Health / Wellness

No Simple Formula: How One Lawyer Mom Is Weathering The Baby Formula Shortage

We are resilient. If we need to feed our children, we’ll do whatever we can to feed them.

By FRANCESCA WITZBURG
on

Cute little baby boy, relaxing in bed after bath, smiling happilyEd. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Francesca Witzburg to our pages. Click here if you’d like to donate to MothersEsquire.

As lawyer moms, we have multiple jobs with an important one at the top: making sure our children are fed. That priority has now become a scary challenge for moms with infants that rely on formula due to the formula shortage in the United States.

Women all over the world rely on formula to feed their babies. Even moms that primarily breastfeed may use formula for various reasons, including supplementing due to low supply or filling their babies’ bellies at nighttime. Not all formula is the same. There are endless types of formulas with numerous brands that have their own ingredients that could affect a baby differently.

Formula, for many parents, is not just an alternative — it is the only option. So, of course, it’s terrifying for parents to hear in the news of a formula shortage and then to have those fears confirmed when they go to buy formula only to see empty shelves.

When I first heard the news about the formula shortage, I sighed out of frustration. I knew immediately that once the news spread, a total panic over not having enough formula would also spread. That panic would cause people to run out and stock up on formula in excess — and even worse, cause people to hoard supplies for resale with high prices.

I’m a mom of two young boys, a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old. My 4-month-old only drinks formula, so there is no alternative. I wasn’t too concerned when I first heard the news because I had recently ordered a large case of the special formula my son drinks and was confident that it would come in on time, like it did every time before that.

When then the news got worse, I checked Amazon, and noticed that they had pushed back the delivery date of my order by a few days. I never had a delay on my orders of formula, so I was still hopeful we’d get it.

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In the middle of the night this week, I realized we would run out of formula before the new shipment arrived. At 3 a.m., I checked Amazon and caught the big red notice telling me that the order had been canceled. Barely awake, I rushed to the computer looking elsewhere for the special formula my son drinks — but everything was out of stock. The only formula I could find was a soy-based version. My son had issues with a few of the formulas we first tried until we found the special one. So to now give him something new and different from what he’s become accustomed is stressful. Some mothers I know have infants with allergies and have not been able to get the special formula their child needs.  These past few weeks have been an unprecedented nightmare for parents with infants.

The shortage reminds me of when the pandemic first started, and no one could get masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes. I was seven months pregnant at that time with my first and it was terrifying to think of giving birth in the pandemic. But I did it — twice. Similarly, we will get through this. Moms are resilient. If we need to feed our children, we’ll do whatever we can to feed them.

Francesca Witzburg is an award-winning intellectual property attorney specializing in trademarks, copyrights and contracts.  Francesca helps brands, businesses, talent, and creatives protect and monetize their intellectual property in real life and in the Metaverse.

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