and what it costs
You need somewhere safe for the baby to sleep, a way to feed, a car seat if you drive, and a way to get around the city on foot and on the TTC. Everything else is optional and can wait. Typical Toronto retail prices:
| Item | Budget | Mid-range |
|---|---|---|
| Crib and mattress | $200 | $600 |
| Bassinet or bedside sleeper | $80 | $350 |
| Infant car seat | $100 | $450 |
| Stroller | $150 | $900 |
| Carrier or wrap | $40 | $220 |
| Feeding kit (bottles, pump, or nursing supplies) | $120 | $700 |
| Change table, monitor, and small gear | $150 | $550 |
| First wardrobe of clothes | $100 | $300 |
| Total | about $940 | about $4,070 |
Second-hand is where Toronto parents save the most. Once Upon a Child, neighbourhood Buy Nothing groups, and Facebook Marketplace routinely have cribs, clothes, and gear at a fraction of retail. Buy the car seat and mattress new, or only from someone you trust, since expiry dates and crash history matter.
3. Monthly baby costs in the first year
Once the nursery is set up, a baby costs roughly $290 to $490 a month in Ontario before childcare, less than most people expect. Here is where it goes.
| Category | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Diapers and wipes | $90 to $140 |
| Formula, if you use it | $130 to $200 |
| Clothes and shoes as baby grows | $30 to $60 |
| Toys, books, and gear you replace | $20 to $50 |
| Baby portion of household costs (extra laundry, heat) | $20 to $40 |
| Total, excluding childcare | $290 to $490 |
Breastfeeding lowers the food line but is not free. Budget for nursing bras, pads, a pump, and the odd paid lactation visit if feeding is hard early on.
4. Childcare: the biggest line item
Licensed infant care is the single largest cost of raising a baby in Toronto, and the city has among the highest fees in the country. A full-time infant space lists at roughly $1,750 to $1,850 a month before any subsidy.
The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program brings that down. In 2026, fees at enrolled centres are capped at $22 a day, the provincial average is near $19 a day, and Ontario and Ottawa have extended the program to the end of 2026 with a target average of $10 a day. In practice a CWELCC infant spot in Toronto costs $478.50 a month. That is the $22 daily cap billed as a flat monthly rate, the daily amount averaged across the year so it stays the same each month. Not every centre is enrolled, so ask before you join a waitlist.
On top of CWELCC, the City of Toronto child care fee subsidy is income tested with no maximum income to apply. Families under $20,000 pay nothing, and the contribution rises above that. You need a recent Notice of Assessment for each parent and a Toronto address to apply, and the City has a calculator to estimate your fee.
The catch is supply. Waitlists across much of Toronto run 12 to 24 months for infants, so most parents apply during pregnancy. Our guide to Toronto daycare waitlists has the timing, and the step-by-step CWELCC application covers enrolment.
Did you know?
For the July 2026 to June 2027 benefit year, the Canada Child Benefit pays up to $8,157 per child under 6, tax free, paid monthly.
5. Your income during parental leave in 2026
The cost people forget is the pay you give up while you are off. EI maternity and parental benefits replace part of it, not all of it.
| Benefit | Length | Rate | 2026 weekly max |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maternity (birth parent) | up to 15 weeks | 55% | $729 |
| Standard parental (shared) | up to 40 weeks | 55% | $729 |
| Extended parental (shared) | up to 69 weeks | 33% | $437 |
The $729 ceiling is 55% of the 2026 maximum insurable earnings of $68,900, spread over the year. Choosing extended does not add money, it stretches a similar total over 18 months at the lower rate. Run your own numbers with our EI maternity leave calculator, then read the full 2026 EI breakdown. If you work for yourself, see self-employed maternity leave in Ontario, and when it is time to file, how to apply for maternity leave has the order of steps.
6. Money coming back: benefits for Toronto parents
| Benefit | What it pays in 2026 | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Canada Child Benefit | up to $8,157 per child under 6 a year, tax free | full amount under about $38,000 family net income, then reduced |
| Ontario Child Benefit | up to $1,760 per child a year, paid with the CCB | income tested, on top of the CCB |
| Toronto child care fee subsidy | reduces your daycare fee, sometimes to $0 | Toronto families, no maximum income to apply |
| Canada Learning Bond | up to $2,000 into an RESP with no personal contribution | lower-income families, claimed through an RESP |
Apply for the CCB through the Automated Benefits Application when you register the birth, and the Ontario Child Benefit follows automatically. Free programs stretch the budget further: EarlyON centres run drop-in play and parenting groups across the city, and Toronto Public Library has baby time and a museum pass.
7. The cost of having a baby in Toronto: a first-year budget
Two households, same city, very different totals. The difference is almost entirely childcare and how long a parent stays home.
| Line item | Parent home 12 months | CWELCC daycare from month 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Medical (OHIP resident) | $0 | $0 |
| One-time gear | $1,800 | $1,800 |
| Monthly essentials for the year | $4,500 | $4,500 |
| Childcare | $0 | about $1,435 (3 months) |
| Baby’s share of a bigger home or car, if needed | varies | varies |
| First-year total | about $6,300 plus lost income | about $7,700 plus lost income |
Add the CCB back in, up to about $8,000 for the year, and the out-of-pocket cash cost for a lower-income family can be close to zero. The real squeeze is the drop from a full salary to the $729 weekly EI cap. Most Toronto families land between $12,000 and $25,000 for year one once a full year of daycare or a full year of reduced income is counted.
8. How to keep the cost down
- Buy the big items used. Cribs, dressers, and clothes hold up fine second-hand. Once Upon a Child, Buy Nothing groups, and Marketplace are full of them.
- Register early for daycare and the fee subsidy. A CWELCC spot instead of full price is worth roughly $16,000 over the first year.
- Claim every benefit on time. File the Automated Benefits Application at birth registration so the CCB and Ontario Child Benefit start right away.
- Use the free network. EarlyON centres, library programs, and Toronto Public Health breastfeeding clinics cost nothing.
- Ask for consumables. Diapers, wipes, and a bigger-size clothing bundle are more useful on a registry than a fourth newborn outfit.
- Open an RESP for the Canada Learning Bond. Eligible families get up to $2,000 without putting in a dollar of their own.
9. Special situations
New to Ontario, or not covered by OHIP
Ontario dropped the three-month OHIP wait in 2024, so if you have moved here with status you are usually covered once your application goes through. Apply the week you arrive. If you are not eligible for OHIP, private pregnancy insurance bought before conception is the standard fix. Some Toronto community health centres see uninsured pregnant patients on a sliding scale, and midwifery practices can enrol clients without OHIP.
Single parents
Benefits are income tested on one income, so a single parent usually receives close to the full Canada Child Benefit and Ontario Child Benefit, and often a large or full daycare fee subsidy. The EI parental weeks can all go to one parent.
Twins or more
Gear and monthly costs roughly double, but the Canada Child Benefit is paid per child, and EI now allows parents of multiples to combine parental weeks so they can be home at the same time. Second-hand and hand-me-downs matter more here than anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
You have got this
The cost of having a baby in Toronto comes down to two levers you can actually pull: get on daycare and fee-subsidy waitlists during pregnancy, and build the gap between your salary and the EI cap into your savings now. The medical part is handled, and the benefits are real money back.
For every Toronto-specific detail on pregnancy, OHIP, leave, and daycare in one place, grab your copy of The Ultimate Guide to Having a Baby in Toronto.
Last reviewed September 2026. Rules and rates change. Always confirm current amounts with Canada.ca, Ontario.ca, and the City of Toronto.