omms are fed up with having to run to stores or sales sites when it comes time to buy formula for their infants. If the more critical shortage has subsided, parents and pharmacists agree that the situation has not returned to normal.
This scarcity of powdered baby milk, sometimes called “maternal milk”, is also felt in support organizations for new parents who are struggling to respond to requests for assistance.
On social networks, mothers of infants send each other photos of empty tablets or exchange information on the arrival of goods in stores.
Nevena Koltchagova herself works in a pharmacy on rue Wellington, in Verdun. “Even my manager can’t order them, the one we use is out of stock everywhere,” she says on the phone, her eight-month-old baby chirping behind.
After calling a dozen pharmacies, she took advantage of a trip to the South Shore in the Montreal region to visit several: “We found two packages, which we use sparingly so that it lasts at least two weeks,” she said, calling the situation “stressful” and “extremely frustrating.”
Other women said in interviews that they had asked relatives residing in Quebec or Sherbrooke to get them milk. Or they turn to peer-to-peer platforms like Facebook Marketplace. “Yes, I have had to shop for my child’s milk. […] It’s a hassle,” says Julie Bailly.
She has noticed price increases on certain products, as have other parents. On amazon.ca, she bought a nearly one-kilogram package in January for $47. A few weeks later, the price had more than doubled: “When I wanted to recommend, it was $120. It’s really too expensive, because it’s not just milk to buy for a baby” , she explains.
The duty also saw this price hike on the Enfamil-branded package, now offered through resellers rather than directly from Amazon.
Mme Bailly therefore chose to shell out $400 all at once for a purchase on Marketplace, which would guarantee him a few weeks of peace of mind. “I found it too stressful, and the internet mum was not reselling for a profit. »
It is also approximately this sum that Bianca Tessier spends each month to feed her seven-month-old son. “I go up to four or five places to find the right ‘number’, but sometimes we fall back on the liquid format, which is more expensive,” she says. The “number” corresponds to the age of the baby and partly determines the composition of the milk.
Ana Carolina Riekstin scours online sites to see where stocks are available and, ideally, if they’re being sold at a discount. “The first time I bought it, I found powder formula for $33. For the same amount this month, I paid $49.99. I found some just in L’Île-des-Soeurs, ”says the one who lives in Griffintown. “It’s still just 10 minutes by car, but it complicates the already complicated life of a new mom,” she describes.
A rarity that lasts
“We cannot say that the shortage has completely disappeared,” admits Hugues Mousseau, director of the Quebec Association of Pharmacy Distributors (AQDP). He said, however, that consumers should not feel too much scarcity, because it is rather in the warehouses of wholesalers that “inventory levels” have not fully returned to normal. “It is possible that there is not on the spot, but it is necessary to inquire with the pharmacist”, he recommends.
Same story at the Quebec Association of Proprietary Pharmacists (AQPP). “Wholesalers and pharmacies are unable to build up a reserve to stabilize the supply chain,” says Marilie Beaulieu-Gravel, public and government affairs advisor.
This situation is “specific to certain products” and it “varies, since the stocks come in, but inconstantly”, she says. That’s what The duty found by visiting pharmacies and supermarkets, and by going to online sales platforms.
These two association representatives, however, insist on telling families to avoid buying in large quantities so as not to accentuate the problem.
Health Canada, for its part, recognizes that the supply is still “limited”, while writing that “the situation was most critical during the summer of 2022”. The shortage was especially felt for specialized preparations for infants suffering from allergies. At the height of this lack, some formulas were simply not found.
The trigger was the recall of infant formula from the Abbott Company factory in Michigan in February 2022. The factory closed the same day of these recalls, causing a “domino effect”, describes Hugues Mousseau, of the AQDP: “Often when a product is not available, families turn to a replacement product. »
“The plant resumed operations on 1er July [2022]but it is likely that it will only be able to return to full production capacity in the year 2023, ”reads the federal government’s page devoted to this subject.
This situation is reflected even in the services offered to the poorest families, also note the organizations. “We do repairs for baby milk, but we no longer receive donations. Our reserve is very low,” confirms Véronique Côté, coordinator of services at Carrefour Péri-naissance in Saint-Eustache. “We decided to give out gift cards, rather than trying to find all the brands. We were doing a tour of grocery stores and pharmacies and we ended up with only six packets of milk, ”also abounds the speaker Véronique Brisson, from the center Between moms and dads, in Montreal.
The first time I bought it, I found powder formula for $33. For the same amount this month, I paid $49.99. I found some just in L’Île-des-Soeurs. Ana Carolina Riekstin »