Babies In An Emergency (How To Prepare)

[Moose-Knuckle]

have any of you considered possibly "ditching" the little ones that are not able to move under their own power or keep up with the group?
im talking new born up to 3 or 4?

"Well you may not know this, but there's things that gnaw at a man worse than dying." - Charles Travis Postelwaite

[montanadave]

first i will preface my comments with "i am not a father."

i know im gonna sound like a heartless ass, but im curious.....

depending on how bad the situation is, and this weighs heavier for those with multiple family members.

have any of you considered possibly "ditching" the little ones that are not able to move under their own power or keep up with the group?
im talking new born up to 3 or 4?

obviously if your hands are full of gear and guns and this is a "serious" bug out situation and you dont have the man power to move the entire family, what would you do?

So..... perhaps we might get a few recipes in this thread after all.

[68W]

"Well you may not know this, but there's things that gnaw at a man worse than dying." - Charles Travis Postelwaite

There are things worse than dying.

[Mac5.56]

Edited:

cause I was a jerk in responding to Vash, I have apologized. Late night, no sleep, I don't want to take this thread down the path of bickering...

[Mac5.56]

Breastfeeding: I am with you OP. As a healthcare professional and father and prepper I believe that breastfeeding is definitely the ultimate nutrition source for our babies. BUT there are things you should consider. My wife has started out exclusively breastfeeding both of our kids. With both of them it was like the dam broke on the kids mouth she had so much milk...for about 5 months. At 5 months all of a sudden with both kids she has gone almost completely dry. She has tried all the old wives' tale remedies, supplements, pumping for stimulation, you name it she tried it. It honestly has broken her heart both times that she didn't have what they needed at a certain point. Luckily we had been pumping and freezing the excess when there was an abundance and the babies were able to have only Mom's milk for an additional 2 months or so. My point is that for reasons you can't anticipate nor ascertain, the breast may fail you. With the 3rd kid I have vowed to have 6-9 months worth of formula in stock when it is brought home. If S has HTF you don't have too many options for what your baby can healthily take in if Mom, thru no fault of her own, can't provide. Plus, and I almost can't say it, what if something happens to Mom but you are still fortunate enough to have the baby? In the modern times we enjoy there isn't an excuse to not have some formula around.

So back on an actually relevant topic...

This is a really valid point and honestly the only justifiable reason I have heard for having formula around in the house if you're family is breastfeeding. Formula will go fast in an emergency. A perfect example is Hurricane Sandy. I live 75 miles north of NYC and I just happened to need gas on the day Sandy was supposed to hit. I was an additional 20 miles north when a friend texted me that there was no gas in my town. So despite having enough to bug, I filled up. In an hours, the range for gas had pushed another 20 miles north to where I had filled up. I say this only because formula would go just as quickly. When I was asked to donate supplies to Sandy victims on the top of the list was formula. In the long haul 68W you're right. I'm also sure that if we could stomach it (adults), Formula can probably provide us with essential nutrients too if we are in a pinch.

Two things of note regarding food since we are on the topic: Our pediatrician is in the most advanced medical group in our area (an area where some of the most advanced Childern's hospitals are within spitting distance). We don't make good money, but we have good benefits so we use them to our fullest. Anyway, under a Dr's suggestion (despite my son being in the 85% in length and weight) we have started to introduce solids at 4.5 months (pretty normal). But, the suggestion was to not rely on baby foods but to try and work with what we eat, even if it's light meats like chicken. It's the spices and obvious allergens that we should avoid, not any one "food type", there are kinds of food that are more prone to allergies and look them up, but there is no medical evidence that suggest your babies first food needs to be "organic cereal with a touch of fairy dust and non GMO sprinkles". It can be peas from your garden turned into a paste. This probably isn't news for the seasoned parents out there, but it was news for us, because literally everything the Baby Industrial Complex says to new parents is counter to this fact... Also my wife was raised on a farm and was given unpasteurized goat's milk as opposed to cows milk throughout her early years. It's the closet domesticated animal's milk to human's milk. We can all talk about pasteurization until the cows come home (pun intended), and again I wont judge, but if you have land having a milking goat may not be a bad idea.

