Infant formula shortage real

Although infant formula supply is real it is expected to increase, according to experts with the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Locally, the shortage is real, as well, according to Fred Carlisle, with Cash Saver in Holly Springs.

The infant formula is typically given to babies a year and younger.

“It’s gotten serious in the last six months,” Carlisle said.

Typically stores are supplied from all over the world, he said.

It can’t get delivered,” Carlisle said.

Frances Thomas, grocery manager at Cash Saver, pointed to nearly empty shelves. Under normal circumstances the shelves would be stacked with Enfomil and Similac, premixed formulas that many babies consume during their first year.

“The products are milk based,” she said.

But there are none available except in cases where a child needs hypoallergenic infant formula or lactose free infant formula.

“We are not getting the powder formula either,” Thomas said.

There have been no shipments of infant formula in several months, she said.

Baby food, however is plentiful on the shelves.

Dr. Mobolaji Famuyide, chief of the division of newborn medicine at UMMC, provided background on the situation.

Parents have had to change where they shop or change brands of infant formula in order to get through the shortages, she said.

“Those preexisting deficiencies have become amplified as a result of this shortage,” she said.

But some measures have been taken to jack up the supply including the Defense Production Act invoked to boost domestic infant formula production and Operation Fly Formula which flew in tons of formula from other countries.

In a recent artile release by UMMC, the following additional information is provided.

In Mississippi the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has relaxed rules on what brands can be purchased with WIC benefits, according to the article.

The shortage began earlier this year when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned families about a formula recall of Abbott Nutrition formula manufactured in Sturgis, Michigan. That recall included Similac, Alimentum and EleCare.

The recall was triggered by an investigation for the presence of Cronobacter sakazakii in the infant formula. The presence of that bacterium can be serious or fatal to infants, especially newborns.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended parents buy only a 10day to two-week supply of infant formula to stop hoarding.

AAP warned parents not to water the infant formula down for babies as it could compromise the infant’s health. Babies younger than a year should not consume cow’s milk, toddler formulas or milk substitutes such as almond milk or oat milk. Homemade formulas recipes are also dangerous.

Additional information below is taken from the Internet.

Chronobacter is a bacterium found naturally in the environment. Getting sick from Chronobacter does not happen often but infections in infants can be deadly, in infants under one year old and can be linked to powdered infant formula. The germs can live in powdered infant formula, powdered milk, herbal teas and starches, according to the Centers for Disease Control reports on the Internet. Infection in infants usually occur in the first days or weeks of life and produce meningitis like symptoms. Cronobacter infection can be serious in people 65 years and over and those with weakened immune systems.