As a growing number of people are about to face the a winter without any heating (or power, or hot water) spare a though for babies. Any babies.
It's not humane or hygienic to change a nappy in a cold room, by torchlight.
Too many blankets are a death risk (SIDS).
It's not humane or hygienic to change a nappy in a cold room, by torchlight.
Too many blankets are a death risk (SIDS).
The NHS advice is to keep a baby's room between 16°C and 20°C and you're not meant to sleep them with a hot water bottle, electric blanket or by the fire.
This winter will see an increase in the number of babies requiring medical attention, and, I fear, the number beyond it.
This winter will see an increase in the number of babies requiring medical attention, and, I fear, the number beyond it.
Plus babies are spectacularly good at needing a bath when it's least convenient. You need the right temperature of water (37-38°C) and you need a warm room! (IME you really need it on about 22°C.
You'd be amazed how fast they get cold and how vulnerable they are to dying of it.
You'd be amazed how fast they get cold and how vulnerable they are to dying of it.
Baby bottles and equipment MUST be sterilised. Most people use electric to do that.
Then you have to make them up with cooled boiled water & keep the water or any made up milk in the fridge.
There will be families who get caught out and babies who suffer hunger or unsafe feeds.
Then you have to make them up with cooled boiled water & keep the water or any made up milk in the fridge.
There will be families who get caught out and babies who suffer hunger or unsafe feeds.
There are work-arounds, for some of it.
You can buy premade long life milk & disposable single use sterile bottles. I used to keep 2 sets in the glove box of my car. It's wasteful and it costs a bloody fortune.
There's no good substitute for proper home heating though.
You can buy premade long life milk & disposable single use sterile bottles. I used to keep 2 sets in the glove box of my car. It's wasteful and it costs a bloody fortune.
There's no good substitute for proper home heating though.
I've used every work around for off grid babies. Sterilising tablets, warmed bottles in saucepans of water over fires, worn baby slings under my coat, used a half a packet of wipes on a kid to find them still not clean, coslept, tried to recommence breast feeding, you name it...
There are varying degrees of success.
It's not a jolly powercut challenge with a baby. It's a terrifying threat.
They do not have adult resilience. You can't get them cold and then warm them back up, like an adult does.
And when a baby's health drops they drop fast!
It's not a jolly powercut challenge with a baby. It's a terrifying threat.
They do not have adult resilience. You can't get them cold and then warm them back up, like an adult does.
And when a baby's health drops they drop fast!
Don't even "my mother raised me in the 50s" at me either. Because the infant mortality rate in 1950 was ten times the rate in 2022, and in 1950 almost all households in the UK had options for both power & heating.
#Blackouts present a threat to even the healthiest of babies.
#Blackouts present a threat to even the healthiest of babies.
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