As a mom of my dear little Micah, you can imagine my terror at imagining any scenario in which I would be unable to care for him. Every parent has those fleeting moments of heart dropping anxiety; What if I die? What if were stranded on the side of the road? What if we get snowed in? I had mine realizing if anything from a natural disaster to civil unrest happened, how would I feed my little one? Here I will go over how I prepare for my child. How you prepare for yours will differ depending on region and age, but for my south eastern coastal seven month old, here is how I do it. This article go over the four aspects of preparedness. New to prepping (like me)? Let me break it down.
EDC- Every Day Carry. This is pretty much your diaper bag. It is enough to get home to your other preps.
Stockpile-These are the general surplus of items to keep around your house. FEMA recommends having three days worth of food in case of emergency. Of course, in a disaster scenario it could take several days or weeks for rescue workers to get to you.
Bug Out Bag (BOB)-A bag of supplies to sustain you until you travel to another location(
Bug Out Location, BOLC), typically 72 hours.
INCH-I'm Never Coming Home bag. This is, for me, a bag of items to sustain me living in the woods until things settle down or permanently. (Lot's of debate on going native american in the woods among preppers)
Now, I am in the process of gathering and making these bags. I am new to prepping myself and am looking to share what I am learning and get feedback, so don't be shy! Plus, 80% of my preps are from Wal-Mart. The rest are from Target or online.
Micah's EDC:
8 Diapers
Wipes
2 Outfits
Lotion (We like Burt's Bees Baby Bee line)
Diaper ointment- (Br. Bordeux's Butt Paste has never failed us)
A travel size bath kit.
Baby Sunscreen
Pacifiers
Bottle
2 days worth of formula
Cereal
Gas Drops
Infant pain reliever
Saline & snot sucker
Snacks
Lip balm (Burt's Bees)
Food- (I opt for those squeeze packs. For a snacks I prefer Go Go Squeeze applesauce, for meals I go for Earth's Best or Happy Baby. The reason for squeezables is the ease of packing and toughness. They won't break or bust from my testing.)
Three bottles of water
Juice (I go for the four ounce Gerber pre-watered down kind)
First aid kit
Blanket
An umbrella
I feel that's a pretty generic and typical diaper bag.
Now to the fun and, to me, easiest part. Most people say, I don't have room to stockpile! My amazing mother in law bought a Marta Stewart cubby shelf with these little fabric drawers. This is where I keep all of his stockpile, except diapers. It takes up almost no space and is less than $100 at Home Depot.
We filled ours with drawers.
Micah's Stockpile:
30 Jars of veggies
30 Jars of fruit
20 Meats/Dinners
6 bottles of Puff snacks
2 Cans baby cheese puffs
5 Cans Formula
12 Go Go Squeeze Applesauce
2 Whole Wheat Cereal
2 Multi grain Rice
Baby food maker (to make fresh food from the garden. I have the munchkin system from Wal-mart.)
Baby food Containers
Plates
Spoons
Bibs
4 Cloth Diapers (Little G Pants, Wal-Mart)
4 family size bags of wipes(Those big bags of loose wipes that go in dispensers)
2 cans Nesquick
2 boxes of powdered milk (I don't usually use it but if the powers out, hey, toss some water in there and he gets his comfort food.)
Meds (I love the 'little' line. Little Tummies, Little Noses, ect. From Wal-Mart)
I have frozen juice concentrate in the deep freezer and diapers filling the ottoman. No one sees it, but I would say I have a month of his stuff. We have well water with a hand pump on the property and a stream so we are good on water. You might be wondering how I fit all of that in there. I took all the non liquids, formula, dry milk, ect, and ran them through the foodsaver. I know, it can break it due to the fine powders but i'd rather be out a gadget than not have food for my son. My goal is to have a year of his food when he levels out to not switching and upgrading every few months. I will keeps this under is crib in a piece of plywood cut to size on wheels.
