Desperate parents needing baby formula turn to online strangers as Canadian prices nearly double since 2017

Cassandra Shedden has sometimes had to rummage around her place, looking for for things to war hawk, simply to pay off for baby formula. 

The 33-year-old mother of three in Thunder Bay, Ont., describes the price of formula today as “gross.”

According to Statistics Canada, formula prices have climbed nearly 84 per cent since 2017 and about 30 per cent in just the last two years.

"Sometimes you're trying to choose between bills and feeding your kids," said Shedden.

She added she'd make minimum payments on bills or try to top up her Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) money and other government income by earning a few extra dollars driving for a delivery service — all to ensure her baby’s bottle is full of formula and her children are fed.

Shedden's six-month-old daughter Charlotte is exclusively formula-fed and requires more than the minimum because she has trouble gaining weight.

Shedden said she tried her best to breastfeed her two youngest, but couldn’t. Today, she said, formula costs her anywhere from $90 to $120 a week. 

“And that’s the cheapest brand of formula we can find. The formula only usually lasts about three days.” 

Shedden said that lately, the posts from other parents in her Facebook groups tell a similarly desperate story.

“People will post, like, 'Anybody have 0-6 formula, just to last me to the 20th [the monthly date of the federal Canada Child Benefit]?' Everybody's relying on [that benefit] to make sure that they have even one can of formula. It’s really sad."

Lisa Ierullo, who helps run the Facebook group Everything FREE - Thunder Bay, said she has received direct messages late at night from strangers asking for help in getting baby formula.

"I had a mother reach out to me. Her direct payment wasn't going to be coming in until midnight and she only had X amount of formula left for her baby, and it wasn't going to last the whole night."

Ierullo said she sent a money transfer loan immediately to that woman, who did repay her. Ierullo said it was not the only time she has been asked to do so. 

Lesley Frank is Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Social Justice at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

Frank has been studying issues surrounding the cost and availability of baby formula for nearly two decades. She said similar social media groups are cropping up across Canada, with requests for help in getting formula are rising.

Frank calls it "foraging for formula online and making pleas of desperation,” adding her research into formula issues paints a dire picture. 

"There's opened cans of formula for sale. You'd have to be quite desperate to get on a bus to get an opened can of formula because it's your only option to feed your baby."

Frank also notes how stores often have formula under lock and key. 

“That’s because it’s one of the most stolen food products in Canada, which is a real signal that something is terribly wrong.”

Frank said increasing the Canada child benefit amount could help ease the struggle to buy formula, as could enacting food entitlements for breastfeeding women and all children under four years old.

Saying most formula in Canada comes from a largely consolidated U.S. Market, Frank argues there's no incentive for giant companies to be competitive or bring down costs. 

To really ease the crunch, Frank said, more formula needs to be produced in Canada.

She said the federal government could consider nationalizing production to ensure supply meets demand and shore up the supply chain, so Canadian parents aren't at the mercy of U.S. Production stoppages, recalls or shipping delays. 

Journalist

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