That's a fine idea, but keep a close eye on the expiration dates. This is one of those items that really DOES go bad. If it gets to be within a month or so of the expiration, and you haven't used it, church pantries are usually thrilled to find a good (and needing) home.
By the way...CONGRATULATIONS!

 

Naturegirl is correct about the expiration dates. Keep a close eye on it and donate when it gets close. I would also keep powdered milk that everyone can use. You can get DHA drops to add to milk for brain developement and they have a decent shelf life. I would have at least two cans of formula but would probably keep three. Its expensive but so worth it if you were to need it!!!

I would have plenty of wipes, lotion, wash, powder and a few cloth diapers and covers. Make sure you keep some extra clothes in larger sizes and plenty of blankets and onsies. They make a mosquito cover that goes over the car seat/stroller.

I would also have baby meds on hand like motrin/tyl. It would not be a bad idea to have some teething rings and something for teething pain. Some juices,boxes of oatmeal and rice along with some babyfood will be needed soon. Be sure you have plenty of nipples for the bottles.

If you are packing to leave instead of bug in make sure you have a coat and sweater, burp clothes, bibs, plenty of clothes, sock/booties, sunscreen, comb, baby toothbrush, tweezers, and toy or stuffed animal they love.

 

Congrats on the baby!!!
You might want to visit the Ladies Section of the forum; there are some really good threads about infants, etc., lots of good advice! )

 

Don't know how he will do that - ALL MEN are Warned NOT to Post in the Women's area. One Mod is Particularly Vigilant/Aggressive about it. She made sure I will never Visit, View, Post or anything in the Ladies' Area, in spite of having things to talk Helpfully, Respectfully, Intelligently and Kindly about. If I am not welcome to post, why visit?

Maybe his Wife could visit...

 

Congrats!

FYI, if a mom stops nursing for an extended period of time, it takes a long time to get milk production back up to a useful level. So, even if mom is hurt or stressed, she should keep nursing so the milk will keep flowing.

If you have to switch to formula, like tannersmommy suggested, add DHA drops, but also get a few bottles of "Gripe Water", it helps the tummy since formula is harder on the stomach than mom's milk.

 

Some babies also can not take the regular formula in the first couple months. You may have to take a look at the sensitive.

Also, what reasons are you planning on leaving the confines of a house? And where will you be going? To a hotel? Parents? BOL? Woods?

 

We're thinking that whether or not we have to leave, a 72-hour kit is absolutely essential, however, we live in a pretty small town, on city utilities, in a single wide trailer while we're going to school. If anything happens, we've got my dad's place an hour away, and a BOL about 3 hours away, both with much better sustainability. I'm glad we live in the trailer now vs the apartment we lived in before. Apartments are probably the worst for preparedness. We've just got too many people around and too few resources to be comfortable staying in a disaster.

 

When our son was 6 months old we had to evacuate from a hurricane. He was ill at the time, my in-laws were following us in two separate vehicles and arguing over the cb radio and there were approximately 90 zillion people trying to get into Montgomery, AL. Needless to say, there was no room at the inn. My husband went to the desk at the Holiday Inn, told them he was traveling with a hormonally imbalanced woman (not an exaggeration - it was awful), a sick baby, and two fighting parents. If they didn't have a room for all of us, could they please just let him have a broom closet to hide from us in. The manager kept a two bedroom apartment at the hotel to stay at when needed. They put us in there, I think they just didn't want to see my husband cry. Then we found out about stress and motherhood not mixing. I wish I'd thought then like you are now, your planning could make your whole family much more peaceful, comfortable, and relaxed.

 

Not to sound gross, but breastmilk is like the equivelent of liquid gold. The more of it you can freeze and store, the better. Has many, many uses as both food and medicine. Congrats bro!

 

There may be other times she cannot feed the baby breast milk, too, like if she has to go on medications - not all but some are harmful and can pass through the breast milk. So there are all kinds of reasons to have good backup plans. Good job, New Dad! You're thinkin!

 

There may be other times she cannot feed the baby breast milk, too, like if she has to go on medications - not all but some are harmful and can pass through the breast milk.

Any nursing mom who is on meds and can't nurse should pump-and-dump to convince the body to continue producing milk.

I'm sure you knew that, so just trying to help someone else who might not know.

 

Another thing you might consider is sticking some Mother's Milk Tea or other types of all natural lactation tonics in your 72 hour stash. Those can make a huge difference if supply runs low. If supply ran really low, domperidome is a drug that is safe for breast feeding. All of these are tiny and would take up little room in a bag.

