Hannah Goldand had almost completely run out of formula for her six-month-old son Archer on Thursday.
The little boy has a serious milk allergy, and his mum has a prescription to purchase the only three branded tins of infant formula that do not trigger a reaction, at a discounted rate, The Age reports.
But the mum told The Age that for months she had struggled to get more than one tin at a time.
And she’s not alone. Australia is facing an infant formula shortage as supplies are bought out by shoppers who sell the formula to parents in China. Parents, who after a deadly contamination incident in 2008, do not trust the formula produced in their own country.
This shortage, which for several years has been managed with limits on tins purchased, has recently hit the prescription formula market particularly hard.
So much so that another mum from regional Victoria was forced to drive an hour and a half to Melbourne to purchase the formula her son needed after running out the night before. After posting on a Facebook page, Jade Smith managed to get enough formula from another woman to feed her six-month-old that night before making the trip.
Hannah, meanwhile, told the The Age health reporter Aisha Dow she had to call and get two emergency tins from Nestle, who manufacture the formula Alfamino, sent to a nearby pharmacy that night. Otherwise, she says she would have needed to take her son to hospital.
"It is quite a scary thought. The government need to do something," she said.
The formulas Hannah and Jade need for their sons retail for around $20 a tin, but can be found on Chinese shopping websites for $40 or even $70. There, they are being purchased by desperate mums who equally just want to feed their baby something that won't make them sick.
But Chinese shoppers, who are known as Daigou, are not unaware of the harm being caused by the practice and they want to do something about it.
Holly Wainwright and Christie Hayes are joined by a gaggle of specialists to deep dive on the ongoing battle of breast vs. bottle all new mums face. Post continues.
Dr Matthew McDougall, an expert on China relations, has set up the Australia China Daigou Association that he says has the support of the Federal Government.
The association's goals are formally recognising the business the Daigou operate, develop a code of practice and connect Daigou with Australian businesses - so they can purchase directly from the businesses and not from pharmacy and supermarket shelves.
"Daigou fundamentally understand they can’t continue to source baby formula from shelves en masse but their options are limited," Dr McDougall said.
"As an association, we need to create opportunities for manufacturers to work directly with the Daigou community and improve the way Daigou shoppers go about purchasing and shipping items to their buyers back in mainland China."
Nestle said the unexpected surge in demand for their products fuelled in part by sales from people reselling to outside Australia. They told Fairfax they had set up a management scheme to ensure the products were distributed better.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said parents should speak to the doctor who prescribed their formula, as there were alternatives to the three off-the-shelf prescription formula tins available.
Top Comments
I have a great relationship with our local independent pharmacist, I spoke with them about my anxiety at the baby formula supply situation (our local supermarket is regularly stripped), and they offered to order in my formula as I needed, I just had to give them a call for a few days notice. Perhaps the Mum in this situation could speak to her local pharmacist, even if it might be a few dollars more a can (because they’re not a discount chain) it might be worth it for piece of mind?
If you breastfed it wouldn’t be an issue.
Or if you have use formula surely you’d stock up? How disorganised can you be?
Not everybody CAN breastfeed. Not everybody wants to. Not anyone’s place to judge. And you know, some people are disorganised, because they are human beings and therefore imperfect. Especially if they’re new to the whole baby thing, it can take a while to get adjusted.
I can’t breastfeed. My baby was sick and in and out of hospital for weeks. My milk supply didn’t come in due to health conditions although I tried. I tried to stock up on soy formula as we found out he was allergic to cows milk proteins but only one place our side of town sells it and they don’t have a large stock. Your statement is cruel and uneducated.
Wow, judgemental, much? Breast feeding isn't mandatory, and formula is a perfectly acceptable alternative - it's a woman's right to choose what she does with her own body. Fed is best, period.
Ok... I had every intention of breastfeeding my first baby, but didn’t find out until after he was born that my breasts are underdeveloped and incapable of producing enough milk to nourish an infant. I had no formula with me, because I’d had no previous idea that I would need it.
A lot of women who cannot breastfeed are unaware of this until they actually try it. For many of us, our inability to breastfeed came as a devastating blow, and unhelpful, judgemental comments like yours simply drive the knife deeper.