BUSINESS
Baby formula shortage felt in Connecticut as some offer help
Alex Soule
May 21, 2022
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FILE - Infant formula is stacked on a table during a baby formula drive to help with the shortage May 14, 2022, in Houston. President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and has authorized flights to import supply from overseas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
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FILE - Infant formula is stacked on a table during a baby formula drive to help with the shortage May 14, 2022, in Houston. President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and has authorized flights to import supply from overseas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
David J. Phillip / Associated Press
Lactation consultant Danielle Freeman has experience helping women begin breastfeeding their babies following lengthy intervals after birth — but for parents wondering if that’s an option to get their infants through the next few weeks as formula runs low, she is quick to add that it is no quick fix with the process typically taking a few months or more.
After a February recall by Abbott of Similac formula produced in Sturgis, Mich., pinching overall inventories as customers buy up alternative products, Connecticut is now in the grips of an acute shortage of formula. Abbott is one of four manufacturers that supply 90 percent of the U.S. market, along with Nestle USA, Mead Johnson and Perrigo.
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The Food & Drug Administration announced this week it cleared Abbott to ramp Sturgis production back up, with the company warning it will take months to get Similac inventories back to normal levels. Separately on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, introduced legislation in Congress to authorize $28 million for the FDA to dispatch inspectors overseas to vet new suppliers who have formula available for export to the United States.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health stated last week it has been working with alternative distributors and manufacturers for emergency backup supplies, without stating what success it has had to date. DPH posted a list of approved alternatives to Abbott’s Similac product, advising parents to check with their local health clinic for assistance in finding retailers who may have product in stock, or asking their pediatricians for any extra supplies. The department has a list of additional tips on its website at portal.ct.gov/dph/WIC.
For parents who find stocks of formula in stores or online, the American Academy of Pediatricians advises people to purchase no more than a two-week supply, stating if everyone adheres to that rule of thumb there should be sufficient supplies for the infant population until production and imports fill the gap.
As families scour stores, websites and social media for any inventory — some ar getting assistance from complete strangers with a soft spot for their predicament — many mothers who have been breastfeeding or pumping irregularly otherwise have been working to make it their routine, according to Monica Belyea, board chair of the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition.
“If they were breastfeeding and supplementing with formula, they are now trying to exclusively breastfeed,” Belyea said. “Beyond the first, short time after the baby is born, it’s really hard to go back.”
Over six months between October 2021 and this past March, the Connecticut Department of Public Health recorded 16,662 births in the state. Add in babies born the previous six months dating back to April 2021, and 35,419 babies were born in Connecticut over 12 months through March.
Just 7 percent of mothers in Connecticut have never fed their children breast milk, according to the most recent DPH survey posted online for the Connecticut Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. That is far lower than the 16 percent national rate as reported by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
For mothers who have never breastfed or switched exclusively to formula otherwise, it can take several weeks or longer for the body to gear back up to produce milk even with the assistance of medication, according to Freeman, the lactation consultant who is based in Hamden.
“She’ll want to work with a lactation consultant to establish that routine,” Freeman said. “If it’s a longer period of time from the time when she had the baby or stopped, it may be a little bit more work for her, but it’s possible.”
Freeman said mothers stop breastfeeding for any number of reasons, to include work demands and attitudes; nobody to turn to when hitting a specific challenge; or general lack of support in the home or larger circles. For those that never start, any of those hurdles can be a cause, as well as fears of discomfort or pain in the early stretch of feeding.
Even mothers who have breastfeeding all along have worries about the supply disruptions in case they need it as a fallback option, according to Sarah Upton, a Middletown resident who is the Middlesex County coordinator for It Takes A Village.
Upton is among those who have donated to Milk Bank Northeast, a Newton, Mass. nonprofit that has local collection depots in Danbury, Farmington, Glastonbury, Guilford and New London, as well as two dozen more from Maryland to Maine. Information is online at milkbankne.org, with options including drop-off sites or home pickups.
“They do a quick phone questionnaire and then they send you an insulated box and you schedule a pickup,” Upton stated via email. “Super easy on the donor.”
Ken Dixon contributed to this report. Includes prior reporting by Peter Yankowski.
Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
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