“Pray For Us Formula Moms”: Mom Shares Her Unpleasant Experience Of Going Through Formula Shortage In The US

The baby formula shortage has been scaring parents and caregivers for several months now. It all started with a contamination problem at an Abbott factory that produces multiple brands for the US market. Once Abbott decided to shut the manufacturing complex down due to contamination complaints linked to infant deaths, it left the American citizens in fear.

"Excuse my makeup-less crying face, this #formulashortage is so scary" – a mom of two took it to TikTok to reveal how the infant formula shortage affects the country and children with food hypersensitivities. The video received over 1.4 million views, 89.2K likes and 9697 worth of comments discussing the ongoing crisis.

More info: TikTok

The baby formula shortage that has been overtaking the US since March has caused plenty of distress to moms and dads. Parents are unable to locate the cans at any grocery stores and are changing their shipping location on Amazon just to buy an extremely overpriced product from Canada. Mothers are resorting to DIY methods and diluting the formulas to stretch them out for a little bit longer, though it's been recently recognized as risky as it could lead to emergency health issues.

The woman began her video by sharing that more people need to speak out about the current baby formula shortage and how it affects people's lives. She mentioned that normally, you would expect to see heaps of baby formula at your local grocery store – however, when you go in now, the shelves are absolutely bare.

Moreover, there are children who cannot have generic formula due to their allergies. For instance, the author's daughter has a cow milk protein allergy, and the most commonly used infant formulas contain purified cow's milk.

When the child's immune system responds abnormally to certain foods, it could lead to distressing and sometimes life-threatening symptoms. For example, cow's milk protein allergy is one of the most common allergies that is found in 7 out of 100 babies. Though the allergy is not considered to be a lifelong threat as most children will grow out of it by their 6th birthday, it's understandable why the formula shortage is leaving their parents panic-stricken, particularly for kids with food hypersensitivity.

The woman is confused and terrified, she said that even the pharmacist who fills her daughter's prescription can't fill it because they simply can't get it. The formulas are back-ordered for six months and, unfortunately, there are barely any options left. Many mothers have turned to homemade formulas or they've started to water their bottles down to stretch the cans out, though, as mentioned above, the experts are extremely against it.

Parents are practically hunting for formulas; mothers drive for hours, contacting their relatives and peers that live outside of their state just to test their luck and, perhaps, acquire a can or two. The majority of the stores don't have anything in stock and if they do, the inventory is very limited. Some mothers are stepping up to help and donating their milk to those in need – however, there are also people who are taking advantage of the nationwide crisis and selling infant formula for a highly exaggerated price.

Moreover, it seems that a lot of people are undereducated about breastfeeding. Folks assume that mothers are always able to lactate, though that's really not the case. Breastfeeding can be an extremely complicated process: for instance, there are women who suffer from IGT (insufficient glandular tissue), which can cause low or no milk production whatsoever. Besides, when a woman is no longer breastfeeding, rebuilding a milk supply is a very time-consuming process that, in most cases, is not successful.