As parents across the US are desperate to find formula, some moms are relactating to be able to feed their babies
- Formula shortages are affecting the US, and some parents are becoming desperate.
- Joya Coatley has a 5-month-old and is trying to relactate to provide food for her baby.
When Joya Coatley, a mom in Ohio, welcomed her first child 10 years ago, she never had trouble finding infant formula. When her 2-year-old was born during the height of the pandemic, she was still able to find formula easily. But when her 5-month-old daughter arrived in December 2021, she couldn't find any ready-to-feed formula in stores. Now, she often can't even find powdered formula.
"It's a really scary time because I've just never thought that there would be an issue with getting baby formula," Coatley said.
She's one of a growing number of mothers attempting relactation to ensure her baby can eat.
Right now, Coatley still has formula, but she also has a new breast pump and a lot of worries about what she'll do when the formula runs out. She's trying to keep calm and pump when she can in the hopes of getting her milk supply up.
Relactating takes time and effort
Relactation is the process of reestablishing breastfeeding, pumping after having stopped, or stimulating lactation even when there was no previous breastfeeding, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's a time-consuming process that may work for some, but not all, parents.
If the baby is willing to nurse, the mom will have to breastfeed at least eight times during a 24-hour period during the first couple of weeks. Breast milk is made on demand, so the more the demand, the more milk is produced, Karleen Gribble, an adjunct associate professor at Western Sydney University's school of nursing, wrote for "The Conversation." If you're pumping, you need to pump six to eight times in 24 hours, for 10 to 20 minutes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says it can take weeks for a person's milk supply to increase during relactation, and that parents should not expect instant results. Studies have found that it can take 15 to 20 days of relactation to establish an adequate milk supply.
Moms are relactating to deal with the formula shortage
Paige Benefield, a mom in Alabama, started trying to relactate in May after her 8-month-old daughter's formula, Enfamil AR, started disappearing from store shelves.
Benefield started out breastfeeding, but her milk began to dry up as soon as she went back to work, she said. That's when she switched to formula, but now she's having a hard time finding it.
She reached out to a lactation consultant for help, who warned her that she might only see a few drops at first. But Benefield said she was pleased to find that her body was already producing more than that after two days of relactating. Still, it's not nearly enough to fill a bottle.
"If I can't relactate, I'm probably gonna have to do whole milk," said Benefield, who worried that if it came to that, her baby would miss out on the nutrients she would normally get from formula.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its guidance given the formula shortage to say babies over 6 months old may be fed whole cow's milk "for a brief period of time in a pinch until the shortage is better," adding that this isn't ideal and shouldn't become routine once formula is back on shelves.
At 5 months old, Coatley's daughter is too young for anything but formula or breast milk, and she wonders why the government isn't stepping in to get infant formula to the families that need it, and she resents that relactation seems to be the only solution being floated.
Suzanne Barston, the author of "Bottled Up: How the Way We Feed Babies Has Come to Define Motherhood, and Why It Shouldn't," told Insider that the conversation around relactation during the formula shortage "puts the onus on the mom to solve a societal issue when we are already in a time where women's bodily autonomy is being threatened."
Relactation is hard under normal circumstances, she said, "and even harder for those under stress."