Kortney Conley is a mom who says she lives paycheck to paycheck and works multiple jobs to provide for her family.

“[There’s] the fear that if something happens, you might not have that money," Conley said.

According to a recent study from Lending Tree, the average annual essential costs to raise a small child increased over 19% nationally between 2016 and 2021, and New York ranks sixth in most expensive states to raise a small child. Conley said she had a general idea of how much it would cost to take care of her son, but what she wasn’t prepared for was the unexpected costs.

“Obviously, diapers are expensive, and wipes are expensive. You don't realize how much you go through until you actually have a baby,” Conley said. “My plan was to exclusively breastfeed because that's free. But we had struggles with that so unexpectedly we had to go and do combo feeding with formula and formula is also expensive.”

Raphel Peralta is a mom of five who also works multiple jobs. Her youngest child is 3 and her oldest is 20. Her advice to new moms who are feeling overwhelmed is to always save for the future.

“They're going to have, you know, school pictures and then they're going to have things they want to do after school and then chorus concerts and then band practice. They're going to want to play softball or basketball or any kind of sports you're ready for, but you're really not because you don't realize how expensive it is,” Peralta said.

Peralta says mothers should take advantage of food assistance programs like WIC and see if you qualify for child care assistance.

“There's always someone willing to help. Go to DSS, start there, fill out the packet, and then they'll be able to tell you ‘yes, you can get A, B and C,’ " Peralta said.

Even if you don’t qualify for government assistance, there are alternatives. Conley says looking on Facebook for free items other moms are done with has saved her hundreds of dollars.

“Sixty bucks on a jumper that he's going to use for a couple of months, I think that's silly. But after I joined mom groups, I realized people just get rid of them for free. That was amazing for me because it's like, ‘OK, I don't have to cut $60 out of our grocery list,’ " Conley said.

For more information on different government programs that could help, visit the Office of Children and Family Services website.