Families Facing Formula Shortage Turn to Local Milk Bank

Mothers' Milk Bank saw a 700% increase in prospective milk donors in the last week (Provided by Kim Updegrove)

A baby formula shortage that began with a product recall has snowballed into a national crisis, with the Biden administration flying in tens of thousands of pounds of formula from abroad starting last Sunday.

As of early May, 43% of U.S. baby formula was out of stock, according to the data firm Datasembly. Though Dell Children's Medic­al Center had not admitted any babies for malnutrition due to the shortage as of Tues­day, H-E-B is limiting the amount of baby formula per customer, and parents have been reaching out to Mothers' Milk Bank in Aus­tin for help in previously unheard-of numbers.

"Right now families are in crisis," Kim Updegrove, executive director of the milk bank, told the Chronicle. "These infants must be fed. There's no tolerance for a brief starvation period for infants. We know for their brains, there is no catch-up development later if we don't feed kids now."

The milk bank has to prioritize feeding babies who are medically fragile, Updegrove said, and they serve babies in neonatal intensive care at more than 180 hospitals across the country. Normally the nonprofit doesn't receive requests for milk from families with healthy babies, but since the formula shortage started affecting Austin two weeks ago, they've received about 30 calls a week from families in need of pasteurized human milk. Families in need can expect to receive 39 ounces of milk for free from Mothers' Milk without a prescription.

Because postpartum mothers have shown up in droves to donate milk amid the shortage, Updegrove hopes that supplies will soon be high enough to offer more than that. A normal week brings 20 donor inquiries to the milk bank. Last week alone the bank heard from 160 women hoping to offer their milk, 700% more than an average week.

"The milk bank has been reaching out to the community of healthy lactating women," said Updegrove, to ask: "'We know you do it all and you're already exhausted, but we need you right now. And probably 35% of you won't be eligible to donate, but 65% of you on average will be able to become lifesavers. And we need you because the manufacturing companies have created a crisis.' And in the last two weeks we've been so pleased to see a tremendous outpouring. Women always kind of step up in a crisis and say, 'Pick me, what can I do? I'm tired but I can do it.'"

Updegrove said financial and milk donations will save lives during the shortage (which she doesn't expect to end soon due to ongoing supply chain issues), but in the long term, the country as a whole can avoid starving its infants with smart policy decisions. Updegrove said gaps in access to parental leave, work-from-home options, and health care specialists including lactation counselors prevent many healthy mothers from breastfeeding. "Going back to work after two weeks isn't enough time to recover from the birth, let alone create this whole new physiological process in lactation. We're interrupting that process when she needs that baby to start that cascade of physiological responses."