Parents struggle with baby formula shortage
For the first months of her life, Ashley Strom’s daughter seemed uncomfortable much of the time — vomiting frequently, squirming with acid reflux and sleeping poorly.
She was diagnosed as having a cow’s milk protein intolerance. Strom tried a dairy-free diet while breastfeeding, but it seemed that even the smallest, hidden amount of dairy bothered her daughter Chloe’s stomach. She then switched her daughter to formula, trying two types before finally finding one that agreed with her called PurAmino.
“As soon as we tried that formula, pretty immediately, we started to see some improvement and, within two weeks, she was like a new baby,” said Strom, of Northbrook, Illinois. She was relieved to see Chloe smiling and comfortable.
But in recent weeks, amid a nationwide shortage of baby formula, PurAmino hasn’t always been easy to find. At one point, Strom was checking stores’ websites for the formula four or five times a day, and took to Facebook to ask if people had any to spare.
“Knowing it directly correlates to my whole family’s happiness and my daughter’s health, it’s filled me with tons of anxiety,” Strom said.
For months, many types of formulas have been tough to find partly because of supply chain issues and a recall of certain formulas made by Illinoisbased Abbott Laboratories. Abbott has recalled those formulas amid an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has said it is looking into complaints of Cronobacter sakazakii infections among four babies who reportedly consumed powdered infant formula made at an Abbott facility in Sturgis, Michigan. All four were hospitalized, and Cronobacter may have contributed to two babies’ death, according to the FDA.
Abbott said in a statement, “A thorough review of all available data indicates that the infant formula produced at our Sturgis facility is not likely the source of infection in the reported cases and that there was not an outbreak caused by products from the facility.”
Nationwide, about 40% of formulas were out-ofstock at local stores over the last two weeks, according to Datasembly, a company that scrapes data from retailers’ publicly available websites and apps to gauge product availability. That’s compared with only about 2% to 8% being out-of-stock nationwide during the first half of 2021.
As a result, many grocery stores and retail pharmacy chains, including Jewel-Osco, Walgreens and CVS Health are now limiting how much formula people can buy at once.
Formula manufacturers say they are attempting to improve the situation. Abbott said in a statement that it’s “prioritizing production of infant formula products to help replenish the supply in the market and are also air shipping in product from our FDAregistered facility in Cootehill, Ireland, on a daily basis.” Enfamil, a formula brand made by a different manufacturer, said on its website it’s been shipping 30% more product to meet increased demand.
Still, the shortage has left parents from all walks of life searching for certain types of formulas or switching brands and hoping for the best. About onefourth of babies born in the U.S. in 2018 were exclusively breast fed for the first six months of their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — meaning most infants drink formula, either to supplement breast milk or in place of it.
“It’s kind of scary to walk into a store when you have a baby that that’s their prime source of nutrition,” said Alex Goodfellow, executive director of Share Our Spare, an organization that helps supply Chicago-area nonprofits with essentials for young children, such as diapers, wipes and formula. “It’s nerve-wracking to think, ‘What am I going to do tomorrow? We’re almost out.’ ”
Goodfellow, who has a 15-month-old daughter, remembers over the winter when her daughter was still on formula, having to go to three stores to find basic formula. That’s not something many of the families who rely on Share Our Spare can do, she said. Some areas, particularly on the South and West sides of the city, don’t have many pharmacies or grocery stores.
“I have the ability to do that because I have a car. I don’t have an access issue,” Goodfellow said. “A lot of our families were going into stores and there is an access issue for them — they only have one local Jewel or one local CVS.”
Share Our Spare had to clear a lot of the formula out of its warehouse because of the Abbott recall, Goodfellow said. Thanks to donations, Share Our Spare still has formula on its shelves but not as much as usual, she said.
The shortage can also be serious for children with significant medical issues.
Many children who are treated as part of the Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Diseases Program at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago rely on formula to meet their nutritional needs, said Dr. Joshua Wechsler, the program’s medical director. Many of those children have a chronic inflammatory disease in which one or more types of food can cause allergic inflammation in the esophagus and were on EleCare Jr, a formula made by Abbott for children ages 1 and older. EleCare is affected by the recall.