Baby food considerations after a disaster

One consideration that is often over looked is baby food. Even though baby food is artifical food, and should be avoided, feeding infants after a disaster should be a serious consideration.

In the “real” world there is no such thing as baby food. There are no trees that grow jars of baby food, there are no baby food seeds that can be planted to grow a baby food plant. The only natural food for infants and babies is breast milk. Everything else is artificial food.

With this in mind, mothers that breast feed have a distinct advantage over mothers that do not breast feed. In the event of a disaster, mothers that breast feed their infants do not have to worry about formula, bottles or nipples. This means that infants that are breast feed have a better chance of survival in the event of some kind of wide spread or long term disaster.

For those mothers that have decided not to breast feed, have you really considered what you would do if there was no grocery store? If there was no way to buy formula, how would you feed your infant? After a hurricane, or some other regional disaster, baby food is not usually brought into the area. The disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike did not include shipments of baby food or formula. There was some artificial baby food brought in, but it was very limited.

In the real world, an infant goes from breast milk to solid food. For mothers that have decided to give their infants artificial food, the dependence on grocery stores can be a crack in their disaster plans.

At the very least, parents should know how to make some form of baby food from what they have on hand. This means mashing up fruits and vegetables. One way for food to be prepared for infants is for the mother to chew the food for the infant, then feed small pieces to the child. This is the way that infants and children were fed for hundreds of thousands of years before artifical food came along.

The liquid off of soups could be a source of food for infants. But be careful of the salt and MSG content. Some people have an allergic reaction to MSG, so this should be a consideration for infants as well.

Considerable thought and planning should be put into “how” parents will feed their infants after a disaster. This is especially true if the disaster is a long term disaster such as some type of widespread disease, climate change or nuclear strike.

The best food that a mother can give their child is breast milk. That should be a parents first choice. But if a mother can not or will not breast feed their baby, then take the time to do a little planning.