For months, Ashley Jones has been struggling to find formula for her seven-month-old daughter, Ashai.
“It’s nerve-racking,” Jones said. “It’s like five to six stores back-to-back-to-back, nothing there at all.”
The baby formula shortage, exacerbated by supply chain issues and recent product recalls, has made it harder for Maryland parents to find what their children need.
“I drive from different county to county, different stores, I look at cities -- Columbia -- just to see if I can find it and I still can’t,” said Jones, a resident of Owings Mills.
During the first week of May, the average out-of-stock rate for baby formula at retailers nationwide was 43 percent, according to the firm Datasembly. Stores across Maryland are continuing to run low on formula, with the Biden administration saying it is working to ease the problem by bringing in formula from overseas and getting a shuttered U.S. factory back up and running.
“I get 20 bottles of the ready-to-feed,” Jones said. “You don’t want to take them all because another baby might need some, you want to leave some behind. But I really can’t because there’s no guarantee if I can find it again.”
A second shipment of specialized baby formula will arrive at Dulles Airport on Wednesday. This, after the first wave of 78,000 pounds touched down in Indianapolis from Germany over the weekend. The emergency supply will initially be offered by prescription only for children with the highest need.
Ana Rodney, the founder and executive director of MOMCares, a nonprofit doula program, said the first bulk of emergency formula is not expected to create immediate relief for local parents scrambling to find stocked shelves.
“This formula is not going straight to the shelves. This formula is going directly to the hands of families who are in highest need of it because of dietary restrictions or medical complications,” Rodney said.
MOMCares provides baby care essentials -- such as formula, wipes and diapers -- to black mothers in Baltimore. Rodney said the group is getting low on supplies.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to eek through to the finish line. We know that it will take a couple of weeks for formula to rebound and get back onto the store shelves in a way that our families are able to access it,” Rodney said.