18 | JUNE 2 • 2022 

E

lyssa Schmier of Huntington Woods 
likes to be prepared. Ever since her 
son was born last August, she liked 
to have a small stock of formula on hand, 
at least six or seven cans. 
Her husband, Stephen, used to tease her, 
saying, “Do we really need so much?”
Back then, Elyssa laughed it off. 
“
Anything could happen … I know it’s an 
irrational fear.
”
But no one’s laughing now, and that 
irrational fear has become a reality. 
In February, four babies became sick 
with bacterial infections after consuming 
formula that was made at a Michigan plant. 
Some reports say two babies died due to 
the contaminated formula. This led to an 
immediate recall on Similac PM 60/40, 
Similac, Alimentum and EleCare powdered 
formulas.
Schmier headed to the store to return 
her entire stack of recalled formula and 
get a refund. When she looked for more 
formula to purchase, they were all out. She 
went to a second store, but they didn’t have 
any either. 
She’
d had similar experiences since the 
beginning of the pandemic, but as she 
stared in horror at the empty shelves in the 
third store, Schmier began to panic.
“I thought, ‘something’s going on and 
no one even knows about it’
,
” she said. “I 
wondered was it just Michigan? I went on 
Twitter and asked if anyone else was having 
trouble finding formula and moms from all 
over the country began chiming in.
”
Schmier, vice president of Moms 
Rising, an advocacy group for mothers 
and children, reached out to her colleague 
National WIC Associations Senior Director 
Brian Dittmeie, who was also extremely 
concerned. He told Schmier the entire 
country was experiencing a formula 
shortage, but the topic had received no 
coverage yet. 
“I completely freaked out,
” Schmier said. 
She posted her struggles to find formula 
on all social media platforms. On April 12, 
Schmier and Dittmeie did a Q&A about 

the formula shortage on Instagram Stories 
… which was viewed by a USA Today
reporter. The reporter wrote an article 
on the topic, and the issue started being 
discussed widely. 
Suddenly, parents were rushing to the 
stores and buying all the formula they 
could lay their hands on. The panic-buying 
and hoarding of baby formula had echoes 
of the toilet paper shortage during the 
pandemic, only much worse and with 
much more serious repercussions. 
Suddenly, like a precarious game of 
dominoes, everything came crashing 
down. The three other American 
manufacturers of baby formula couldn’t 
provide the supply to match the demand, 
and there was no formula to be found on 
store shelves anywhere. 

According to Datasembly, in April 2022, 
30% of popular baby formula brands were 
sold out at retailers across the United States 
and that number had climbed to 40% by 
the end of the month. Currently, the rate is 
43% and as high as 48% in some states. 
“The whole thing blew up overnight,
” 
Schmier said. 
So far, Schmier’s personal situation is 
not too concerning. “We’re in OK shape. 
We have family and friends looking out for 
us, people have shipped us formula from 
other cities,
” Schmier said. “It’s exhausting 
emotionally and physically to have to keep 
going out and searching, having to worry 
like this.
” 
Schmier is very concerned for parents 
who are suffering because of this shortage. 
“Parents just want to safely feed their 

The Nightmare Hunt 
for Baby Formula

OUR COMMUNITY

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ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Elyssa 
Schmier
and her son

