Infant Formula Concerns And Who Can Help Locally
Less than normal stock of baby formula await caregivers in Iowa.
May 31st, 2020
Oskaloosa, Iowa – “Not being able to feed their baby drives moms and dads to take desperate measures, such as stockpiling formula if they can find it or turning to unsafe homemade formulas,” said Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley in a recent question and answer session.
“Back in February, the largest manufacturer of infant formula in the U.S. announced it was voluntarily recalling three types of baby formula due to consumer complaints about bacterial contaminants. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible to ensure the quality and safety of products on the shelf. It opened an investigation of a plant located in Michigan related to the recalled products following complaints that four infants who consumed formula made there were hospitalized. Two of the infants died. The manufacturer closed the plant during the investigation, but on May 11, the company announced it had found “no evidence to link our formulas to the infant illnesses.” However, once the plant gets the green light to re-open, it would take nearly two months for its baby formula to show up on store shelves,” Grassley said about how the United States ended up with a baby formula shortage.
“We continue to work around the clock with our government partners and industry to ensure there’s adequate infant formula available wherever and whenever parents and caregivers need it,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D., about importing formula from Australia. “We will not rest until our shelves are replete with safe and nutritious infant formula.”
Dr. Trish Millner, Family Health and OB Physician at Mahaska Health in Oskaloosa, says the hospital can be there to help if your child needs formula.
“Here at Mahaska Health, we have had several patients that have babies under the age of 12 months come in saying they couldn’t access their particular kind of formula. In those worst-case scenarios, we have been using formula from our labor delivery department to help them bridge the gap until the time that they can find formula to feed their baby.”
“We are a resource here for the community where if they don’t have access to formula, or their particular formula is nowhere available within the ten surrounding counties, we can offer them Similac that we offer the general population after they have their baby,” Millner added.
“We don’t want babies to have diluted formula, because those can have serious health implications,” Millner stressed. “More specifically, when you dilute out the formula, then the baby doesn’t get the sodium and the potassium, and their electrolytes can become off balance.”
Leave it to Iowans to adapt and find solutions, as a couple of websites have launched to aid parents in finding the formula they need for feeding their infant children.
https://www.brady-software.com/formula-finder is one of those resources, as well as a formula exchange https://www.babyformulaexchange.com/ as another aid to caregivers.
