My wife just gave birth to our first child a week ago. We have plenty of batteries for the breast pump and darn near everything else we need batteries for. We bought enough formula to last six months or more (baby hasn't had any yet). We live in the suburbs, all electric house. I store enough water, food, etc for two adults for four months or more. Haven't gotten around to a SHTF heater yet, but probably will be soon. What tips and suggestions have you got for us?

Diapers and baby wipes, my friend.

Congrats on your child.  Speaking from personal experience, both of my kids were picky on their formula.  You say you've got 6 months stocked but I'd make sure he/she can well tolerate it before you buy anything more.

You'll learn pretty quickly what you are burning through so you'll learn what you need to stock up on.  I wouldn't get more than 2 months worth of diapers as they'll grow out of them pretty fast but you'll be using wipes for various things for years after they're potty trained.  When they're that young, clothes are the #1 consumable next to food and diapers/wipes.  If you use the formula, make sure you have a filter on the tap and forget the gimmicky things to warm the bottles.  By the time my daughter was born, I was just getting warm water out of the tap.

Cleaner is probably going to be the other primary thing.  They'll chew, grab and drool on everything so you'll be wiping things down often.

I wouldn't buy too much supplies such as diapers and clothing, because babies grow like weeds during the 1st year or so, and you kid will out grow them. When my children were little, we had to buy new clothes every summer and winter. At about 6 months or so, you kid could eat ground up "people food."

Enjoy the family they not replaceable

ETA

Don't worry much about stuff to get.  Clothes can be got at Goodwill, and other places.  Other families that have kids might be thrilled to clear room by giving you stuff.  Learn to sort and pass on these gifts of you will be swamped.  Use a new baby car seat, and discard the seat when it gets 5 years old: this is for the safety of your children and car seats are not that expensive.  

You can and should teach a toddler to evacuate the building if there is a fire.  Toddlers think they can hide from fire, and need to be taught different.

Before he could crawl.  I taught my first not to grab hot pans by holding his hand in mine in the hot air above the breakfast skillet.  I would hold his hand in the hot air and say HOT.  He still pays attention when I say hot now.  I never had to haul him to the ER because he pulled a boiling pot down on himself either.

My kid (only) just turned 1 a few weeks ago. Mom didn't put out lots of milk so we were on the formula from the beginning. We did our best to keep extra formula, diapers, wipes etc on hand.

Diapers can be a bit tricky because the kids grow so fast. Also, try to keep stocked up clothes. when you see a few sizes up from what your kid is wearing on sale (Old Navy is sweet for deals) buy them.

This is also a good chance to capture that momma instinct of protecting baby. If she hasn't yet, get her out and get her some firearms training.

Do not forget to enjoy the time you have now. Although it may not seem prep related, take lots of pictures and video. Store copies in different off site locations and print those pictures out. They make great morale boosters if you ever need them.

Give momma a break now and then. Get her out o the house and have a fun date. Take care of her and she will take care of you.

Have you thought about clothe diapers?  I was skeptical myself at first but they are not much harder to use than disposables and actually keep the #2 in a bit better than disposables.  They also have the distinct advantage of being reusable ... you could use them for multiple children over and over.  They come in 3 sizes and you will want to get all three sizes.  There are these snappy things that take the place of safety pins, it's all very well thought out now.  After you use them for the baby they can be used for a number of other things (basically just quilted type cotton that you put a cover over).  

There are manual breast pumps that do a pretty good job as well if you are worried about the electrical one at all.  My wife uses one and it only takes about 10-15 minutes to fill 4-5 ounces.

Breast milk contains everything a baby will need as it changes as your baby grows.  If your wife can keep the milk going by constant feeding throughout the months you might not have to rely upon forumla unless the milk dries up.  Keep the mom fed and the baby should be ok as well.

Its odd, my boy who is 4 months right now drinks breast milk from a bottle right out of the fridge :)  Congrats man, get sleep when you can!

Keep the tips coming guys. Thanks.

