Moms are hopeful formula shipment will bring relief to nationwide shortage

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - The first new shipments of baby formula are now in Indiana and those special bottles will soon be on their way to babies who need them the most. The first will go to hospitals, home health care agencies and pharmacies.

The possible relief arrived in Indianapolis Sunday afternoon in an aircraft filled with pallets of infant formula.

“I have five kids,” Stephanie Stoy-Hall said. “So I have to take at least three of them with me while the other two are at school.”

Stoy-hall is one of many mothers nationwide who’ve struggled to find formula. In fact, during one trip she’s wasn’t able to get formula until walking into her fourth store.

“Everyday I have to go out to find formula just because there a limit of how much you can get,” Stoy-Hall said. “It’s not everyday you can find what you’re needing.”

This nationwide shortage has forced moms to take drastic steps. Some have decided to change the brand they feed their children while others have resorted to making their own. However, doctors and the Food and Drug Administration have warned against that since it could be unhealthy for the babies because they don’t get the proper nutrients.

“I have a little girl,” Hayley Bowser said. “She’s six months old. I was lucky enough to be able to breastfeed. However, she has a dairy and soy allergy.”

Bowser says she’s been busy trying to make sure her daughter gets fed and she’s been worried about her daughter staying healthy.

“I was running all over. I went to Angola the other day, Bowser said. “I’ve been in contact with our pediatrician.”

As shipments of formula make their way into and across the country, Bowser and Stoy-Hall hope mothers are able to band together to get through a shortage that’s impacting our youngest neighbors.

We’re working to learn more about how much of it might make its way to northeast Indiana.

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