"It's terrifying": North Texas families struggle to find baby formula amid shortage
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Baby formula is becoming harder to find in North Texas and across the country, and the shortage is only expected to get worse.
Families are driving to multiple stores and pharmacies a day to try to get the baby formula they need, only to be met with empty shelves. Retailers like Target, CVS and Walgreens are starting to limit the amount of formula people can buy at one time.
Getting those precious cans has become a full-time job for many desperate parents.
"It just shouldn't be this hard," said Sydney Moseley, a Wise County mom with nine-month-old twin boys. "It's terrifying. It's terrifying."
Moseley's sons were born premature, and she thought getting them through multiple health scares and home from the NICU would be their family's biggest challenge – until the formula shortage hit.
"It has taken a toll on me, on my husband, my pocket book," she said. "Not to mention all our hours searching, and we absolutely hate to be desperate for anything."
Formula has been hard to find for months because of supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The shortage got worse after a recall from a major manufacturer. According to the latest figures, 40 percent of the most popular formula brands were out of stock the last week of April.
Texas is one of a handful of states being hit the hardest by this shortage.
One of Moseley's boys can only eat specific formula brands because of severe allergies. She's one of many parents turning to social media to barter or buy from other families.
"He got a shipment of that from a mother in Ozona, Texas I bought, and then I bought another shipment from another mom in Ohio and had that shipped in," Moseley said. "So last week alone we spent over $1,000 on putting that pile of gold together so that they can eat. I was on the phone, I was in tears."
She's been able to build up a formula stash that should get her twins through the next month or so.
"With no end in sight, it's scary," said Moseley.
Other families are hoping to get donor breast milk to feed their babies amid the ongoing formula shortage. The Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas has been fielding a big increase in calls from panicked parents, but the organization has to prioritize medically-fragile babies.
They could help more if their supply increased.
"Now more than ever, we need people to step up and donate their extra breast milk to meet the rising demand for babies who need donor milk in the community," said Lindsay Groff, the executive director of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
Manufacturers say they're producing as much formula as they can and the FDA is working on the issue too, but it's not clear when the supply could improve.
