Baby 72 Hour Survival Kit

Babies and toddlers have a whole different set of needs than we adults do when it comes to a survival situation, so your standard survival kit isn’t going to work for them.  We’ve always just stuck baby stuff in our survival kits when we had a baby in the house, but this time I’m doing something a little different.  Why? Because my emergency kit is heavy enough, and my husband’s doesn’t have room in it for all the baby stuff, and oh yeah, this kit actually wasn’t for my baby–it was a baby shower gift for a friend.

So I made a stand alone baby survival kit for evacuations or to toss in the car when you’re going somewhere like some event in another town or grandma’s and you might get stuck unexpectedly spending the night.  If you use it for the latter, just make sure to re-stock when you get back home so it’s always ready for a real emergency!

Here’s what I put in it: 

Goods for cleaning–Travel baby soap/lotion/etc., wipes, pack of wash rags.

More baby care items and first aid: sunblock and hand sanitizer from the travel/sample size section of the store, travel packs of tissues, basic first aid kit, Instant cold compresses, infant ibuprofen.  Scratch mitts and hand warmers for warmth.

Clothes: socks, hat, 2 jammies (one is a sleeper sack so you could layer both if needed), onesie.

I put all the clothes in a gallon ziplock.  You could also vacuum pack them with a foodsaver type vacuum sealer to make them smaller.  This was a gift, so I wanted the new mommy to be able to get in and change the clothes around if she wants to.  Clothes will need changing out as the baby grows–mark your calendar, this might be more often than every 6 months.

Diapers.  These will need to be changed out as the baby grows also!  Make sure to keep a current size or the next size up in your kit.  Too small diapers just don’t do the job well.  I put them in a ziplock, but again, they could be vacuum packed to save space.  You wouldn’t believe how flat diapers get when they’re vacuum packed!  Make sure to label your package with the size and how many are in it if you’re vacuum packing.  If you’re planning on a long term emergency, you’ll want to pack cloth diapers and have some way of washing them.  I stuck in enough diapers to probably last a week, so you’ve got a pretty good amount of time to find a source of diapers before you run out!

Feeding: bottles, bowls with lids, spoons.  You’ll want to add your favorite infant formula and probably a bib or two as well right at the start.  As the baby gets to solids, add a box of baby cereal and/or some dehydrated baby food along with your formula.  Put formula in the kit even if you are nursing–What if dad is the one home with baby when they need to evacuate and you can’t meet up until a day or two later?  Or if, heaven forbid, something happens to mom, baby still needs to eat.

Comfort items:  a few small toys and a couple of blankets (also ziplocked).  If you’ve got a spitty baby, put some burp rags in your kit.

And finally, some water bottles (you need something to re-constitute the formula and dry baby food), plastic bags (for dirty diapers, wet clothes, etc.), and a name tag for the bag.  Put your name and phone number on the tag as well as any allergies baby has and whatever other information you want.  I like to include a family picture with the tag so there’s a visual to show in case one of us gets separated.

Put it all in your bag and it’s ready to go!  You might want to also include or have nearby a baby sling or other carrier so you’ve got hands free to carry whatever else needs taken.

Now here’ s the deal.  You can spend a lot of money on this if you want.  I spent about $30.00, but some of the things like the hats, socks, water, onesies, bowls, and spoons came in “packs” that I split up so I’ll be using the other half of the pack to stock my own baby’s survival kit.  The bag, jammies, blankets and toys were purchased at the thrift store and washed really well before packing.  If you are the one having the baby, you may get a lot of this stuff as baby gifts or have it left over from one of your other kids–use that to stock your baby survival kit and you’ll get it put together even more inexpensively.  And if it’s built as a stand alone kit instead of baby stuff in your kit, anyone can carry it or it can be used for the weekend getaway and then re-stocked when you get back.  And yes, it’s a great baby shower gift.  :)

Keep preparing!
Angela