How to survive as a mother with 2 young children?

Sorry, but I disagree on shelter-in-place for a city dweller.
Find a family member, friend or group of like minded with a place in the boondocks, slowly start stocking up on essentials---beans, rice, ammo, powdered moo juice for the little ones, propane, kerosene and cooking-lighting appliances, a hand crank radio, or solar powered one would be on my list also.
Shelter, if there isn't any at your retreat position, could be as cheap as an old army canvas tent.
Once the essentials are in place, you can start adding canned goods, other dry goods, bottled goods, clothes, small luxuries and trade goods ( coffee, tobacco, but no booze, as the violent will trade for it, get drunk and come back for the rest) and more ammo.
A leatherman type tool, hatchet, axe and very sharp knife.

Should have 6 to 8 months supplies on hand-- I prefer a year or better.

The only problem with heading for the Boondocks will be getting there. Everyone and there cousin will have the same idea, and the roads will be packed with cars, trucks, pedestrians, etc..

Those rurals will probably not be thrilled to see you coming their way either. Nobody wants or likes strangers parking or camping out on their property uninvited. Put yourself in there place, how would you feel? I'd see them as a threat to me and my family's survival personally.
Eventually they'd be raiding your garden, drinking your water, killing off your livestock, etc.

Originally posted by Merigold
reply to post by Earthmama4

 

Thanks for that earthmama4. I'm a bit of a hygenic freak. I often wonder how I would cope in a situation where I couldn't take my daily showers and such. I think as a society we've been sheltered from some of the facts of life. The biology of our bodies hidden by smiling babies and puppies in commercials for bog rolls.

The man and I are going to start doing some serious rough camping this summer just so we can start to think about these things and come up with solutions to basics that work for us.

D

My husband and I changed our ways of living for a few years. We moved back to Maine after living the easy life here in North Carolina for years, we gave up electric, phone, running water and a real bathroom. For 2 years we lived like that with small children. When my youngest daughter was born we had electric and phone put in, but still no running water. It was to me one of the best times in my whole life living like that. we got use to living like that and really enjoyed it. We had to carry water in buckets for 1/4 mile to the house, in the summer we would take baths at the brook in the winter though we took them in the house, Its easy to take a bath with one pail of water and still get clean.

I may enjoy living here in NC again now, but I still miss walking to get my water daily, and my moose that would reach in the window and steal food of our plates.

Hilda

reply to post by goopity



As a mother of a 24 lb 18 month old who babywears for long periods of time, I would suggest you buy or sew a Mei Tai, rather than a sling. Personally I sewed myself a very strong one for $5 using discount Pantweight (like a denim or a cottom twill) fabrics from walmart. A mei tai, with wide straps, spreads the weight of the child around your whole back, as opposed to the slings which put a lot of pressure on one side of your shoulder/back and force you to curve your body to one side or another. In my experience this can be super painful if you have to wear a child all day, as while travelling. With a Mei tai, you can switch the child to you front, or either hip or your back as needed to comfortably carry them all day long.

Also if you have to wear your child on your front, and wear a heavy back pack survival kit on your back, you will find it easier with a Mei Tai than with a sling. A sling lays from the base of your neck down around the upper arm and in effect makes that arm harder to use, as the edge of the cloth will cut into your arm if you try to raise it to carry anything or reposition to make carrying everything more comfortable.

It's been mentioned, but if possible breastfeeding is ideal too... It's one less thing you have to carry and provide clean water to help feed your children (or at the least, the youngest one). There was a story I heard about in the news where a woman with two young children and her husband were stranded out in the middle of nowhere. He got out of the car and went for a long and eventually fatal hike in order to try and find help, while she stayed in the car, and although they had no food, she kept both of her children alive and healthy for several days with just breastmilk. I believe she was eating snow to remain hydrated.

Breastmilk is the perfect food, and in an exteme situation could mean the difference between life and death for your children. In travelling, survival situations water can be scarce, if you were in a position where you could not find water to give your children breastmilk could provide relief, and in the case of your baby, you could learn to breastfeed with the child in a sling or mei tai and therefore you would not have to worry about stopping to feed him/her.

Also it's a good idea to learn all the ways to conserve water. Like a no shampoo method of cleaning or degreasing your hair. A using baking soda or sand to absorb the oils and brush it out. A little rubbing alcohol on the pits can help keep B.O. down if you run out of deoderant.

Practise opening a can with a hunting knife. I don't know about you but I always find those little hand crank can openers tend to break just whenever you need it the most. this might be a laughable, no-brainer suggestion to camping types, but speaking as a city girl I know I wouldn't have thought of it without my bushman s/o.

In general, it's very important to get used to the idea of everything changing. Be ready to act when you need to. Get used to the idea of not being able to bath or having to wear the same clothes for weeks on end.

I can't think of anything else right now that hasn't already been suggested.

This reply is as much for me as for you, haha. I'm trying to get myself ready as well. Thanks everyone for all your suggestions, I'll be writing it all down too!

Morgan

Oh yeah, in terms of the diaper issue, look into elimination communication, or early potty training. If you're low on water, you won't be using it to wash loads of diapers. I used to handwash cloth diapers and lemme tell you they take a lot of water.

In some parts of the world, babies will never see a diaper. The mothers tune into the baby's signals and learn when the child needs to go, and then they just hold them over the ground while they go.

Carrying a large supply of disposables would be very impractical, but if you have low access to water, so is using cloth diapers. I know all too well how quickly you go through them with a newborn.

I can see not being able to use the technique now, as a working single mother of two, but if you're on the run it would be handy to have the information available to you.

I will admit to the inacdeciaces that the group as presented in front of me. Of c course I know that they are off spellningl .

whatever, if you don't breast feed your children you are not a spawn of statan...while it is ideal that you breastfeeding it is not the only solution. I think breastfeeding tis one of those things that you must decide your own.

And if worse comes to worse you can always drink the breast milk yourself, if it comes down to it. I actually used some once in pudding and hubby never knew until a year later. But he loved it.

Hilda

reply to post by goopity


I don't think less of anyone for choosing to formula feed, I hope that was not the message you got from my post. I was merely trying to represent the significant advantages breastfeeding could offer in a survival situation.

I don't think there's anything wrong with formula, but it could be difficult to keep a good supply up in case of emergencies, right? Especially in a bug out situation where you wouldn't have much extra room. Also to mix formula you need access to fresh, clean water. That might not be a guaranteed luxury in a survival situation.

[edit on 25-3-2008 by poisonmekare]

reply to post by goopity


Never did I hear a stronger argument against divorce.

What dose a single mother with two kids do; hope she can find a good man or huddle up with a group of women.

There is nothing wrong with formula feed IF it is available. If you happen to find yourself in a situation where you are formula feeding and for whatever reason you need to return to brest feed, there is a method for that, it is also used by mothers of an adoption child to start up the brestfeed.

5 times a day look at a photograph of your baby or your baby itself (needed to make a hormonal asocciaton, your milk will start running while you look at your child)

Massage each brest with long strokes towards the nipple

Put your index finger under your nipple and with your thumb you rub the above part of the nipple over it (yes like milking a cow, I know )

After a few days you should start lactating, in the remaining time if you don't have formula in hand give water with a bit of sugar solved in it.

If this method fails (which it rarely does) than try to find goats milk instead of cowsmilk.

You can brestfead up untill the age of 5 although additional foods will be necesarry for the child.

Another usefull tip is to place your child in the local scouting group once it's old enough, they have lots of fun but also learn survival skills.

Good luck!