We’ve all seen footage of earthquake-damaged China, hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, and the heavily-flooded U.S. Midwest. Seeing such images, it’s only natural to think about the people who are affected. In response to such disasters, my thoughts turn immediately to the children—especially the babies.

As parents, what can we do to ensure that our babies’ needs will be met if we should face such horrific events? Well, it may be counterintuitive to our modern way of thinking, with its emphasis on high-tech solutions and stockpiling rations, but the first thing we can do is very low-tech and requires almost no stockpiling. What is it? Breastfeeding.

As the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) points out, breastfeeding is the perfect solution for ensuring infant nutrition during a disaster. Formula-feeding parents will face several great hurdles to feeding their babies that breastfeeding parents won’t.

For example, there may be no clean drinking water, which formula-feeding parents will need to prepare their infants’ formula (that is, if they can find formula). If they do get some bottled water, there still may not be a clean place for preparing the formula (even washing your hands may be impossible). And, the AAP continues, “it may be impossible to ensure cleaning and sterilization of feeding utensils.” Can you imagine trying to find a clean bottle or sterile nipple under such conditions? Plus, there is no way to store opened, prepared formula if you lack electricity or a refrigerator. You have to feed the baby, but formula-feeding after a disaster can put baby at risk for serious illness.

Meanwhile, a breastfeeding mother can put her child to breast and feed the baby with relative peace of mind. The milk itself is sterile. It is readily available. It helps to protect the baby from infectious diseases. It is the right temperature. Breastfeeding is comforting to the child and, thanks to the release of hormones it triggers, helps to relieve the mother’s anxiety, too. Even a mother who never started to breastfeed can develop a milk supply by beginning to feed her baby this way, if her child is about 3 months old or younger.

I think about Chinese policewoman Jiang Xiaojuan. Faced with several hungry infants in the devastation of an earthquake, she didn’t have to stop to look for infant formula or sanitary water. She fed them with the milk her body produced.

I think, too, about Kati Kim, whose “disaster” was on a smaller scale. When the family’s car became stranded on a remote road, Kim took advantage of the emergency provisions her body provided. She saved her two children from starving to death by breastfeeding them.

I am sure there are many other mothers who have saved their children by breastfeeding after an unexpected disaster. (This article about breastfeeding after a 2006 earthquake in Indonesia provides just one more example.)

Whether you make your home in the likely path of the storm or live someplace you think is safe from disaster, if you are a new or expectant parent making a choice about how to feed your baby, here is my advice: Breastfeed, among other reasons, to be ready for an emergency.