Mainers band together amid baby formula shortage

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - A baby formula shortage across the country has parents scrambling to feed their children.

Steps are being taken that should see the shelves replenished in the weeks ahead.

TV5 has more on what’s happening in the meantime.

After running through their back up inventory, stores are struggling to meet demand.

“It’s what’s causing a lot of the frustration, I think, for customers is they’re trying to find something for their family that they need, and it’s causing more headaches,” explained Danforth’s Store Manage Brett Danforth. “They have to go from, you know, one store to another store to another store to try to find a product.”

While in Hermon, Bucksport’s Shari Warren was doing just that for a friend.

“I took a screenshot of what they needed and I checked out a store while I was here,” she said. “I feel bad for them. It’s gotta be scary.”

“He had about 24 hours worth of formula and I went to his store, couldn’t find it,” said Elizabeth Huitt. “Our usual store couldn’t, wasn’t there, went to the next store, still wasn’t there. The next store, still wasn’t there. And then I started to get really nervous because I thought well, I’m not gonna be able to feed my own son.”

Knowing she wasn’t alone, Old Town’s Huitt recently formed the Facebook group, Maine Baby Formula Shortage Help.

“I was like, so why don’t I just open up a group see if like, you know, I know people have sample cans or cans that didn’t work for their child’s they bought extra. Everyone started coming in and I was excited because people were connecting with other people. And meeting up with other people shipping out.”

Northern Light Health’s Dr. Cassandra Muldoon says the shortage has some making wrong decisions.

“Homemade formula is not an answer to the formula shortage because it does not account for nutritional requirements, " she explained.

Others have have started sharing breast milk, or getting it from strangers online.

”Don’t recommend this, there are great breast milk banks across Maine as well as across the country that do an excellent job of screening donors and also making sure that it’s properly stored,” said Muldoon.

She adds that you shouldn’t dilute formula to make it last longer. If you have you have a brand you use - there are ways to find it’s equivalent.

”There are great resources online the American Association of Pediatrics has a really great resource that shows the the differing manufacturers and their equal subtype counterpart in the other manufacturer.”

“It takes a village. I mean, I’m really glad to see that people have come together and that people feel like it’s a safe space and are able to hopefully find what they’re looking for and not feel alone in such a scary scary time.”

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