Yes, there's a baby formula shortage. But experts warn: don't make your own.

Attention, parents: DIY formulas aren’t the answer to the formula shortage.

A nationwide shortage has left Australian parents desperate to get their hands on tins of baby formula.

Supermarket shelves in Sydney are bare. Tins of organic formula are selling for $180+ online. Customers are launching online petitions calling for a stricter per-person limit on purchase of the product.

But if you’re tempted to try to brew your own formula amid the shortage crisis, experts have a clear message for you: don’t do it.

Products like celebrity chef Pete Evan’s homemade paleo baby formula may seem like tempting alternatives to the store-bought products, but dietitians say the dosage of Vitamin A in the celebrity chef’s recipe is unsafe.

Dietitian Sheridan Collins has now also claimed that feeding a baby homemade formula could damage the child’s kidneys, liver and brain.

“It’s very specifically designed to be as close to breast milk as possible so it’s a very fine formulation of micro nutrients and macro nutrients to get the perfect balance to be sufficient for growth and development for the infant,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

“If they’re not in the right quantities they could be dangerous and have an impact on the baby’s gut or on their kidneys and other aspects of their development.”

She added that the baby could also suffer vomiting or bleeding from the gut, and that his or her brain development could be hampered.

So what’s a safe solution to the formula shortage?

If your first choice of formula is sold out at the supermarket, Collins told The Daily Telegraph parents should try another brand.

All formulas sold in Australia comply with the same strict regulations, so they’re all safer than a DIY option.

“Even though a baby may be used to having a particular formula, most healthy babies will actually take up a new formula if offered,” she advises.

“It might take a couple of tries with the new formula — they might reject it the first time and be unsure of it on the second time, but usually by the third or fourth time the baby will be hungry and will take the formula.”

The formula shortage has been blamed on people buying baby formula in bulk at Australian stores to sell at a hugely inflated price online and in China. According to Fairfax Media, a $25 tin can currently fetch up to $100 in the country, after a 2008 melamine contamination in Chinese formula caused the death of six babies.

Several solutions to the bulk-buying problem have been proposed: Some customers have called for a stricter limit on the amount of tins that can be purchased per person — four per person being the limit favoured by one vorcal group of parents — while others are calling for retailers to begin selling baby formula from behind the counter, Fairfax reports.

Fairfax also revealed on Sunday that a key reason behind the shortage was online shopping day, China’s Singles Day, which last year racked up $US9 billion in sales. The shopping day caused a shortage in particular of the Bellamy’s Organic brand, which is now being referred to as “white gold” due to massive over-demand for the product.

What do you think is the best solution to the baby formula shortage?