Nearly half of fogeys who relied on formula to feed their babies through the infant formula shortage last 12 months resorted to potentially harmful feeding methods, in line with a survey from researchers on the University of California, Davis. The study was published within the journal BMC Pediatrics.

In an internet anonymous survey of U.S. parents, the number of people that used not less than one unsafe feeding practice increased from 8% before the formula shortage to just about 50% through the shortage. Unsafe practices included watering down formula, using expired or homemade formula, or using human milk from informal sharing.

The share of fogeys who shared human milk increased from 5% to 26%, and the proportion using watered-down formula increased from 2% to 29% through the shortage.

“These are alarming statistics. The infant formula shortage increased food insecurity and threatened the nutrition of tens of millions of American infants,” said lead creator Jennifer Smilowitz, a school affiliate with the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology. “Our survey found that folks weren’t offered many secure alternatives and resorted to unsafe methods in an try to feed their infants.”

The study also sought to grasp what parents experienced through the crisis to seek out ways to stop future infant feeding crises in the long run.

Too few formula manufacturers, milk banks

In 2022, the U.S. had a severe shortage of infant formula resulting from a recall by Abbott Nutrition and the voluntary shutdown of its Michigan manufacturing plant. Abbott is the most important formula maker within the U.S. and provides over 40% of the country’s infant formula. This shortage was made worse by trade policies that made it harder to import formula. By the tip of May 2022, some states had an out-of-stock rate as high as 90%.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, serves greater than 40% of U.S. infants and accounts for greater than half of infant formula consumption. Abbott Nutrition had dominated a lot of the WIC contracts within the U.S.

“Ninety percent of the infant formula sold within the U.S. is sold by 4 corporations,” Smilowitz said. “This has resulted in systemic failures that inequitably impact low-income communities.”

The survey found that folks also used pasteurized human donor milk from milk banks, another and secure method. Smilowitz said that alternative is restricted by the small variety of milk banks within the U.S. and by the expense. Donor milk costs from $3 to $5 per ounce. In the course of the shortage, parents who turned to exploit banks increased from 2% to 26%.

Limited options for lower-income parents

Smilowitz said the study points to the necessity for policy changes inside the regulatory and healthcare systems to supply families with clinical prenatal and postnatal lactation support, access to banked donor milk and access to more commercially available products.

Moreover, workplace policies need to alter to support the needs of breastfeeding women. Inadequate family leave may end up in earlier formula feeding. Some workplace policies don’t support the privacy and time needed for pumping. These policies disproportionately affect low-income parents.

“We should always not forget what happened during this formula shortage,” Smilowitz said. “One other crisis is looming if healthcare, workplace and regulatory policies within the U.S. don’t systemically change.”

Smilowitz said she hopes the infant formula shortage is not going to have health consequences for infants.

“We now have this generation of kids affected by the formula shortage and we cannot know for possibly a decade if there was an impact on brain development,” Smilowitz said. “We are able to only hope that the shortage resulted in just acute effects and that infants shall be robust enough to beat any potential long-term problems.”

Karina Cernioglo, a fourth-year medical student at UC Davis, co-authored the study. The funding for the study was supported by the 2020 UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovation Award.

Source:

University of California – Davis

Journal reference:

Cernioglo, K & Smilowitz, J.T., (2023) Infant feeding practices and parental perceptions through the 2022 United States infant formula shortage crisis. BMC Pediatrics. doi.org/10.1186/s12887-023-04132-9.