The Baby Formula Shortage
It boggles my mind to see that even though the Similac powdered formula recall happened in February, we are still seeing empty shelves of infant formula over three months later! To be honest, I feel like the other two main infant formula companies fell short and lost a grand opportunity to take over larger portions of the market, but in their failure to do so, it’s the babies that are suffering. Things are even worse than the toilet paper shortage at the start of the pandemic. At least with the toilet paper situation, there were reasonable options which wouldn’t have harmed anyone’s health, even if they might have caused us to wrinkle up our noses. Not so with this situation. Possibly it’s due to a misunderstanding of how important infant formula is?
I heard one person naively say at the beginning of the shortage, “I guess all the moms will just start breastfeeding.” Oh, if were only so simple! So many reasons exist that prevent universal breastfeeding from being the answer to meeting the nutritional needs of every baby born from birth through the entire first year of life. Regular milk sold for child and adult consumption definitely isn’t the answer either, as it’s lacking in the correct nutritional profile for infant growth and development needs, as well as being more inflammatory overall to the infant gut. Homemade infant formula made by mixing random ingredients just sounds like a formula for a disastrous chemistry experiment. And lastly, diluting the infant formula one has by adding more water to make it “last longer” destroys its electrolyte balance and in doing so puts a baby’s electrolyte balance at risk which may result in dangerous seizures.
So what are viable options? For those infants that are older than 9 months old, know that the toddler formulas seem to be less affected by the shortage, so switching your baby to a toddler formula might help you to have enough formula for your baby. In a pinch and for a short period of time, toddler formula also would be ok for an infant under 9 months old if nothing else is available until you can get your hands on actual infant formula again. I used to be against families ordering the European formulas (the most famous of which are HIPP and Holle) on the internet, but now I have to admit they’re better than the options mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Just know that those formulas are less fortified than typical American infant formula in DHA, ARA, and iron, but by additionally incorporating those supplements, which are frankly easier to find than formula right now, it is possible to get their nutritional profile to match that of standard American formulas if they were actually available. At the office, we also have some sample size cans of infant formula of various brands available for babies who are existing Cevey Pediatrics patients on a first come, first serve basis. Supplies are limited, as all the formula companies have also stopped providing those sample size cans to doctor’s offices also, but we are trying to figure out how to establish a system where families whose babies have “graduated” from needing infant formula can donate unused unexpired cans to the office, and then an online “sign-up” list might be made available for other families to indicate which formulas their babies need. Until that system is up and running, though, the office welcomes drop-offs of infant formula from families whose babies don’t need it anymore, and we also welcome calls to ask about whether we have any sample size cans of formulas you may need for you to pick up. We’re here to try to help the best we can until the problem is resolved!
Unused cans of infant formula can be dropped off during our normal practice hours at:
414 W Sunset Rd. Suite 105
San Antonio, TX 78209
