FOX31 Denver

How baby formula shortage impacted small county mom

HUERFANO COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A mom in Huerfano County had her baby’s formula recalled in the recent shortage but she told FOX31 and Channel 2 that the stores near her home still have the shelves somewhat stocked.

“I don’t really get any when I go I just look to see how it’s doing,” Machelle Veach, a mom of two teens and a newborn said.

Veach said she started using different milk and took advice from a lactation consultant to continue to breastfeed her baby.

“I’m still able to breastfeed and I’ve been able to get my supply back up more,” Veach said.

She’s part of a Facebook group for parents. She said she saw several moms in the group having a hard time finding formula and since her stores nearby had some, she decided to get some care packages together to send to strangers online.

“I was seeing a lot of moms scared, at the same time I didn’t want to take away from people here but I wanted to help them,” Veach said.

Veach did say that the prices of formula in her county have gone up.

“A mom and feeding their baby, you don’t want to mess with that,” Veach said.

She did ask FOX31 and Channel 2 for more details about the recent overseas shipment of 78,000 pounds of formula that arrived in the United States from Germany.

A spokesperson with Governor Jared Polis’s office responded to our request for an interview saying:

“Gov. Polis recently announced a partnership with Mothers’ Milk Bank (MMB) through the Rocky Mountain Children’s Foundation to help address the baby formula shortage that is affecting families in Colorado and across the United States so the Governor is relieved that the Biden administration acted quickly to provide immediate relief to families in Colorado and across our country and that the majority of Colorado’s Congressional Delegation voted in favor of the Access to Baby Formula Act to help families, and we await further details on what arrives in Colorado and when.” 

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also recently launched a resource website and other resources on the baby formula shortage can be found on digital-staging.kdvr.com.