 

Or fenugreek in capsule form. Wow.

 

I'm kinda in the same boat as you, with my almost 5 month old. My wife breast feeds, and we also do cloth diapers. We're looking into multiple ways of being self-sufficient when it comes to child rearing.

You'll want to encourage your wife CONTINUALLY through the breast-feeding process-she'll need it! She'll get chapped more than likely, so have some lanolin on hand, and if she develops thrush, she'll need an antifungal cream like Tinactin to fight it off.

I would highly recommend developing a plan of keeping breastmilk on hand, as it truly is liquid gold. Continue to pump extra milk and freeze it. Frozen milk lasts for many, many months. Once it thaws, though, use it within 24 hours. After 24 hours, trash it. (I tried feeding milk that was just over 24 hours once to our daughter, and that was probably the maddest I've ever seen her!) It cleared up clogged tear ducts and a stuffy nose for our little girl, and it also dealt with "baby acne."

Cloth diapers are amazing! My wife absolutely loves the many different colors and patterns you can find, and she even sews them! She's probably sewn about half of our diaper stash so far. Our total investment on diapers is probably $300-400, and they will last for probably 3 or more children. We have new born sized diapers, diapers that fit various sized infants, and diapers that fit various sized toddlers; they're adjustable with snaps and velco! We want to make our own detergent/soap to wash them in, but that would void the store-bought diapers' warranties.

 

I have to give you credit on the cloth diapers, I have a newborn and she goes through a dozen diapers a day. I can't imagine having to wash so many diapers every day. Though from a prepper standpoint I see the good. Long after I have run out of my last disposable diaper, you'll still be going strong.

 

I wasn't breast fed but brought up on Carnation Milk, so might be worth storing. This was in the 60s so before the modern formulas were available.

 

When I lived inthe Philippines, all babies were breast fed until after their first birthday.

The reason? The water was not always good. And, small babies do not tolerate bacteria in their water. By breastfeeding so long, the babies were exposed to bacteria in small doses, and built up immunity instead of getting sick.

If you intend to mix water into formula powder, it needs to be good water. So, you will ned a filter.

 

There is a possible other option. Before formulas, when childbirth was very risky, if the mother was too sick or had passed away, families would hire a woman to breastfeed the baby. Usually they were older women. It is possible to stimulate the production of milk even when the woman has not been pregnant or is older. Some women who adopt babies are able to breastfeed. You can find information in the 'La Leche League' web site. In a case where there is no milk and the mother is unable to feed the baby, I'm sure a kind hearted woman would be willing to do it rather than see a baby starve. I certainly would.

 

Our newest grandchildren (twins) came home from the hospital, today. I was thinking of putting together an "emergency babysitting bucket" for them, and found this:
http://foodstorageandsurvival.com/baby-72-hour-survival-kit/

 

We used cloth diapers, exclusively, for my daughters... the second of our grandchildren uses cloth and disposables. The rinse-soak-wash routine really isn't as tedious as one would imagine. We double-diapered (using a second diaper, folded, as a sort of liner, for extra absorbency).

In addition to the cost-effectiveness, there were a few benefits I hadn't counted on. For one thing, the girls all made the transition to the toilet early and easily. They also didn't get diaper rashes. Why? Well... disposable diapers wick the wetness away from the baby's skin... If they only "go" a little bit, they don't even feel the moisture. Therefore, they might not indicate they need changed for quite some time... during which, the irritating uric acid gets to work on their delicate skin... not to mention, most disposables have a deodorizing perfume added, which can cause irritation to those with sensitive skin. With cloth, when you are wet... you KNOW it! The transition to underpants isn't a major change... cloth-to-cloth... either.

Personally, I swear by cloth diapers.

 

Personally, I swear by cloth diapers.

We do as well! Only one other family at our church uses cloth diapers; they have three kids and their youngest (two years old) just finished potty training in less than four days.

We probably have enough to last us through 3 days without having to wash them, but that diaper pail can get really stinky! I probably need to rig up some odor absorbing contraption with baking soda or activated carbon to keep the funk down.

 

I thought this might give someone something to think about. Any other thoughts or ideas?

We had to switch to formula fairly early on. We went with Enfamil early on, then switched to Pediasure. Enfamil comes in a powdered form, so it's easy to transport, mix, and feed. Pediasure comes in liquid form. Both are ungodly expensive.

