Feeding Your Baby in an Emergency

Emergencies or disasters can happen suddenly and may disrupt your daily life. During an emergency you may not have electricity, clean drinking water, and transportation. These events could be the result of severe weather, disease outbreak, accident or events caused by people or other causes.

Sometimes you may need to leave your home. You may be moved to a safe place like an evacuation/reception centre.

Why Babies Need Extra Care

Babies can get sick quickly during an emergency especially from diarrhea and dehydration. This is because their bodies are still developing.
If you are breastfeeding, continue to breastfeed often at least eight times in 24 hours (day and night). Babies who are six months or older can have solid foods and breast milk.

If you are separated from your baby during emergency:

• Express breast milk by hand and store in a clean glass or hard plastic (BPA free) with a tight fitting lid.
• Expressed breast milk left at room temperature for more than four hours should be thrown out.
• Expressed breast milk can be kept in a cooler with ice but must be used within 24 hours.

If you have made an informed decision to use infant formula it is safest to use ready-to-feed formula during an emergency. Be prepared by keeping at least a three-day supply of ready-to-feed infant formula on hand.