INFANT FORMULA SHORTAGE
– Update: Thursday, June 9, 2022 –
English – INYO COUNTY, CA (June 9, 2022) – There continues to be a shortage of infant formula nationwide due to supply chain issues and a recall of infant formula due to bacterial contamination in the Abbott manufacturing plant in Michigan. After decontamination and inspection, the Abbott Sturgis facility reopened to manufacturing infant formula on June 4, 2022. The federal government is currently working on strategies to increase production of formula and help families access existing stock.
WIC has temporarily added more container sizes and types of powdered formula to help WIC families find formula for their infants at the store without updating California WIC Cards. Compared to other states California is faring better, but rural areas are continuing to have difficulty with accessing formula supplies.
The Inyo County Health & Human Services – Public Health and WIC programs continue to meet with the local healthcare providers to determine the needs and options for our community.
If you are having trouble securing formula for your infant, please call: your pediatrician, Inyo County Public Health (760-873-7868), or the Inyo County WIC Office (760-872-1885)
Babies need the right balance of nutrients – not too much or too little of anything – to grow and be healthy. It is important for your baby’s health to use products that meet federal standards to ensure the formula is safe and free of harmful bacteria.
During this challenging time, Inyo County is encouraging parents and families to:
- If you are currently breastfeeding, continue if possible. We recognize this option may not be viable for everyone. If someone is partially breastfeeding, they may consider reaching out to a lactation care provider (in-person or by telehealth) to help ensure that they maintain or increase their milk supply by breastfeeding more.
- Talk to your child’s doctor about substituting formula brands. For most babies, if their regular brand of formula is not currently available, it is OK to substitute with a similar version. Also consult your child’s pediatrician if your baby requires a specialized formula, before making any substitution. If you have questions about which formula is acceptable, contact your child’s pediatrician or your local WIC agency.
- AVOID: making your own formula at home, using expired formula, using cow/goat/plant-based milk for formula, or giving toddler formula to infants.Although recipes for homemade baby formulas on the internet may seem like an answer to the formula shortage, they can be dangerous for your baby’s health. Pediatricians advise that homemade formula may not be safe or meet your baby’s nutritional needs.
- Do not water down formula to make it last longer. When babies drink too much water, it’s hard on their tiny kidneys to process the extra water. It can also affect electrolytes which are essential minerals for the body. And if that happens, it’s not safe for a baby’s brain, muscles, and nervous system.
- Apply to the WIC program. To apply call 760-872-1885. About half of all births in California are in low-income families who qualify for the WIC program, and income-eligible clients can receive a WIC card and use it to purchase a limited amount of formula at participating retail stores. WIC offices are staffed by individuals with close ties to their communities. Existing WIC clients should use their benefits for formula earlier in the month in case they run into shortages near the end of their benefit period.
- Find out what resources exist in the community and share those resources widely. If you see infant formula in stock when you’re shopping, make it known within your network.
Health officials will continue to monitor the shortage and provide updates as new information is available.
Resources in Spanish – Espanol
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Wait, what? How do these posts always morph in to political battles?
All good suggestions and WIC is a great program. But they should add one more suggestion, if you have a baby in the near future, please breastfeed. To start a baby on formula now, knowing these supply issues, should be absolutely last resort.
Let’s go Brandon!
Putin is causing the formula shortage. Plus global warming. We need a task force to fix this. Ideally with Kamala in charge.
Vaguely, Do I detect sarcasm in your response?
Vaguely..
Yep…all President Biden’s fault…
The formula shortage,the gas prices,inflation,the Russia-Ukraine war…
The drought,and the fire danger coming this summer..
The Worldwide loss of respect for America..
The almost daily mass-shootings..
Immigration issues,crime running rampad in the big cities..
ALL President Biden’s fault.
His fault,why the Country is so divided now,just when trump was bringing us all together as one..with his calming and “honesty and caring of the American people “..
I recently read The Easter Bunny has pneumonia….BIDEN’S FAULT !!
It is not Bidens fault. It’s all the people making the decision for home – I.e. propping him up. Let the mean, adults, back in the room…..
Mono Person
Yea,but the voters…81 MILLION of them…don’t want one “mean adult” back in the room..