 

Ungodly expensive is right. though we're using Similac atm. When I'm not at home, or if I ever have to bug out with the baby, I'd imagine that powdered will have to also be partnered with bottled watter. That being the case, I have a bunch of Similac pre-mix with disposable nipples in case of emergency since it'll weigh about the same. i.e damned heavy.

 

We used to fill the lidded buckets part way with water, a splash of bleach, and Dreft detergent. If we were using rubber or plastic pants (we usually were), a little baby oil got splashed in, too. We kept the pails near the toilets, so we could toss them right in, after rinsing out any messes.
Every day, the diapers were washed, and I used a toilet bowl brush to scrub it out before refilling.
That really kept the odor down. It really wasn't any more trouble than maintaining a kitty litter box, actually, and there were a couple times that guests didn't even know they were diaper pails (I had one embarassed in law confess she had thrown a tissue away in one, before she realized what it was).

 

Here's my wife's "day in cloth diapers" blog post. Yall can look up a bunch of other moms who've done the same thing on their blogs; it's where she got the idea!

http://heartsaria.blogspot.com/2012/06/day-in-cloth-diapers.html

 

I do not know where you live so I do not know you weather, but if you get real cold or snow in the winter you should consider adding some hot water bottles to you prepping stash/ Fill with hot water and wrap in a thin blanket for cold or a sick child.

 

Here's my .02... One of our kids became lactose intolerant, and had to stop breast feeding and use a special formula. It's great that he's breasfeeding but keeping a store of formula is a good idea as well. I hate to pose the worst case scenario, but what happens if she gets stranded away from home due to a disaster, or worse is involved in the disaster and you have to take care of the baby. You can't produce milk, and if it's a SHTF situation her being gone may be a permanent thing... Formula is VERY expensive, our daughter goes through one of the large gerber good start containers in 5-6 days depending on her appetite, and those cost $25 each, so easily 6 of those a month. That's $150 a month, they do usually store for about 2 years and and your baby will only need it until their first birthday, after that what we do is donate any extra to a church down the road, or our church if they have any babies that are in need. If I could financially afford it I would have saved up enough formula to get her through the first year, but I have to go month to month, but she is old enough she is eating table food and could switch completely in an emergency.

 

Congratulations! Wow not so long ago I had the same issues as well. Remember to adjust the FAK and have baby teething gel, a non-digital thermometer, baby tylenol (maybe later on). I'd go with the powder so you can control the serving portions better. Water would not be a problem since you are taking care of that, right? We have a stash of Similac we stored and are actually trying to get rid of now. Anyone want to trade Similac alimentum for your No. 10 can of long term storage milk would be welcome to send me a message.

 

Keep mom nursing as long as she can. Keep formula, in date. Extra diapers, wipes, toys, and WATER in your BOB. Baby motrin, etc for teething, fevers. Extra blanket, clothes, too. Baby sunscreen, baby insect repellant.

 

I think of breastfeeding as a pre-SHTF plan. The kids I know who were breastfed had far fewer illnesses and allergies than bottle fed kids. This equates into more money for preps, and possibly better lifelong immunities. Now, with the concern over GMO foods, that could be all the more true.

Nursing moms need at least double the water of a sedentary adult. Add stress and possible foot travel & manual labor and water become critical to either breastfeeding or formula strategy. I would make sure I had digestive enzymes and probiotics in my preps for both mom and baby to minimize distress due to dietary changes.

The only reason I used disposables for my younger child is that I had to put him in day care but we still used cloth at night. When they were young and could come to work with me, they were both in cloth diapers. It was far more convenient than having to monitor my supply and travel 10-25 miles each way to town in the winter for disposables. They could be folded different ways as the baby grew, could be double layered strategically for boys or girls, and could be doubled or tripled at night as needed. Less rashes and problems. Yes, easier to potty train too. They didn't like the feel of a wet diaper and once they figured out the cause/effect, did whatever they could to avoid wetness.

 

Sorry folks but i just have to do this...:

 

We just bought 1,000 dog poop bags for dirty diapers when traveling. ebay = $23.49
(I calculated this should last my daughter's lifetime & they don't expire)

I am stocking up on 1,000s of wipes too.

Diapers are tough because babies grow so fast and change.

My wife breast feeds so we're OK there.

 

Great idea with those bags. My wife breastfeeds, too, and that's what got me thinking. If we're bugging out and my wife is using too many calories or her body is using up too much of her water in our travels to produce enough milk, then the formula could come in handy like a baby MRE.