A Texas mother created a Facebook group for families to notify one another of the stores with baby formula in stock, as the U.S. is struggling with a shortage.
Jennifer Walton, a mother of a 6 month-old girl, created the online community after she began to struggle to find the product.
Walton told the WFAA that he got really mad. I said, ''Well, I'm going to do what I can to fix it. In less than two weeks, the Facebook group, Formula Fed Babies, gained more than 2,400 members.
Walton told the local newspaper that most of the group's members are from North Texas, although the group is open to anyone.
We have people in Louisiana, Nebraska, Colorado. She said that I'm shipping some formula to a lady in South Carolina that she needed, and it's definitely reaching nationwide.
She urges everyone to join the group, regardless of whether they need baby formula.
45% of the population is enrolled in a high school.
Anyone who goes to the grocery store can take a picture of how much is left on the shelves, and upload it to the Facebook group with a location, so families in need can find where the product is available.
People are uploading pictures with a time stamp and a location because their WIC parents can't pay a person back. Walton said that they're trying to serve a wide range of people.
She has two posts a day that people can reply to. One thread is for families In Search Of Baby Formula and the other is for Available Formula. Walton is optimistic that the formula shortage will be resolved soon and that her Facebook group will no longer be needed.
She said she wanted this group to be completely defunct and unnecessary.
The nationwide shortage has worsened recently after a recall of specific powdered formulas from Abbott Nutrition. The recall was issued after four babies who consumed products made from the Sturgis, Michigan facility became sick with a bacterial infection. Two of the babies died later.
In a statement earlier this month, the company said that it could be months before the Sturgis plant will be able to supply stores with the product after the recall forced it to stop operations at the facility, which closed in February.
There is no evidence that our formulas are linked to these infant illnesses.