Especially when the “mean adult” is also a dangerous habitual liar…
I’m not a Trumper. But what dangerous thing did he do? Afghan mess?? N. Korea? Mid East peace proposal? Oh yeah Ukraine war? I personally like when I know a politician is lying to my face, instead of all these back door deals. If you don’t think we are in a gigantic mess right now, you are lying to yourself.
Mono Person
Not so much what he did that was dangerous,except for the Capital riot….more so,in his true fashion,just a lot of lies and talk…
Cozying up to Russia,Putin and North Korea
How about his talk of shooting BLM protesters in the legs with live bullets ?
And who can forget,talking of attacking sending live missiles into Mexico to curb the cartels sending drugs into America ?
Dangerous to the Wildlife and environment if he got his way,selling National Parks to the private sector,maybe turning them into theme-parks and water slides…complete with a super-Walmart..
Again,kinda dangerous to Grizzly Bears and their Cubs,when he over-turned President Obama’s orders when he made it illegal to shoot and kill hibranating Bears in their dens.
The list goes on…
THANK GOD he’ll never see the inside of the White House again….
He talked A LOT, but those are just words. Biden’s bunch have done A LOT of actions….and terrible woke actions…like I said, let the adults back in.
Like Joe Biden is lying about people being better off than they were under TRUMP or that his son Hunter is the smartest person he knows LOL Biden is a horrible president and I don’t care who’s fault it is. JUST FIX THE GD PROBLEMS.
Your Supervisor
The President of the United States is not a King,nor a babysitter,never meant to be.
When COVID hit in 2020,once things settled down and close to normal again,how do you think the big multi-billion dollar companies (oil companies,etc. ) were going to make up for their two year losses ?
Wait,I know….by raising their prices and making the people suffer the consequences from that….
To blame the President for that is ridiculous…The President ( not a ruler or a King ) can’t tell oil companies what they can and can’t do.
On a smaller scale,markets,quick-stops,car dealers and sales,just about every business,especially essential business’,same thing…
President Biden can’t walk into the local Mobil and order them to lower the price of gasoline and a bowl nachos with cheese and a cola.
He can’t tell Ford,Chevrolet and Toyota to lower their price for a new vehicle.
He can’t go on a Nationwide tour and visit internet and cable companies telling them to lower their subscription prices or else.
This is the “new America” now.where money TOTALLY rules…
Big money runs the show,and those stupid enough to believe the President can somehow control that have rocks in their heads.
Or…they can continue to watch fox news and listen to trump and play the blame game…
Think about this…if trump were still the POTUS,can you imagine the lies,double-talk and threats (and lies ) he’d be making,but all the while raking in the cash from his “donors”from his billionaire buddies (which actually can’t stand him either ) and still,somehow finding a way to blame the Democrats for all that ales this U.S. of A…
“This is the “new America”. Where money TOTALLY rules”. SMH at you. Where have you been at David? I learned about C.R.E.A.M. and Big Money in the 90s. You are a little late to the party.
I can go on for days and tell you about the combination of Bidens (and others) blunders that have led to the crappy situation this country is in right now, but you won’t listen. There is no reasoning with people these days. People only see RED and BLUE. Nobody wants to admit they made a mistake and take responsibility for their actions. Doesn’t matter which side you’re on, people will resist with everything they got before they admit they were wrong.
Nobody wants to hear excuses or whose fault it is… just fix the GD problems!
Your Supervisor
I actually agree with lot you’re saying there….
Big money has always been there,but not to the extent and degree it is now.
For some (many ),it’s ALL that matters,at the expense of the environment,wildlife,wilderness,etc.
Personally,I don’t want a Walmart super-store and/or a theme park in our National Parks,or in our local areas and County,like,believe it or not,some would like to see.
“Can you imagine the income into the area if that were to happen” ?..,so says some.
Don’t believe it ? …look into it a little bit using “Google search ”
You say “Nobody wants to admit they made a mistake and take responsibility for their actions “.
Hard to disagree with that…unless the statement is politically-based on the 2020 election.
With all the price-gouging going on now by the big companies and not so big companies,making up for their losses during COVID 2020-2021,can you only imagine if that 2020 election had gone the other way,and someone sat in the White House in bed with those multi-billion dollar “my buddies” companies taking their side,which,IMO would’ve made it even worse.
