Panicked parents search for food
Stores limit purchases; State warning families to avoid online scams
For some parents, finding infant formula has turned into a desperate scavenger hunt in the Capital Region, with the most specialized formulas all but impossible to find.
Supply chain problems and a recent recall due to contamination at a factory have left some shelves bare nationwide, causing parents to ask relatives and friends to see if they can find formula and ration how much they are giving their babies for fear supply will run out.
Trista Soto, of Glenville, was down to one week’s supply of Enfamil Nutramigen, a hypoallergenic formula that has kept her daughter from choking to death with acid reflux.
“Absent that formula, she has a digestive condition where she refluxes and stops breathing. Literally life-saving,” Soto told the Times Union. “We’ve had her formula shipped directly to us from a medical supplier since she was 8 weeks old.”
Two months ago, the supplier
ran out. Soto called Enfamil directly but could only get one week’s supply. A recall of a Similac hypoallergenic formula led to parents switching to the Enfamil version, and Enfamil has increased manufacturing but can’t keep up with the demand.
“We thankfully had a few extra cans that I stockpiled for a ‘just in case’ moment,” Soto said. But last week, with that supply measured in days, she asked friends to search throughout the country. Friends in Virginia located enough to last three more weeks.
At that point, her daughter will be 11 months old, and her pediatrician has told them to cautiously transition to cow’s milk. Normally, that is considered unsafe until 12 months, but there is some wiggle room.
“My preference would have been to keep her on formula longer than a year. She was born at 33 weeks and is thriving, but it’s in part from the nutrition this has given her,” Soto said.
But switching to another formula is too risky.
“I literally watched my baby stop breathing — turn blue — from reflux from another formula. Knowing that it could happen again with a switch makes me sick to my stomach,” she said.
Now that she has enough for her daughter, she’s no longer looking for more.
“I’m comfortable with three weeks supply for the moment — scared, but comfortable. There are some moms who can’t even find enough to get through the week,” she said. “We aren’t talking about the store being out of paper towels — we’re talking about nutrition for a baby. If there was ever a time for people to remain selfless, this is it.”
She started a Facebook group Thursday called Capital District and Beyond: Formula Finders, so parents could help each other locate formula before a store sells out.
Retailers selling out fast
At Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany, infant formula shipments are arriving almost daily — and then selling out almost immediately.
“We are all out of infant formula. We have plenty of toddler food, everything else seems fine in the world of babies. But just infant formula, we are unclear when exactly we will be able to get more,” said spokesman Alex Mytelka.
An hour later, the store restocked with a new shipment of Earth’s Best organic, one of two brands the store carries. It’s a milk-based powder.
“It won’t last long but that’s OK, that’s why we get it in, to sell it,” he said. “We get a delivery from them almost every day, so if they have it, we’ll have it.”
At one Target in Colonie Thursday, there were only three cans left for three types of formula: soy-based, milk-based and lactose-free. For each brand, the store only had enough left to feed one child for six days.
Most national brand stores have now limited purchases to three infant formula items per customer, which is enough food for three to six days.
That means families will have to start looking for more within days of their purchase.
Scam artists are entering the fray. The state Division of Consumer Protection issued a warning urging parents to beware of online scams, saying some people are trying to sell formula for double the price or taking money but not sending the formula. People should check the product for recalls or expiration dates before buying, try to make purchases in person or use credit cards so charges can be disputed, the warning said.
Doctors recommend that families not switch between soy and dairy-based formulas, but say that if the first few ingredients on the cans are the same, a baby’s digestive system will generally tolerate a switch.
But even those who have a baby who can switch among brands are struggling to find enough.
“I’m getting very nervous for if and when I can’t find any formula, let alone the specific kind they need,” said one Albany mother of twins, in a Twitter direct message to the Times Union. “It is hard enough being a first-time parent, but wondering how to feed them adds another level of anxiety to it.”
She needs formula to supplement, since she doesn’t have enough breast milk supply to nurse two babies.
Some commenters online have gone after those looking for formula, saying they should have breastfed. Such opinions are not only hurtful to mothers but are irrelevant, as babies that are bottle-fed formula generally must continue drinking it as a mother’s milk production stops if they are not nursing — not to mention many preemies and special-needs babies struggle to nurse, and not all mothers produce enough milk. Before formula existed, babies died every year from malnutrition.
“Many have said ‘well breastfeed instead’ and for me, that wasn’t an option. Fed is best,” Soto said. “Very simply, no parent on earth should ever have to worry about where their child’s next meal comes from. Infant or otherwise.”
I’m comfortable with three weeks supply for the moment — scared, but comfortable. There are some moms who can’t even find enough to get through the week. We aren’t talking about the store being out of paper towels — we’re talking about nutrition for a baby.”
Trista Soto of Glenville
Health warnings
Other mothers are going to the extreme online and looking for recipes for concoctions their babies could drink instead of formula. Pediatricians are warning the public not to follow recipes being posted on social media.
“That is not a healthy food for babies,” said Hometown Health’s Dr. Stephanie Evans, who added that such recipes might have worked as a nutritional supplement long ago because most mothers also nursed.
“Back in the day, it was a combination of things, probably a combination of breastfeeding and a little bit of augmenting the calories. So they might have gotten away with it,” she said. “And also, back in the day babies had vitamin and mineral deficiencies.”
Other social media recipes call for quieting hungry infants by offering tea or water. That could kill them, Evans warned.
“The kidneys are immature at birth,” she said. “If there’s too much water, they can actually decrease the sodium in their blood and they can have seizures and it can be deadly.”
Instead, parents who can’t find formula should call their pediatrician, she said.
“We will try to help them, and we might be able to advise on alternatives,” she said.