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It was during the height of the Covid pandemic that we were blessed with our first grandchild, a beautiful baby girl. As you can imagine, we were smitten and overcome with joy. What a precious gift!

As you recall during that time, there were several supply chain issues. I was working at Costco Wholesale at the time. Keep in mind, one of the shortages everyone was dealing with was baby formula. All the stores baby formula shelves were empty and it wasn’t available online either. At that time, Costco had received several pallets of baby formula. News of these pallets arriving at Costco spread far and wide. We arrived at 3:00 am that morning so we could get prepared for the anticipated crowds. We knew it was going to be crazy busy because of the shortages but nothing prepared me for the next few hours. By 4:00 am we started getting word that people had already been lining up outside in hopes of being one of the lucky few that were able to get formula before it was gone. As the 10:00 am opening time was quickly approaching the line was growing significantly. We continued prepping and strategizing a system to accommodate the flow of the crowd. Finally, doors opened. I was not prepared for what I saw next. The line stretched from the back of the store where the baby formula was located, all the way out the front doors and wrapped around the outside of the building down the entire length, towards the back again. Parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors all in the line. They had shown up in hopes of obtaining the lifegiving baby formula, their loved ones so desperately needed. I spoke with several patrons and discovered many had shown up because their loved ones couldn’t make it due to work, or because they were at other stores in a frantic search. Due to the limited supply on hand, I was tasked with passing out the formula to each customer. There were two different brands and each customer was only allowed to purchase one of each type of formula. The formula started disappearing quickly with the mass crowd. Word spread down the line that the pallets of formula were running low and would soon be gone. As the panic of missing out on the desperately needed baby formula set in and the despair of not knowing what else to do, the once peaceful line began to get very disruptive. Honestly, I probably would have done the same. The formula quickly ran out and all that was left were empty pallets. I’ll never forget the absolute desperation on the parent’s and grandparent’s faces. Many broke down in tears not knowing what to do or how they are going to feed their babies. Many were on the phones calling loved ones at other stores to see if they’d had any luck. We were asked countless times when we were expecting another shipment. We told them we weren’t sure. When we questioned the managers, they had no idea when or if they would get another shipment either because of the shortages and supply chain issues. I heard from many of the customers that they had been to multiple stores and everywhere was completely sold-out of baby formula. They didn’t have any luck finding it online either. I felt the desperation of each one of them. I couldn’t imagine not knowing from one minute to the next how I was going to feed my child. My heart sunk! I remember thinking, how in the world could this be? There has got to be another option to feed these sweet precious babies and for their parents to have a peace of mind knowing there’s another option. I empathized with them as a mother and grandmother and felt their pain. You see, I also had a grand-baby that was relying on baby formula at that time. We were blessed that she was primarily breastfeeding but also required supplementing breast milk with formula. My son and daughter-in-law did their best to stretch what little formula they had to avoid also being one of those desperate parents.

 

Another challenge my son and daughter-in-law ran into was that my granddaughter didn’t digest store bought baby formula very easily. They tried every brand of formula out there including dairy free, soy free, hypoallergenic, etc. Nothing seemed to work. As they transitioned more to baby formula my granddaughter’s belly became more unsettled and she became extremely constipated. She would puke uncontrollably after every feeding. Her parents were heartbroken to see her in pain, not knowing what to do for her. As her grandmother, I set out to find a solution. I asked around to my family, friends, and acquaintances to see if anyone else had any ideas. Turned out, my sister had a similar issue with one of her babies and happened across the ingredients for homemade baby formula. My son and daughter-in-law were able to get hold of the ingredients and the instructions to make it themselves. Once they switched my granddaughter to the homemade formula, she started feeling better and putting on weight again. She started having daily bowel movements and stopped puking. She stopped having belly aches and she was back to her normal cheerful self again. To this day, she is happy and healthy. Her only source of baby formula is the easy to make homemade formula they continue to make with simple ingredients that can be sourced from any local grocery store. After experiencing what we did with my own granddaughter and seeing what those desperate parents were going through during the shortage, I felt compelled to share the simple ingredients along with video tutorial instructions of how to make the homemade baby formula. My hope is that you gain the peace of mind you’re looking for knowing there’s other options available to you, and that your baby is as healthy and happy as my granddaughter. With love, Mimi. 😊