'Getting pretty scary': Monroe County families struggling with baby formula shortage

Taneka Walters spent last week driving from store to store in Monroe County looking for baby formula.

She visited Target, Fresh Thyme, Walmart and several Kroger and CVS locations and a few stores in Mooresville and Martinsville, too. None had the specific formula she needs. Some didn’t have any formula at all.

Walters needs a special formula to feed her 3-month-old foster son who is lactose sensitive. She’s down to four cans, which will last about two weeks. After that, she doesn’t know what she’ll do.

“I think what we’ll have to do is just buy whatever we can find,” she said. “But if there’s nothing, then I don’t really know what my plan is. It's getting pretty scary.”

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Supply chain issues from the pandemic and a recent recall of several formula brands have led to a national baby formula shortage that’s continuing to worsen.

Nearly one in five babies receive formula within two days of being born, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and less than half of babies older than three months rely solely on breastfeeding.

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday the federal government would be taking several actions to alleviate the crisis. Until then, many families are left struggling.

What do doctors recommend?

Several families in Monroe County are turning to their pediatricians for advice if they can’t find baby formula, said Dr. James Laughlin, a pediatrician with Riley Physicians in Bloomington.

Laughlin’s main advice, if families can’t find the exact formula they use, is to find a different brand of formula with a similar composition. Switching between brands won’t hurt the baby, he said. The main difference is the taste.

“By and large, if you look around a little bit, you’ll find something else that will work,” he said.

If the baby only has a sensitivity rather than a life-threatening allergy, they can safely receive sensitive formula mixed with regular formula, Laughlin said.

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In dire situations, toddler formulas can be used for a few days in infants close to 1 year old, and full-term babies can receive premature formula for a few weeks, according to recent guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Additionally, whole milk can be used temporarily for infants older than 6 months if it is supplemented with an iron vitamin or iron-rich foods, such as lean meat, spinach and lentils. Soy milk can be used temporarily for infants closer to 1 year if it is supplemented with calcium and protein. Other plant-based milks and goats milk should not be used.

Ultimately, the two most dangerous actions a parent can take when short on formula is making homemade formula and watering store-bought formula down, Laughlin said.

Watering down formula may disrupt babies’ sodium levels, which can lead to dehydration and seizures, he said. And making homemade formula leaves too much room for error.

“The recipe for making formulas is pretty scientifically based, and it has more to do than just ingredients,” Laughlin said.

Monroe County moms help each other

When Walters called her son’s pediatrician, the office gave her advice but didn’t have any formula to offer. So she turned to Facebook.

“We are getting desperate,” she wrote in a May 15 post on the Monroe County Mutual Aid page.

Her post received 70 comments offering advice or suggesting locations where there might be formula. Eventually, a friend in Kentucky found two cans of the lactose sensitive formula and shipped it to her. But no one in Monroe County could find any.

Several parents have posted in the Facebook group letting other members know where formula is available around town.

Erin Wyatt walked the aisles of the CVS on Third Street May 16 looking for home COVID-19 tests for her daughter when she wandered past shelves stocked with formula. She posted a photo of the shelves to the same Facebook page.

“I thought if I could help someone save a trip, even just one or two people, then why wouldn’t I?” she told The Herald-Times.

Wyatt’s children aren’t babies anymore, and none of her friends have babies on formula either. But she knows it must be frustrating to visit multiple stores only to find nothing, she said.

Wyatt, previously a lactation consultant, said she’s seen a lot of misinformation on similar social media posts asking for help finding formula. The comments that bother her the most are ones that suggest switching to breastfeeding instead.

“If you tried to breastfeed now if you haven’t been, you would probably get a few drops,” she said. “There needs to be more education out there about this stuff.”

Some commenters told Walters in her post to use any kind of formula. It’s hard for people to understand why she can’t do that unless they’ve fed children with formula themselves, Walters said.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things that, especially people that don’t have kids, don’t understand,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Well, I go to the store and there’s formula on the shelves. How are we in a shortage?’ They don’t understand every baby is different and they all require different kinds of formula.”

When will the formula shortage end?

Last week, President Biden announced several actions his administration will take to alleviate the shortage, including invoking the Defense Production Act.

The act gives the government more control over industrial production during emergencies, which will speed up formula manufacturing and delivery.

Biden also announced the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture will be able to use commercial planes to import formula from other countries.

Additionally, the FDA recently reached an agreement to reopen Abbott Nutrition, which closed in February after babies became sick from consuming formula brands the company is responsible for manufacturing. The company is set to start production again in about two weeks, which will lead to restocked shelves a few weeks after that.

“It does look like there is going to be help on the way relatively soon,” Laughlin said.

Contact Christine Stephenson at cstephenson@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County hit by national baby formula shortage