I have to admit I bought a black Maxpedition GTG Versipac yesterday because I got way over 50% off. I think in an environment where the college kids are carrying Israeli military bags to class and town it will fly low on the radar. But I agree with all of you that it may suck for an every day carry bag because of it's profile and I will let you know when it arrives. If it does suck on the overly tactical front it will become a range/backcountry day hike bag, no loss for me in the purchase cause I get a new bag I've wanted to test out for a while.

[68W]

there is no medical evidence that suggest your babies first food needs to be "organic cereal with a touch of fairy dust and non GMO sprinkles".

I have to admit I bought a black Maxpedition GTG Versipac yesterday because I got way over 50% off. I think in an environment where the college kids are carrying Israeli military bags to class and town it will fly low on the radar.

Good post. I had to laugh a bit at the above sentence regarding baby food. I love it. So true. While I do avoid those high allergenic foods with my kids in the first year I happen to know that the medical literature is void of hard and fast evidence that feeding any foods too early actually can cause food allergies. Like I said though, I do avoid the foods that are more prominently food allergenic in the population, just as a measure of caution. The reason, if there isn't any quality data saying feeding them causes the allergies, because there also isn't good data refuting the possibility. Mac5.56, I like your style with the food, we start solids a little later but not really because I don't believe they can or should have it. Using your diet to the extent reasonable is awesome, we do the same things and because of it my kids can sit down at a table in a mexican, vietnamese, thai, italian, greek, or American style restaurant and we don't have to ask the waitress if they have corndogs or mac-n-cheese for the kids--they eat most anything with excitement.

I also agree that people are wearing more military/tactical looking bags these days. Seems like with GWOT came MOLLE webbing on nearly everything and the common public is using more gear like this cause they realize the utilitarianism and durability of some of these bags. I am sure that it will be rare someone would "mark" you as anything out of the ordinary. I'd like a full review on the bag, if you have a good experience with it as a diaper/concealed carry bag combo I'll reconsider it for sure. Like I mentioned my wife is wanting to carry but we need to do it right or the experience will ruin it for her and she might not revisit it. I carry IWB, but she isn't willing to do that yet, plus women's jeans and clothes really don't lend itself to concealed carry very well. I look forward to your review.

[Caduceus]

Mac -
No, it's my first one too (that I know of, anyway). And yes, kind of an eye opener. I mean, I deal with kids all day (wife and I are both in healthcare), but it's different when they don't come in 20 minute blocks.

We're happy enough with the Moby wrap. Kid plops onto mom and away we go. Worked great on an airplane too.

Regarding breast feeding: yeah, we do it. My wife is just barely keeping up though. For the non-fathers out there, bust size does NOT correlate to milk production. Just FYI. But, someone raised the point, it can dry up quick. Hopefully to the point the kid is on solids (about 4-5 months), but if needed, we can always pre-chew some food and give it to the kid. There was something my wife was reading recently that showed a lower rate of eczema in kids whose parents would "clean" a dropped pacifier by plopping it in their own mouth. Extrapolating that finding, maybe it would strengthen the kids immune system? Point is, kids are more resilient that we'd like to think. We probably could ditch an infant for 12 hours, and other than the shreiking, it would most likely be OK (assuming you didn't leave it in a snowbank or whatever).

Who asked about ditching the kid? I admit I'm pretty callous, and I never wanted kids (this was all my wife's idea!), but that's pretty cold. I can't think of a situation where they're slowing us down enough to be an issue. Either a tiny sack of potatoes, or someone that can run with us. Probably in that situation it'd be better to just stand and fight.

[Vash1023]

As said by every other parent in this thread that situation wouldn't happen. SkinTop gave you the most well rounded answer I think one can offer you. And everyone else who spoke up pretty much told you how it is.

Since you don't seem to know anything about the natural world I suggest going to the Montana and petting a moose calf...

And yet even after the all the intelligent answers you still felt the need to chime in with your vast wealth of knowledge in such an intelligently worded answer...

thank you for setting me straight about the "natural world" that i know nothing about.

your a very high speed individual...

[Vic303]

first i will preface my comments with "i am not a father."......

have any of you considered possibly "ditching" the little ones that are not able to move under their own power or keep up with the group?
im talking new born up to 3 or 4?

Your prefacing comment, is why you even asked that question. And in answer to your question above, "NO".

[Mac5.56]

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