20 | JUNE 2 • 2022 

“
At first, Chava didn’t like the Kate 
Farms, but I was insistent — there was no 
choice — and, thankfully, after a few days 
with a hungry belly, she started to drink it,
” 
Goldner said. 
Another concern is the financial aspect. 
Unfortunately, WIC has not been covering 
the Kate Farms for the Goldners (although 
they did pay for Chava’s previous formula) 
and their insurance company denied 
formula coverage. 
Goldner is in a few support groups for 
parents of kids with medical conditions 
and she related how many parents have 
struggled with this nightmare for months 
now. 
“There are even babies who have had to 
be hospitalized because there was just no 
nutrition available that they could tolerate,
” 
Goldner said. “It’s unbelievable. This whole 
situation is so overwhelming. When a child 
has medical challenges and has a difficult 
time with growth and eating, the last thing 
the parents need is having little to nothing 
to feed their kid. We worry 24/7 already, 
we’re already dealing with appointments, 
tests, diagnoses … and now there’s the fight 
to find formula on top of everything, the 
fight to find people to help and finding the 
financial means to make it all happen.
”
Despite the major struggles, Goldner 
said she knows she is fortunate that 
at Chava’s age, the formula is only 
supplemental, that she tolerated the switch 
well and that Kate Farms is more available 
than other brands. 

NEW MOMS ARE FEARFUL
It’s also heartbreaking to think of new 
moms who are struggling to find formula 
to feed their newborns. Rachel Moss of 
West Bloomfield first heard of the formula 
shortage a few months ago when she was 
expecting her second baby and instantly 
started worrying. 
“This is so nerve-wracking, an additional 
stress for new parents about how to feed 
their children,
” Moss said. 
Every time she went shopping while she 
was pregnant, she checked the store shelves 
and bought some cans of formula just in 
case. 
“
A few weeks ago, there was still some 

formula on store shelves,
” said Moss, who 
gave birth to her son Tyler on May 16. 
“Now there’s nothing. I have a supply for a 
couple of weeks, and my pediatrician has 
been as helpful as he can, but I don’t know 
what’s going to happen when this formula 
is finished. It’s so stressful.
”
Moss said the Jewish organizations have 
been helpful, and she heard that some are 
about to roll out initiatives to help formula-
strapped moms. 
Goldner pinpointed JFS, Detroit Chesed 
Project and Yad Ezra as having been 
particularly sympathetic and helpful. 
Schmier said that another source of 
support has been the 3.5K member-strong 
Free Exchange for Jewish Women of 
Metro Detroit Facebook page, which has 
essentially become a formula exchange 
with people posting where they saw 
formula and if they have any to donate. 
Schmier said she’s found some through that 
page and is always running around Metro 
Detroit, picking up formula donations 
from random places. 
“It’s literally a wild goose chase,
” Schmier 
said. “When someone posts that they saw 
formula on the shelves at CVS, Walgreens, 
Costco, wherever, I jump in my car and 
run there. I’m fortunate that I work from 
home and have that flexibility.
”
Some moms have also generously offered 
their breast milk, but that can be somewhat 

of a sore point with some formula-feeding 
moms.
Goldner said, “I nursed Chava for her 
first six months, but she wound up in 
the hospital. She kept vomiting and was 
then diagnosed with failure to thrive, so 
we made the hard decision at that time to 
switch her to formula.
” 
For Goldner, breast milk is not the 
answer and she said she feels “mom 
shamed” when other moms say things like 
“if you would just breastfeed, you wouldn’t 
have this issue.
” 
Despite the challenges and the heartache, 
Goldner said she still feels tremendous 
gratitude. 
“It’s the goodness of people that have 
helped me … The moms in my support 
groups who have given us free formula 
… The moms who drove to Cincinnati 
and back to buy formula and took no 
reimbursement for gas! Daniella HarPaz 
at Yad Ezra, Channie Goldstein at Detroit 
Chesed Project, the nutritionist at WIC 
who went over recipes and ideas of how
to help get us through this … our 
pediatrician who makes weekly calls to 
check on us,
” Goldner said. 
“I’m religious, and I took my needs to 
a Higher Power, but it’s clear to me that 
my answers came from the goodness and 
caring of others. I’m so grateful to God and 
to these kind people.
” 

continued from page 19

OUR COMMUNITY
Shayna 
Goldner with 
her daughter 
Chava