Micah's Bug Out Bag:
This is where I start talking theory. I have yet to put together his bug out and INCH bags. I will list my intentions and post the best video I have found. Breast milk is best and would come in super handy in a survival or bug in/out scenario. But it broke my heart when I had to stop breastfeeding. I will do a separate post on that. So, formula it is. Any list I make would be strongly plagiarizing on TheUrbanPrepper so here is his video on the baby bug out bag. After you watch it, you can check out the edits I intent to make.
*It's a multi part video
The only changes I will have to make is vacuum sealing the formula I will use. That's it.
Which leads us to the
INCH bag. It's tricky because you can only stock so much for so long before he out grows it. In my BOB I plan to have
Goal Zero Solar panel and it might run his baby blender.
Micah's INCH:
4 Cloth Diapers (Little G Pants)
Meds
5 plain old fashioned cloth diapers to use as wipes
Clothes
Blankets
Pacifiers
This area is where I need more research and ideas.
So that leads us to the end.
How did you prep for your baby? What is in their EDC, Stockpile, BOB and INCH?
Coon Hound (Black and tan pictured, but colors very)
A scent hound that can be a cuddle buddy for the kids but packs enough protective instinct to bark if someone comes the the car? AND they are really healthy? Sounds great but these guys have a habbit of getting caught on a scent and cutting loose and running off. Way off. We see so many in shelters due to them getting lost and roaming the woods for days. A contender...if you can keep him close.
#4:
Border Collie. This breed is incredibly quick, agile, intelligent and trainable. They can eat sparingly and are close bonded to families. A herding dog they are more focused on keeping a group together than protecting a car/person but have been known to do so. If you have a desire to keep a family together this is the dog for you! They are high energy and hardy. The cons are, they keep groups together by herding the strays back in by going in a circular motion and... nipping. Yes, they will tend to nip. They are not high on the aggression scale and would not be a wise choice to guard a vehicle.
#3
A Tie. The Rottweiler and the Doberman Pinscher.
Both are, frankly, scary as hell on the wrong end. Yet, both have plenty of success cuddle buddy stories. They have intense protective instinct, high train ability and high intelligence. However, the rottie is very large and takes a large amount of food and on a long hike can suffer some signs of exhaustion. Both are prone to hip issues but the Doberman also can injure its feet from jumping up and over fencing. The Doberman isn't as hardy and the rottie is not as agile and enduring so to me they are tied. However, both make loving pets if raised right. My mother's life was saved by her Rottie, Sampson, who chased away a man who broke into the house. He had no prior training it was pure instinct.
#2
The Rhodesian Ridgeback! This guy almost slipped into the number one spot. They are smart, hardy, brave, loyal and very active. They have been used to kill lions. That's right, that thing that scared the hell out of you in Jumanji. The big super killing machine lion. A favorite breed among avid hikers they are well proportioned and can carry their own supplies. If you want a simple, active mans best friend sidekick who will attack if you get in a scuffle, this is your guy. He is a bit high energy so daily walks are a must.
#1
The German Shepard! I Know, your probably sick of seeing these guys at the top of all the lists but they earned it. They can go low key training and run on their protective instincts or go through intensive training to be half pet, half weapon. But chilling out on the couch is cool. They don't require as much walking as the Rhodie and can be trained to be very self restrained. A dog who knows when to bark, when to sneak and when to attack is key. There is a reason these dogs have been the choice for police and military task forces for years. They can have a near soldier like mentality. Pure obedience can be achieved. They are hardy, not prone to be brash in jumping or running off, and can at the same time cuddle by the fireplace.
So there you have it. My top five list of Doomsday Doggies. I wish I could justify sticking my favorite breed, the Irish Wolfhound, up there but sadly they didn't break the top. Remember, mutts and mixes are always a good choice and please adopt. Check your shelters and save a life, who knows maybe they will return the favor!!!
