PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — It’s been nearly a year since the nationwide shortage of baby formula began in February 2022, and it seems, it is not quite over yet.
Couple that with a new report from the make of Enfamil suggesting it could continue into spring, plus a Department of Justice investigation at the Abbott formula plant that closed last year, and parents are worried about how much longer this will go on.
For many parents, like Hannah Gowen, who has a 2-month-old, there is a sense of frustration and desire, “that it could just go back to how it used to be basically.”
Witnessing the moments where parents find specialty formula best tells the story on the ongoing shortage.
“Oh, thank you so much,” Gowen said upon finding sensitive formula.
“I had the ease of going to get whatever I wanted on the shelf,” said David Brown, a father of four and owner of Kid to Kid in Palm Beach Gardens. “The moms today don’t have that, so I really I feel sorry for them.”
He’s still doing his part to help with his store serving as a free formula exchange site of sorts for the better part of the year.
“The formula, it comes and it goes,” he said. “We don’t post what we have online, it is more word of mouth.”
People drop off formula they aren’t using.
“We are having people come in from Belle Glade, other parts of the county to come pick up formula from us," Brown said. “It’s not anything I know that is getting better out there right now.”
What the store lacks in quantity when it comes to formula, they make up for in empathy.
“It’s huge” he said. ’It’s huge. Just that little bit right there will help out a mom tremendously.”