The Nightmare Hunt for Baby Formula

OUR COMMUNITY

Elyssa Schmier and her son

Elyssa Schmier of Huntington Woods likes to be prepared. Ever since her son was born last August, she liked to have a small stock of formula on hand, at least six or seven cans.

Her husband, Stephen, used to tease her, saying, “Do we really need so much?”

Back then, Elyssa laughed it off. “Anything could happen … I know it’s an irrational fear.”

But no one’s laughing now, and that irrational fear has become a reality.

In February, four babies became sick with bacterial infections after consuming formula that was made at a Michigan plant. Some reports say two babies died due to the contaminated formula. This led to an immediate recall on Similac PM 60/40, Similac, Alimentum and EleCare powdered formulas.

Schmier headed to the store to return her entire stack of recalled formula and get a refund. When she looked for more formula to purchase, they were all out. She went to a second store, but they didn’t have any either.

She’d had similar experiences since the beginning of the pandemic, but as she stared in horror at the empty shelves in the third store, Schmier began to panic.

“I thought, ‘something’s going on and no one even knows about it’,” she said. “I wondered was it just Michigan? I went on Twitter and asked if anyone else was having trouble finding formula and moms from all over the country began chiming in.”

Schmier, vice president of Moms Rising, an advocacy group for mothers and children, reached out to her colleague National WIC Associations Senior Director Brian Dittmeie, who was also extremely concerned. He told Schmier the entire country was experiencing a formula shortage, but the topic had received no coverage yet.

“I completely freaked out,” Schmier said.

She posted her struggles to find formula on all social media platforms. On April 12, Schmier and Dittmeie did a Q&A about the formula shortage on Instagram Stories … which was viewed by a USA Today reporter. The reporter wrote an article on the topic, and the issue started being discussed widely.

Suddenly, parents were rushing to the stores and buying all the formula they could lay their hands on. The panic-buying and hoarding of baby formula had echoes of the toilet paper shortage during the pandemic, only much worse and with much more serious repercussions.

Suddenly, like a precarious game of dominoes, everything came crashing down. The three other American manufacturers of baby formula couldn’t provide the supply to match the demand, and there was no formula to be found on store shelves anywhere.

According to Datasembly, in April 2022, 30% of popular baby formula brands were sold out at retailers across the United States and that number had climbed to 40% by the end of the month. Currently, the rate is 43% and as high as 48% in some states.

“The whole thing blew up overnight,” Schmier said.

So far, Schmier’s personal situation is not too concerning. “We’re in OK shape. We have family and friends looking out for us, people have shipped us formula from other cities,” Schmier said. “It’s exhausting emotionally and physically to have to keep going out and searching, having to worry like this.”

Schmier is very concerned for parents who are suffering because of this shortage. “Parents just want to safely feed their

The Nightmare Hunt for Baby Formula

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ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rachel Moss and her family at baby Jackson’s bris on May 23

babies. Switching formulas abruptly can cause stomach bleeds or other health issues in some kids … It’s really very scary on the ground. Parents are coming out of NICUs without the specialized formulas their babies need.There are others who are in dire situations and have limited options, like if their kids have allergies.”

GLOBAL JEWISH COMMUNITY OFFERS ASSISTANCE

Nechama S. of Southfield is one such mom: Her 15-month-old son Danny is allergic to dairy and soy, among other things. When Danny was born, Nechama nursed him and eliminated his allergens from her own diet, but it didn’t seem to be helping him. After a few months, the doctor recommended switching him to a hypoallergenic Neocate formula instead.

The Neocate formula was not part of the recall, but the entire stock was completely snapped up by parents who didn’t necessarily need the specialty kind but were desperate to feed their babies any formula at all.

“Ensuring my son has the necessary nutrients that he needs in order to continue to grow and thrive is obviously top priority for me,” Nechama said.

“I spend a lot of time calling pharmacies to see if they have this formula in stock. When I ask when their next shipment is arriving, no one knows. It’s so worrying, especially when I see I’m down to my last few cans.”

Nechama said finding formula has been a serious struggle, but the local and global Jewish communities have been stepping in to help during this crisis. A friend who weaned her baby off formula gave Nechama her entire leftover stock. Complete strangers from Canada and even as far as the U.K. have offered to ship formula to the United States. These donations come at just the right time for Nechama.

“It’s so clear to me that God is showing his love and care for me and my family,” said Nechama, who is deeply religious and has been finding her spirituality a source of strength during this challenging time. “I believe everything is in God’s hands, and I find it helpful to remember that ‘this too shall pass.’

“I don’t know why it’s happening, but God must have His reasons and, hopefully, we’ll grow from it. Personally, I’m finding it inspiring to see how everyone’s trying to help each other out.”