But with everything else,I totally agree..very few nowdays take responsibilities for their own actions.
Your last sentence there,about excuses and “fixing the GD problems’…
Another problem with the “new America” now…
Fix many of them GD problems yourself,not expecting or relying on others to do it for you,especially if it’s a liar in office claiming he and they can do it,if you send them money and vote for them in the next election….and believing them.
Good example of that,the Antelope Valley down below,what was seen as an “easy mark” for criminals to relocate to in the 90’s,now totally out of control because the residents there wanted and waited for others to shoo the criminals away…..
Should’ve done something to shoo them away themselves back then…
The economy now,except for the price gouging going on,easy fix for some of that,the working people are getting by and hopefully through the tough times..
If you’re not in the working class,here in the OV or anywhere else,if your not working,you’re either disabled, totally retired,have a mental issue or you’re just plain lazy and don’t want to work..
Plenty of jobs out there making a livable-wage,even if it’s flipping burgers,if need be,making $16.00 an hour….not getting rich by any means,but food on the table and gasoline in the SUV,as long as the price gouging oil companies don’t keep increasing the prices,which the President has no control over…
End of the Tuesday morning novel here…we agree to disagree on some things,but not all….
Mr. Dennison- some of us didnt beleive the “Build Back Better” mantra that was the basis for voting for Biden. Some of us knew that the progressive, liberal left wing democrats were going to be a trainwreck. Its turned out even worse than we thought it would be! We knew that Trump was challenging, to say the least. We all saw a president that wasnt afraid of bullying to get his way, that tried to maintain America’s prominence.
Despite what you say, Presidents DO have the power to influence and demand. DO you honestly think that we would have the oil and gasoline challenges If Trump was president? That the border and immagration issues would be at crisis levels?
All in all, we would probably be better off, -had the better of the two crappy options we had to choose from for president- been the incumbent.
Democrats, liberals, and the media that led the way, got their way, and now own this situation we are in…
You said it a lot better than me. Thank you.
Stic Zadinya
Speaking for myself,and most,if not all others,whoever sits in the White House or Congress actually has little to no bearing or effect on our own personal lives,unless one chooses to believe the lies they hear.
With that one-term soundly defeated ex-president “other guy”,what bothered me and what seems 81 million other voters was all the lies,the grifting,the “better than you ” attitude he had and so cherished…thinking his money ruled all,caring about nothing and no one,unless they were sending him money.
And then lying to them too,what he was spending it on and planning to spend it on.
How the other Countries and leaders were laughing at him and America,making us all look like fools for those that elected him in the first place.
And his relentless attack on the environment,wilderness areas and wildlife,only meant to kiss up to the NRA and undo anything and everything President Obama put in place to protect Endangered Species and the wilderness Acts and land that wasn’t already ruined by big business’ and the his preaching of the “private sector”…..all about the money.
Personally,in my own past,I’m not proud of a lot of things I did in my earlier life,and some of the people I knew and hung around with,some REALLY bad people.
But even back then,I couldn’t stand a liar …
Now,even more so.
This post of yours, is why nobody should reply or talk to you. You will NEVER be reasoned with.
Please look into the actual causes of this shortage. This is what happens when a country intentionally economically isolates itself. This has been a problem for some time, and the previous administration’s USMCA made it even worse. Sharing blame is the much longer-standing federally-subsidized monopoly that Abbott Nutrition holds on formula production. Like many large corporations, it’s basically been allowed to write its own laws to keep its market dominance.
Dear Sami,
UH! If Abbott was writing its own laws, they wouldn’t be closed. Also, obviously no other companies saw fit to produce baby formula in the USA, not profitable. You must get your info off the back of a box of Sugar Pops.
There must be away to produce formula at home, OH, WAIT, its called breasts, that is why we have them! To the girls that can’t nurse, I am sympathetic, to those that don’t want to, your problem. Oh wait, it is the poor innocent baby’s problem for having dolts as parents. Let’s hope their doltishness is not hereditary.
But there must be a recipe for formula…
Also, what happened to wet nurses? Most nursing mom’s can probably produce some extra.