Formula Shortage Could Last Months Before Stocks Replenished
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Parents are scouring store shelves and enlisting friends and family from out of state to find baby formula for their children amid a nationwide shortage.
This is an uncertain and scary time for them.
For example, David Simpson and his wife, Kim, brought their daughter Haley and twin babies to the Baltimore Birth Festival on Sunday to try to find solutions to the baby formula shortage.
"I have been using my breaks, basically driving from location to location that might have baby formula and the disappointment when you get to the aisle and there's nothing there to be had," David said.
Family members from out of state have also volunteered to hunt for formula and send it their way.
This is obviously the result of a baby formula recall. Under normal conditions, this could be fixed quickly. But to make matters worse, a supply chain issue is compounding the pressure.
Katie Linda is a lactation consultant and owner of the Rumina Center in Baltimore.
She was a vendor at this year's Baltimore Birth Festival. It's an event that supports pregnancy, postpartum, and parenting.
Linda says her organization is helping families to connect with one another to share resources.
Katie said all the social media groups that she runs have people sharing samples of formulas and trying to help one another find what they're looking for.
"Who needs this kind of formula? Or I am looking for this kind of formula. If you see it, please let me know," Katie says that these are the type of formulas that she receives.
Some families are swapping formulas and she has also been facilitating space for women to share breast milk if they have the ability to produce extra milk in an effort to overcome the shortage difficulties.
But the big question is when will manufacturing resume at full capacity.
Experts are advising people to exercise patience.
"If there is no formula and a woman can't breastfeed, then, like, what are you going to do?" Kim said. "It's terrifying."
