For Mothers of Nursing Babies

If you have a nursing baby, storing food and water for yourself in an emergency is especially important.  Remember that you need around 500 extra calories per day plus plenty of water.  Also, consider the possibility that you will be unavailable to feed the baby for some period of time after a disaster.  If you are away from the baby during an earthquake, damage to infrastructure could make it difficult or impossible to get home quickly. In a worst-case scenario, you could be killed or badly injured.

Things to Think About:

• Consider keeping bottles and a 3-day supply of formula on hand.  Playtex Nursers with disposable drop-in liners are a good choice so that you can minimize bottle washing if the water supply is disrupted.  (You would still have to wash the nipples.)
• If you have a large supply of frozen milk, your baby can drink that for a day or two.  But if the power goes out, it may not be safe to drink once it has been unfrozen for more than 24 hours (even if you are able to keep it cold).  And since it may be difficult to get medical help post-disaster, following food safety protocols to avoid food-born illness should be a high priority.
• If someone other than yourself sometimes takes the baby places in the car, consider keeping a baby bottle, some bottled water, and a few servings of formula in the car in case they get stranded and can't get back to you.  These single serving formula pouches are ideal for this purpose (there are 16 pouches in a box, so you could divy them up with a friend if you are only using them for emergency supplies).
• If you are frequently away from your baby, consider keeping a hand pump in your bag or car so that you can express milk (for your comfort and to maintain your milk supply) if you can't get back to the baby quickly.