Taylor Miller can’t afford to waste a drop of baby formula. With empty shelves across the country and some limiting retailers infant formula shopping to avoid hoarding, the Texas mother has to ration the formula.
“I never thought it would ever be a rationing formula,” Miller told CBS News.
Miller now feeds his 4-month-old daughter, Magnolia, two ounces every two hours, instead of four ounces every four hours, hoping to avoid the debris he might have to throw away because it is damaged.
“We’re literally wasting an entire gas tank in a day trying to find formula and maybe we’ll just find a can,” Miller said.
Miller has not found a formula for weeks and is reduced to a two-week supply.
According to Datasembly, out-of-stock rates of infant formula across the country continue to rise. In November, the rate of depletion was 11%, jumping to 31% in early April. It has since risen to 40%.
A February withdrawal from manufacturer Abbott Laboratories contributed to the shortage, but experts say supply chain problems and inflation were major factors. before then.
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it is working to increase imports and facilitate the review process to add more supply.
Increasingly desperate, Miller and his sister, who also has a baby, have turned to others for help.
“There’s family in Louisiana. I had some friends in Georgia and Tennessee. We have family in Delaware. I mean, literally from coast to coast, and no one has found anything,” Miller said.
The decline in supply also worries doctors.
“Our biggest fear is that parents will dilute the formula and that’s a big no-no,” Dr. Dyan Hes, medical director of Gramercy Pediatrics, told CBS News. “The diluted formula gives too few calories. When you dilute it, you’re giving your baby less energy, fewer calories.”
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