Baby formula hard to find again in St. Louis region

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) - Officials and parents are having difficulty finding baby formula again in the St. Louis region.

Officials with the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery told News 4 the struggle to find formula continues, even though the Biden Administration allocated funding to speed up production earlier this year.

The White House hasn’t updated its infant formula shortage website since July.

Experts point to hoarding, supply chain bottlenecks and manufacturers making few varieties.

“The formula crisis is still very much a crisis,” said DiAnne Mueller, CEO of the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery. “The Crisis Nursery needs more formula. Our families need more formula. I just talked to our staff out in Wentzville and they said that they’re struggling, and we were just in East St. Louis today and they said they’re struggling.”

“I never needed to use formula before, but this time it was just physically necessary,” St. Louis-area mother Hannah West told News 4. “Recently, again, it’s just kind of the regular, more common brands that become hard again to find.”

West said she usually feeds Similac to her 8-month-old son but recently switched to Enfamil because of shortages.

Similac recently announced a recall due to faulty bottle cap seals.

“We used that kind [Enfamil] and it upset his stomach, and so it’s not easy to just switch,” she said. “It felt like we had some security with this and we were starting to feel--to see a lot of shelves be filled. In reality, the hunt’s really not over.”

West moderates a St. Louis formula swap Facebook group to help parents find infant formula.

Reports show companies are working to address worker shortages and increase production.

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