Definitely be sure with the formula.  My wife breast fed my daughter, but eventually my daughter weaned herself, and the supply dried up, even with the breast pump.  It wasn't until then that we discovered my daughter had a severe allergy to all of the formula except one (which of course, was the most expensive).


Congratulations, by the way, there's nothing else like it!

Holy crap, only 3 yrs and 11 mos to get to my 100th post!

I have a 16 month old myself and "one in the chamber." That means my wife is pregnant with our second. But seriously, congrats on the new one. Children are the greatest joy.

1. I recommend your wife try hard to breastfeed. It's best for the baby and it's God's way of mommy working off that extra maternity weight. It will be difficult to stay on top of pumping, but she needs too. If your wife stays on top of it, she won't have any interuptions in milk supply.
2. As mentioned above, it doesn't matter if you have 6 months of formula or 6 truckloads. If the kid doesn't like it, then they aren't eating it. End of story.
3. Again as mentioned, spring for the car seat. Pretty much everything else is fluff. I can't tell you how many times the cheap items were actually better. My son prefered the crappy $30 swing compared to the $200 one. Same with cloths. If you don't want to buy from Goodwill, look for bargains. Costco has outfits for around $8 and it gets you the shirt, pants, and shorts. Buy larger outfits for the future! My son might be in 24 months, but we have several items in larger sizes. They grow like weeds.
4. Same as above for furniture. You don't need the $400 crib and $250 changing station from babiesRus. The $100 crib works fine for me.
5. Diapers. Find the brand you and your wife prefer. We like Pampers. Unfortunetly, Costco doesn't sell that brand; but BabiesRus has specials on the bulk packs from time to time. Sign up for they're promo card, you get good coupons in the mail. I bought two boxes this afternoon (It'll last about 7-8 weeks) and ultimately got $18 off ($4 off each box for coupon from mail, $10 gift card I recieved from last purchase of diapers) and still got another $5 gift card for next time.

Good luck with the new one. Remember! They'll sleep through the night soon enough! :)

Jeremy S.

Another note:

Buy your wipes from Costco. The Kirkland Brand (House Brand) 900 wipe value pack is only like $15. It'll last you a while.

same here, 5 month old.... makes you think about many many things.....

Stock up on OTC meds:  tylenol, motrin, robitussin DM, benadryl, hydrocortizone, possibly zyrtec, diaper rash meds.

Lots o' formula.

Clothe diapers will last a long time ;)  (Were done for thousands of years ya know...)

Baby wipes - nice for lots of stuff.

Baby shoes.

Baby meds - like the teething tablets (herbal), baby tylenol, etc.

I have a 2 year old and a 2 month old.





We have gotten a ton of stuff off Craigslist.





Carseats,a crib,strollers, swings, clothes, dressers with changing tables ect.





Kids don't really care at this age what they are wearing, and it all gets trashed pretty quick.



ETA-Congrats!!!
 

I'm going to revisit the car seat.  When buying a used car seat.

Do you know the history of the car seat?  If you know that the seat has not been in a crash the good.  If you do not know then do not buy the seat.

Do you know the age of the seat?  Some have dates molded into the plastic.  At age 5 the plastic of the seat may be weakened; time for a new seat.

You may think that the kid will outgrow the seat in less than 5 years, and this is true.  If junior gets a sibling and the seat gets handed down then you have to monitor seat age.

We've used different types or diaper bags from a range of prices; now we use a gallon zip loc filled with diapers and wipes.

Craigslist can be a good deal.

Pedialyte (you can buy a powder now, I think), infant ibuprofin, infant tylenol, vaseline.

Consider going to a pet store and buying one of those seat covers that stretch across the back seat. We have one, and it has saved our seats from the major spills, ground in food crumbs, dirty feet, slobber etc. Water resistant and washable.



Goodwill has saved us tons of money. The clothes are practically new and dirt cheap.You have to go often to find what you want, but they rotate stock very quickly.

