Prepping with little ones / babies

[peppyprep]

Just thought it might be useful to have a thread for any tips regarding prepping around little ones.

My baby is 7 months old. I think my main concern is keeping him warm if the power goes out during a cold winter. We currently have a 2.5 tog sleep sack but I’m thinking of looking into a thicker one. I’ve seen you can also get thermal babygrows which I think are used for when people take their babies skiing? Going to look into it more. I remember being a poor student and we couldn’t afford the heating. It was this pay as you go card and we couldn’t afford to top it up. The winters were so cold I could see my breath and I used to sleep in my work clothes for my part time job so I wouldn’t have to get naked in the morning. I would hate for my baby to experience that level of cold so trying to think ahead.

We are weening at the minute so considering long life tins that lend themselves to being suitable for mashing up e.g. tinned pears. I have also been buying the odd baby food jar on each shop to build up a bit of a stash (only have about 8 so far). Luckily my little one is breastfed so I don’t need to sterilise bottles but thought it’s best to buy some sterilising liquid for cold water for teethers etc as won’t be able to use my steam sterliser.

Anyway I thought it would be nice to discuss any tips or thoughts if anybody else is prepping with a baby or young children 😊

Some other stuff I’m trying to stock up on:

• Nappies (running out would be a disaster if we couldn’t get hold of any)
• calpol
• teething powder
• wipes for a quick wash if there’s no water

With breastfeeding remember you will need to drink more water yourself.

I would store a baby multivitamin and for the warmth I would buy a 3.5 tog sleeping bag and a merino wool baby onesie (H&M sell them but you can probably buy from Vinted)

Think through what you use each day for your baby and think how that may be effected by various scenarios.

Break down
Powercut
No water
Fire safety (smoke alarms, fire blanket, CO2 alarm)
Illness (yours or baby)
Accidents.
Evacuation due to a local emergency.
Cyber attack/IT failure on banking.(Cash, change, a spare of usual purchases to tide you over)
Staying in due to weather.
Heatwaves . How to keep cool.

Keep the nappy bag packed.
Keep buggy or carrier handy.
Have supplies for baby in the car in case you break down
What medication might you need? (OTC)
Thermometer for illnesses?
Next size clothes?

Long term house preps: curtains are better for thermal regulation than blinds for example.
Not having connected appliances.
Where your sockets are,
What heating you use,
Garden style and safety. (Poisonous plants, pond, food growing, )

One thing that occurred to me was reusable (multisize/adjustable) nappies with disposable liners, and clothes a few sizes ahead. A few
basic toys/books a few stages ahead as well.

Baby carrier! If you needed to get somewhere without the bulk of a pushchair.

I would get some yak traks so that you can do easily walk in snow whilst carrying your baby if needed.

Apologies for spamming with this: empty and clean a 2 litre bottle of milk. Fill with water. Wrap a head torch around it with the light facing inwards. Portable and neither scary nor dangerous. Sit it in front of a mirror/ white wall or cupboard when it’s stationary .

One that's easy to miss: with a child under 5 you can usually join the free Priority Services Register with your electricity network. In a long power cut they aim to keep you updated and offer extra help where they can. It's worth asking your water supplier about theirs too, as registered households are often prioritised for bottled water during an outage. Save 105 in your phone as well, the free number for reporting or checking on a power cut, and keep a power bank charged so you can use it.

Thank you. I am going to get a merino wool vest. I will get it a bit bigger to hopefully last longer.

Thanks everyone for the ideas. @72Kit I had no idea this existed!! I am going to look into this

Glad it helps, peppyprep. To sign up, go to your electricity network operator, which runs the local power lines and isn't the same as your energy supplier. If you don't know who that is, ringing 105 will put you through. It's free and you just tell them about your household. Your energy supplier has its own register too, so it's worth telling them as well.

For sleep I recommend setting up a tent inside and sleeping in that, doesn't have to be fancy just a pup tent or even a play tent works.

so today I saw a battery table lamp that you push and it switches on. I bought it from Aldi and it was a tenner. When I got it home I realised it was rechargeable batteries and not disposable ones, and I don’t know how long it will last before needing to recharge. Kicking myself as I thought it would be perfect to have during a power cut whilst me, my husband and baby are eating. I assumed it would take AAs. I think I will just get a head torch and do this instead!

For babies specifically: We had a set of reusable nappies just in case (DS was born at the start of covid when the loo roll wet wipes and nappies disappeared). I also got reusable sanitary towels, both from Little Lamb. They also sell poo liners for reusable nappies that makes using them slightly less unpleasant. As we had a dodgy boiler, oil heating and a disengaged landlord, I kept extra water, an electric heater, a camping stove to heat water (only use outside) and we had baby gro bags and blankets for warmth. I also learned how to make soap when the supply got disrupted (everywhere was sold out of all soap for a while) but I don’t think it was the best use of my time!