Baby formula sealed behind locked glass casing in a Kelowna Shoppers Drug Mart.

Image Credit: Mamas For Mamas Instagram (@mamasformamas)

Baby formula is being stored behind locked glass at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Kelowna to deter apparent shoplifters and the CEO of a local charity some mothers are taking desperate measures to feed their children amid rising inflation.

“If you have to lock up formula behind a container like you do with drugs that are sold on the street, what does that say about how we're looking after our most vulnerable neighbours? I'd say we're not doing the very best job we could," Shannon Christensen of Mamas for Mamas told iNFOnews.ca.

Mothers without access to government programs and support could be paying upwards of $400 a month for formula if their babies have specific dietary requirements, she said, money that usually has to be taken away from other necessary living expenses.

“When we don't have enough money to provide for our families we don't eat enough,” Christensen said. “Malnutrition is definitely not going to contribute to the get-up and go energy that we need to go and raise happy, healthy families.”

The financial burden has not only produced a sense of hopelessness for many local mothers but has also led to risky behaviour and money-saving side cuts.

“We often see families cutting (formula) with more water and that's not safe,” she said. “We see families doing whatever they can to fill the gap and so what I would say to them is come to Mama's, we'll help you fill the gap without cutting the amount of formula in each bottle.”

The supply issues and shortages of baby formula that rattled the country back in October 2023 have left a lasting effect on the availability of certain products.

“There were a lot of issues with the lactose-free and some of the more sensitive ones,” Christensen said. “Then over the last few months, it wasn't so much the inability to find it as it was the expense. And so people were stealing formula at an unprecedented rate because they were desperate to feed their babies.”

Christensen said she is concerned that more issues like this could be on the horizon for moms across the country. In stores today, products are limited and expensive with an 18 pack of ready-to-feed bottles costing $74.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart. 

“There were a few months where it was really scary and I’m really worried that we're facing that again,” Christensen said.

Some of the families who rely on the Mamas for Mamas charity have babies with dangerous milk protein allergies. These allergies cause the babies to be violently sick, Christensen said, so having access to the right products is vital.

Government programs typically cover half or the whole cost of certain hypoallergenic formulas. However, for some women, the financial pressure is too much as these formulas can cost $80 every four days just to feed one child.

“Imagine having twins with this milk protein allergy,” Christensen said. “Even if you do have the capacity to buy $80 (worth of formula) every four days, now you're talking $160 every four days. You're going to be going into debt regardless, even if you're making pretty good money.”

Christensen herself faced debt and financial troubles as a young mother despite being in a stable financial position. Her first child suffered from a lactose allergy, resulting in a hefty $380 monthly prescription.

“It was an eye-opener, and it was quite devastating actually to realize just how blind I was in my privilege as to how hard it had been for so many to feed their babies at the same time I
was feeding mine.”

This is what ultimately inspired Christensen to start the Mamas for Mamas organization, first as a Facebook community in 2014, and then as a registered charity in 2017. Since its establishment, Christensen said the circumstances for local mothers have only worsened.

“Now I think the charity is needed more than ever, which is really sad because my idea of building Mamas was to eventually work ourselves out of a job in the charity side and continue on with the community and building that.”

2020 began a period of rapid and helpless decline for a lot of families, Christensen said, with the pandemic and then the devastating wildfires last summer. Now, with restricted access to formula many local mothers are once again in a precarious position. 

As a mental health trauma counsellor, Christensen understands the relationship between financial instability and mental health issues. From her own experience as a mother, she also knows the feelings of guilt and shame that often plague women who are unable to feed their babies naturally. 

Christensen’s first child was born prematurely and the strain on her body meant she was unable to breastfeed.

“I was in the hospital for about a month. I bled out, I had an abruption and it was so traumatic. Yet all I could think about was how stressed I was that they told me that my oxytocin hadn't come into my blood. Because I had an abruption, I didn't go into labour. So they weren't sure if my milk was going to come. I was absolutely devastated, bawling my eyes out because my mom had just bought me a new breast pump and I wasn't going to be able to use it.”

New mothers who are reliant on formula now carry a heavy financial burden to feed their children. 

“It's been probably the craziest six to nine months for infant support, just the hardest time to find formula, the hardest time to find diapers, the hardest time to find breastfeeding equipment,” Christensen said. “Luckily we've had support directly from distributors in order to access some of these products in a way that isn't just going to the store ourselves. But even then, we've seen just such a desperate need continue to grow.”

Through generous donations, the organization has been able to supply both formula and invaluable breastfeeding equipment to mothers in need.

“(One donor) sent half a million dollars in breast pump equipment,” she said. “Which was just incredible because we had a lot of moms who were able to nurse but they were working full-time.”

For Christensen, the growing financial pressure on women and parents is a making the important job of parenting unnecessarily harder. 

“We're such a great country and we've done so much in the last 50 years to support mothers to get maternity leave extended, to make sure that women are supported and going back to work and all of a sudden it feels like there's quite an assault on motherhood and the capacity to care for our kids.”

“People wonder why people aren't running to have kids anymore and they're choosing to have pets instead, it's because it's terrifying to face a day not being able to feed your baby, your child. I can't imagine looking a month ahead and wondering what you're going to do.”

More information about Mamas for Mamas can be found on the website here.

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