Preparedness: Infant and Young Child Feeding in an Emergency

Training and education

Training for emergency relief workers is important. It helps them to understand how to appropriately support the nutritional needs of infants and young children during an emergency. Relief workers can be prepared by learning about:

• Local breastfeeding rates before an emergency. Use breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and duration rates to plan for services and supplies. See:
  • Breastfeeding Initiation Rates and Maps by County
  • Data, Trends, and Maps interactive database
• Safe storage of premixed, or ready-to-feed (RTF), infant formula.
• Preparation of powdered infant formula and how to ensure safe infant formula feeding during emergencies.
• Complementary feeding for children 6 to 24 months.
• How to safely store and clean infant feeding items such as bottles, and breast pumps.
• Cup feeding, an alternative when infants cannot feed directly at the breast and when infant-feeding items cannot be cleaned properly.
• Hand expression, a technique used to release milk from the breast by hand, without using a breast pump.
• Training to become a lactation support provider and consider becoming one.
• Creating safe family-friendly spaces in shelters and supporting infant and young child feeding in shelters.

Other actions to take include:

• Develop and conduct tabletop exercises that incorporate infant and young child feeding considerations. Engage the community in planning and practicing these exercises. This will increase awareness about Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E), identify gaps in preparedness activities, and strengthen partnerships.
• Review training resources specific to children in disasters.

Making connections

Work or build partnerships with:

• Local health care providers and lactation support providers. They can teach families how to create an individual preparedness plan and what to include in an emergency kit.
• Lactation support providers in your community. Learn about the different types of lactation support providers and other supports such as the National Women's Health and Breastfeeding Helpline, 1-800-994-9662.
• Community-based lactation-related services, such as:
  • State, local, tribal, and cultural breastfeeding coalitions
  • Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics
  • Hospital-based lactation programs
  • Community organizations that offer breastfeeding support
• Breastfeeding support services that might be integrated into public health programs such as:
  • Healthy Start
  • Early Head Start
  • Federally Qualified Health Centers
  • Hospital outpatient clinics
  • Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV)
• Federal, state, tribal, and local emergency relief organizations to plan and coordinate a process for acquiring infant feeding supplies.
• Other local organizations that provide social services, such as WIC, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, faith-based organizations, and community centers.
• Human milk banks to develop a process to acquire donor human milk for families in need during emergencies. Consider milk banks in different states.

Creating a plan

A plan can help you be ready to support families when disaster strikes. Here are some topics to consider when planning.

• Ensure infant and young child feeding support, such as safe cleaning of infant feeding items and lactation support, is included in your community's disaster preparedness plans.
• Identify post-disaster indicators for pregnant and postpartum women and their infants to assist in identifying post-disaster needs for your state or locality. This document describes the process for developing the post-disaster indicators.
• Ensure you include a plan for times there is no safe water.
• When selecting shelter locations, be sure they have adequate washing stations for cleaning infant feeding items separately from diapering stations. Infant feeding items should not be washed in restrooms.
• Provide families with timely direct assistance to address infant feeding challenges during emergencies. This can be done by:
  • Developing written guidelines that address obtaining infant formula and safe storage, handling, and distribution of infant formula, including the following:
  • Considering the needs of children transitioning to solid food in plans to provide food at the shelter. Think about tools such as a blender that may be needed to prepare foods appropriately.
  • Accommodating children with special health care needs who depend on technology and electricity for their feeds. This may require additional resources, such as a back-up power source, extra batteries, coolers, and ice packs.
  • Coordinating infant feeding support for families who are in non-congregate sheltering settings, such as hotels and converted building spaces. Make sure these families have infant feeding supplies and access to community resources such as volunteers, health workers, and first responders. Home visits may help families in these settings.

Additional resources

How to implement policies and activities that achieve continuity of care for breastfeeding families.

The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding.