Taking Care of Your Baby During a Power Outage

My heart goes out to all those affected by hurricane Ian. I hope that you, your family, and your home is safe. If you are experiencing a power outage, here are some tips to make it through!

1. Sterilizing bottle and pump parts

As long as your water is working, you can hand wash your bottles and pump parts with bottle cleaners and teat cleaners. However, sterilizing is a little more complicated without power. If you have a way to heat up water, such as a grill, you can boil water and sterilize the old school way - just be sure to check that your bottles and pump parts are safe to boil. You can also place your items in a microwavable sterilizing bag and submerge for ten minutes. Another good option are sterilizing tablets. These are 99.9% effective, just make sure to buy one that is baby safe!

2. Power for Pumping

If your pump has a battery option, make sure to stock up on batteries! If not, you may be able to find an adaptor to pump in the car. Not the most comfortable environment to pump in, but it works in a pinch!

3. Milk Storage

If your power is out, now is not the time to add to or raid from your freezer stash. If you can avoid opening the freezer, your milk may stay frozen. Once the power is back on, opening it up and check for ice crystals. If they are still frozen, they are safe for your baby! If they are not, you can still save this milk for milk baths! If you are able to get your hands on some dry ice, this can help keep your milk frozen!

Use fresh milk as much as possible. Room temperature milk is safe for up to 4 hours!

4. Staying Cool

Just as you may be feeling the heat without the AC, your baby is too. Keep an eye on their body temperature by feeling them and paying attention to how flushed they look. If they are hot, cooler cotton onesies or even just a diaper are totally fine to cool off! Feel free to adjust the water temperature or timing for bath time!

If there is a nice breeze or it is cooler outside, open the windows! Just make sure that your windows have a screen covering that is undamaged - you don’t want mosquitos in your house!

If you haven’t already, grab a battery operated fan. Even a small one can feel wonderful in the heat.

5. Sleeping

While swaddling is recommended for safe sleep, you can choose not to for a time to lessen the fabric covering your baby while they sleep. If you do want to continue to swaddle, check in on your baby while they sleep to make sure they are not overheating. Skip the jammies underneath to stay cool!

Remember, heat rises, so if you have a lower floor, it might be a good idea to camp out downstairs. If you are able to lower the crib or bassinet, this can also help avoid the higher, warmer air.

If your baby is used to sleeping with a nightlight or white noise, finding battery operated items are your best bet. While candles are convenient, if you use them, make sure they are well out of reach of little fingers! Flame is very interesting to curious little ones!

6. Diapering

If you are using cloth diapers, now may be a good time to use disposables. Warmer temperatures makes decaying faster and smells more pungent, so I would definitely recommend bagging those sticky diapers and taking them out to the trash as fast as possible!

7. Staying with family, friends, or in a hotel

If all else fails, try to find someone or somewhere to stay with electricity. If your friend or family still has power and they are able to host, that might be your best bet to avoid all the potential problems that come with lack of power! If you can afford a quick hotel stay, this could also alleviate a lot of the inconvenience of no power.

Best of luck to you as you navigate your power outage! I hope your power returns soon!