Five precious cans of formula — and two babies who desperately needed them

C

an you imagine looking into the eyes of a father who doesn’t have anything to feed his child? Sounds like something out of a tzedakah ad… not what I expected to see on a regular Tuesday morning at the pharmacy. But let me backtrack a bit.

A few months ago, my pediatrician told us that our baby wasn’t gaining enough weight. Since we had a family history of dairy allergies, we were advised to switch her to Neocate LCP, a hypoallergenic non-dairy, non-soy, non-anything formula. It’s much more expensive than the usual stuff, but it’s worth the extra money and the time it takes to obtain it — even if it’s only a precaution. Chava is now ten months old and we give her 24 ounces of formula daily, accompanied by a variety of solid foods that she enjoys.

Lately we’d heard about the terrifying formula shortage happening 6,000 miles away. It couldn’t affect us. Or so we thought.