SCRANTON, Pa. — These days, Scranton mom Victoria Bigelow spends a lot of time driving around and calling stores, frantically searching for baby formula to feed her 5-month-old daughter.
"With my son, it was no problem. You could go to the store and get a can, or five or ten cans if you wanted to at any time, just like anything else. But with my daughter, it's not happening that way," said Bigelow.
Unlike with shortages of other products, Bigelow can't afford to wait for the shelves to be restocked.
"It makes it hard because not only do you have to worry about, 'Is my child healthy?' But then you have to make sure you're getting the right formula, and with the specialty ones, you can't really swap out," added Bigelow.
The formula shortage is often top of mind at the WIC office in Scranton. That's the federal nutrition assistance program for Women, Infants, and Children.
"They're calling all around, and they're going to this store, going to that store. We haven't had anybody not eventually get what they need or get something that's an adequate substitute. But really just the running around, that's the hardest part for our participants right now," said Laurie Waskovich, the Senior Manager of Nutrition Services at Maternal and Family Health Services Inc.
"I've had people drive over 20 miles to find formula. People from the Scranton area have been as far out as Honesdale or as far up as Waverly. It's just that people are having to go where it is," said Brenda Grunza, an RN with WIC in Scranton.
And they say, transportation is a luxury everyone can afford.
Staff at WIC say the severity of the shortage varies from month to month and from brand to brand.
They encourage moms to check food pantries or the pediatrician's office to see if they have any formula to spare.
The one thing they tell moms not to do is make their own formula at home.
"Keep looking and go to the stores early in the month, and grab what you can when you can. And keep checking, often," added Waskovich.