Oh, North Carolina. That little snow flake emoji showed up in our forecast this week, just days after enjoying the sunshine through open windows. While the Emerald Birth and Postpartum Doulas are gassing up their 4x4 Jeeps (oh yea, the Emerald Doulas have a snow plan, y’all) ... our IBCLC and Infant Feeding Specialist, Victoria Facelli, is going to talk weather-proofing your Freezer Stash.
Seems appropriate no?
We know how precious your freezer stash of pumped or donor milk can be. Forget the lack of batteries at Target pre-storm, you have milk to keep cold! (Actually, okay, maybe grab some AA’s for that giant Medela battery pack, charge up your Spectra S1, dig out the hand pump, etc.… just in case)
So what becomes of your milk stash if the power goes out?
First of all, don’t panic.
Second of all, don’t check on it. If the power is down for only 24 hours, just leave the freezer closed and it should all be fine. Even if it gets a little thawed around the edges, don’t over think it. It wasn’t thawed completely and it wasn’t handled, passed from bottle-to-bottle or partially eaten. Good sense tells us it will be totally fine refrozen for later use.
If you are a bit more on the Dooms Day Prepper side of things, head to the super market with this list of two things: styrofoam cooler chest and dry ice.
After years of asking parents how they got milk to overseas trips to China and back or on a long road trips across country, this is the accepted travel method.
The below ratio of milk-to-dry-ice was tested by an engineer/data scientist set of moms who shipped 400 ounces of pumped milk to Texas for their adopted baby (Side Note: Shout out to all the Spread Sheet Parents and Adopting Parents out there!). It was apparently overkill, but it kept the milk rock solid for 2 days in a hot car driving through the Southern United States in the sweltering part of Summer.
Use about one pound of dry ice for every twenty ounces of milk. Place a layer of thin cardboard or newspaper between the dry ice and the milk to prevent freezer burn, and please use the safety recommendations and your common sense when handling dry ice. Also, put this cooler FAR out of the reach of children and curious pets.
Dry ice can be picked up at most grocery stores. Just call ahead and see who has it in stock so you don't waste your precious prepping time (Y'all, this is the South and the grocery stores may be overrun with #teambreadandmilk before any weather event.).
You can use your own cooler if it is the right size, all the better is you got a Yeti for Christmas, but the styrofoam ones from the grocery store work great as well.
Alright parents, get the Netflix cued up (you can download it now in case of power outage and here's a great list of binge-worthy shows), grab all your cosy blankets and have fun feeding your little ones (no matter how you do it) while your world turns into a snow globe for the weekend.
What a perfect time in life to just stay home and snuggle!
And, hey, why not give us a tag on Instagram or Facebook using #emeralddoulas and #BabysFirstSnowStorm to share your Snow Day Snuggle Sesh!