Finding baby formula over the past few months has been incredibly difficult. It seemed downright impossible for Quinn Shealey, a mother of two 6-month-old twins– Alani and Alana. On Wednesday, July 6, after a plea to her Georgia community, Quinn shared a video of her two girls smiling and laughing, surrounded by cans of baby formula that she described as gifts from strangers.
Quinn told Fox 5 Atlanta about her experience. She said, “I have lots of formulas now. Lots of support and people reaching out (saying), ‘Hey, I see it here!’ I mean, literally, people from every state. My phone is ringing non-stop.” She said with tears in her eyes, “It restored my faith in humanity. I mean, I’ve had people sending formulas from Chicago, Nevada, Florida, lots of people from Florida, Alabama.”
The grateful mother was forced into an impossible situation because of a persistent baby formula shortage. Alana and Alani were born prematurely, causing severe digestive issues and food allergies. With the deficit, she told Fox 5 that she was “running out the formula for four or five days at a time, trying to supplement what powder and liquid formula she could find with cereal, apple juice and water.”
There was even a home video where she tried to feed one of her girls with a bottle of water.
“And, at this point, I don’t know what to do because I physically can’t feed my children,” She said.
Not only swamped with the responsibility of struggling to feed her twins, but the Georgia mom is also both a realtor and a mother of five children in total. She described driving to dozens of stores every day looking for a unique hypoallergenic baby formula called Nutramigen for her twins.
The kindness of the people supporting her spurred her to become involved in helping other moms suffering from similar issues. She urged the people who wanted to help to donate to baby supply banks such as Helping Mamas – which is also low on formula in the wake of the shortage. The CEO of Helping Mamas, Jamie Lackey told the news outlet, “It is very real, and it is still happening,” Jamie Lackey, Helping Mamas’ CEO continued to explain some reasons for the shortages. “The best way people can help right now is that if they want to bring unopened, unexpired formula to our office; it’s in Norcross [Georgia], it’s on our website. We also have drop-offs throughout the city that you can check off on our website.”
