Families in the US Still Feeling the Pain of Baby Formula Shortage

Parents and caregivers in the United States continue to feel the pain of store shelves that are cleaned out of baby formula, and many are turning to community organizations and hospitals for help as the nationwide shortage worsens.

Jamie Lackey, founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization Helping Mamas in Norcross, Georgia, which helps low-income families in the U.S. find baby supplies, said that there is a lot of panic now among parents in the country.

Lackey told CNN's Christi Paul on "New Day Weekend" that they had a mom come through the distribution site the other day and she had gone on to 15 different stores with her child in the car and could not find a single can of formula.

Formula stock rates not improving in the U.S.

She added that they had another mom show up before the offices opened the other day. Lackey said that finding baby formula is getting hard, and people are afraid. Even as the U.S. government airlifts tons of formula in from other countries and Abbott reopens a plant that produces almost half the powdered formula sold in the United States, getting regular supply of formula back to retailers could take weeks.

One estimate, from Datasembly, a market research company, found that stock rates have not improved in the U.S. During the last week of May, 74 percent of formula products were out of stock at some point in the country, according to Fox 9. More than 90 percent of formula products were not always available in nine states, including many in the South, which means families in these areas are still having difficulties finding formula.

Even when it is possible to find some formula, it may not be the kind kids have been used to which can be a real pain for children. Pearl, Mississippi native Amy Goff said that it feels like the ultimate defeat just because you want to be able to provide what your baby needs and the nourishment and care that they are used to.

According to Goff, she stopped breastfeeding her daughter when Ava was just three months old. She had to switch to formula when she went back to work as an optician because it was too difficult for her to find time to pump enough milk for her daughter during the day. Switching to formula was not a problem for them until the shortage really took hold in February.

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Baby formula shortage affecting more parents

Stephanie Seger, who is the senior manager of government relations at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, said that initially, this problem affected those who are on more specialized formulas or had nutritional issues. Seger added that the emptiness on the shelves increased to the point where it's now any formula and it's now any parent of any baby.

Abbott's shut down of the Michigan plant affected many parents as it is the only company in the U.S. that makes infant formula for babies with kidney problems - Similac 60/40.

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