A 1,200-mile road-trip and no baby formula to be found. This is a nightmare

theguardian.com:

I heard warnings about the formula shortage shortly after the mask mandate lifted in my town in North Carolina. My family was thrilled that life appeared to be going back to a semblance of normalcy, that my eight-month-old daughter could finally see people’s faces in public, that I could comfort her at the grocery store with a smile. Our hope was short-lived.

The original formula recall announced by the FDA in February did not include the brand we used for our daughter, which made me assume that we would not be affected. As a first-time mom already concerned about keeping her baby safe during the pandemic, I didn’t need another thing to worry about. I thought that the government would step in before families had to go out of their way to find food. We noticed the large empty spaces on shelves at every store but remained optimistic that help would arrive soon. Yet the shelves only grew emptier.

Stores began limiting how much formula each customer could buy. I started receiving frantic texts from friends saying that they had to drive out of town just to find a box of formula. By March, part of my routine became waking up early to check websites and drive to stores, most of which were empty by the time that I arrived. Mom groups online were filled with women asking about homemade recipes and pondering if they could begin breastfeeding. Homemade formula recipes – containing raw cow’s milk, Karo corn syrup, even tea – began to circle the internet. Our pediatrician warned me against these alternatives but nothing was said to address the desperation leading parents to take these measures.

As my anxiety over meeting my daughter’s basic needs grew, I felt guilty about choosing formula to begin with; I never tried to breastfeed