KIDS WITH MEDICAL CHALLENGES

Shayna Goldner of Oak Park is another mom who’s been struggling. Her daughter, Chava, 2, is in the 0 percentile for growth, has been diagnosed with failure to thrive and other challenging medical issues, including allergies, and was on a specialty hypoallergenic formula almost as a medication.

The day Goldner learned of the recall in early February, she put her daughter to bed without any formula at all. Chava’s medical challenges put Goldner in a sticky spot: unlike other babies, she was unable to just switch to a more readily available formula — it could make her dangerously sick.

The next day, Goldner spent an entire stressful day on the phone, calling her pediatrician and WIC, trying to figure out what to do. Their gastroenterologist suggested switching to Kate Farms formula.

“It was a risk, but it was the only option,” Goldner said and promptly ordered it for overnight shipping. There was still no available formula for Chava again that night, but as she’s older, she was able to eat a little food and had other nutritional options. Still, Goldner felt terrible and helpless as she put her toddler to bed without giving her the nutrition she needed.

OUR COMMUNITY Shayna

Goldner with her daughter Chava

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“At first, Chava didn’t like the Kate Farms, but I was insistent — there was no choice — and, thankfully, after a few days with a hungry belly, she started to drink it,” Goldner said.

Another concern is the financial aspect. Unfortunately, WIC has not been covering the Kate Farms for the Goldners (although they did pay for Chava’s previous formula) and their insurance company denied formula coverage.

Goldner is in a few support groups for parents of kids with medical conditions and she related how many parents have struggled with this nightmare for months now.

“There are even babies who have had to be hospitalized because there was just no nutrition available that they could tolerate,” Goldner said. “It’s unbelievable. This whole situation is so overwhelming. When a child has medical challenges and has a difficult time with growth and eating, the last thing the parents need is having little to nothing to feed their kid. We worry 24/7 already, we’re already dealing with appointments, tests, diagnoses … and now there’s the fight to find formula on top of everything, the fight to find people to help and finding the financial means to make it all happen.”

Despite the major struggles, Goldner said she knows she is fortunate that at Chava’s age, the formula is only supplemental, that she tolerated the switch well and that Kate Farms is more available than other brands.

NEW MOMS ARE FEARFUL

It’s also heartbreaking to think of new moms who are struggling to find formula to feed their newborns. Rachel Moss of West Bloomfield first heard of the formula shortage a few months ago when she was expecting her second baby and instantly started worrying.

“This is so nerve-wracking, an additional stress for new parents about how to feed their children,” Moss said.

Every time she went shopping while she was pregnant, she checked the store shelves and bought some cans of formula just in case.

“A few weeks ago, there was still some formula on store shelves,” said Moss, who gave birth to her son Tyler on May 16. “Now there’s nothing. I have a supply for a couple of weeks, and my pediatrician has been as helpful as he can, but I don’t know what’s going to happen when this formula is finished. It’s so stressful.”

Moss said the Jewish organizations have been helpful, and she heard that some are about to roll out initiatives to help formulastrapped moms.

Goldner pinpointed JFS, Detroit Chesed Project and Yad Ezra as having been particularly sympathetic and helpful.

Schmier said that another source of support has been the 3.5K member-strong Free Exchange for Jewish Women of Metro Detroit Facebook page, which has essentially become a formula exchange with people posting where they saw formula and if they have any to donate. Schmier said she’s found some through that page and is always running around Metro Detroit, picking up formula donations from random places.

“It’s literally a wild goose chase,” Schmier said. “When someone posts that they saw formula on the shelves at CVS, Walgreens, Costco, wherever, I jump in my car and run there. I’m fortunate that I work from home and have that flexibility.”

Some moms have also generously offered their breast milk, but that can be somewhat of a sore point with some formula-feeding moms.

Goldner said, “I nursed Chava for her first six months, but she wound up in the hospital. She kept vomiting and was then diagnosed with failure to thrive, so we made the hard decision at that time to switch her to formula.”

For Goldner, breast milk is not the answer and she said she feels “mom shamed” when other moms say things like “if you would just breastfeed, you wouldn’t have this issue.”

Despite the challenges and the heartache, Goldner said she still feels tremendous gratitude.

“It’s the goodness of people that have helped me … The moms in my support groups who have given us free formula … The moms who drove to Cincinnati and back to buy formula and took no reimbursement for gas! Daniella HarPaz at Yad Ezra, Channie Goldstein at Detroit Chesed Project, the nutritionist at WIC who went over recipes and ideas of how to help get us through this … our pediatrician who makes weekly calls to check on us,” Goldner said.

“I’m religious, and I took my needs to a Higher Power, but it’s clear to me that my answers came from the goodness and caring of others. I’m so grateful to God and to these kind people.”