My brother went through 4 different brands/types before he found one that my niece took to, just something for the future and other new parents. Make sure what you stock up on will be eaten.

Triple Paste Diaper rash cream, use more than you think is needed.

+1 on the formula, you may wind up needing Gentlease or a version therof.

+1 on wipes, no matter how many you have you will still run out.

Dr. Brown bottles.

+1 on ignoring bottle heaters, place bottle in cup, place cup in sink, run hot water on bottle with cap on and shake occaisionally, takes 2 min.

either buy the baby mitts right away or get really good at trimming/filing nails so the baby doesnt scratch self.

I would also get a container of Vitamin A & D for diaper rash. My 3 kids shared the same container, and it is still half full. Good stuff. Personally I would avoid a used car seat, because you may not see any damage or weaknesses until you are in a collision when you need it the most.

Get them off diapers ASAP.  It is possible to potty train kids between 1 yr and 1.5 yr old.  Start by watching when they have to poop.  Red face, grunting etc. take off the diaper and hold them on a potty.  Eventually they will get to where they won't want to poop in a diaper and will grunt to signal you to help them use the potty.  Pee takes a little longer to get to where the child will signal you when it needs to go.

There is a book about this method called the "diaper free baby".  Kinda hippy-ish, but effective so far.  We are just starting it with our little one and hope to get rid of diapers by the time she is 18 months old.

http://www.amazon.com/Diaper-Free-Baby-Natural-Training-Alternative/dp/0061229709/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257321746&sr=8-1

If your wife plans on breast feeding, get a pump and put back a decent supply of milk in the freezer. Rotate it by feeding from a bottle every once in a while. Case in point:

My youngest daughter is almost 7 weeks old. Two days ago the wife was having massive pains in her side so off we went to the emergency room. 6 hours later and they determine that she needed an emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder. Fortunately, the hospital was able to provide a pump since no stores were open at 3 am and they were very lenient with their visitation policy. Had this not been the case, I would have had one hell of a time trying to manage the 4 yo, and keeping the little one content.

So that's my suggestion.

Have an emergency stash of everything good for 4-7 days if you can't get to the store in a storm.

Don't worry about the SHTF untill the next president evacuates the coasts.

First off CONGRADULATIONS !! I envy you

Now think if my child doesnt have this it will die

food
water
shelter
heat
clothes
diapers
wipes
protection (not condoms)

Read one second after and after you stop shaking start thinking if you were in that situation what would you wish you had.........then get it

My wife and I just had our 6th saturday. And she owns a large daycare wih 120 kids. So let me try to put in my 2 cents.

Think back to the lowest common denominator. You need to keep the baby fed. So 6 months of formula is good, powder kinds will last longer but you will need clean safe water for them. So you will need to be able to boil water as I would not trust a filter for keeping organisms out of the water should it be needed. Since you can now boil water you can wash cloth diapers and can even use cut up sheets or towels should you need too, however a few months of disposables is good too. Since you need to wash diapers you need soap, maybe a few large packs of ivory soap for clothes and it is mild enough to wash baby too. And for food if your boiling water you can boil most foods into a very soft consistancy which then can be mushed up into baby food. You may be suprised at how soon a baby can start eating regular food.

The previous posts on clothes are right on the money, thrift stores, and consignment stores, as well as yard sales can give you a ton of clothes for pennies on the dollar compared to new stuff. Next thrift store you hit grab 5-8 outfits for the current size and the next size up. Keep them packed with your BOB or supplies. Make sure you have a basic "diaper bag" ready to go with the usual stuff you carry.

Also medicines are another topic to consider. Make sure you put together a good "child" first aid kit with children dosage medicines. You may even want to express your desire to make a first aid kit with your peditrician they often have samples they will give you.
You MUST go and get your RedCross CPR/FirstAid for children. You can get it all done in a day and will give you some valuable training for your child.

A basic guideline I use for my kids supplies :

Food
Water
Sanitation
Safety

Diaper's and wipers  lots of them.    Good kero heater also