Baby formula in constant need for London resource centres and food banks

As Londoners gear up for the holidays, some may be thinking of donating canned goods or other non-perishable food items to the food bank, but local organizations say there is one item that remains scarce on their shelves: baby formula.

“It’s definitely one of the least donated products across the board,” said Mikyla Pragashpathy, the basic needs coordinator at LUSO Community Services. “We pretty much never see that. It’s an expensive donation to pass along.” 

According to Statistics Canada, the average cost of a 900g can of infant formula, which lasts about a week depending on the child, was $50 in September. Formula prices have climbed nearly 84 per cent since 2017 and around 30 per cent in the last two years alone.

The high price of baby formula is the exact reason why so many London families are visiting neighbourhood resource centres and food banks to access the product, said Saira Lopez.

"We've had families come in saying, 'I only have one serving of formula left and I don't know what I'm going to do after that,’" said Lopez, who is the project manager at Families First CAPC with the South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre. 

“We’ve had dads come in and say, ‘My partner is at home and the breastfeeding isn’t working so I don’t know what else to do,’” Lopez said. “We definitely hear it daily from families.”

Lopez and her team manage an emergency baby food and diaper cupboard at 690 Osgoode Dr., which has seen an increase in visitors this year. She said in the last six months, they have given away more than 4,000 items to about 400 families, many of which are first-time visitors. 

At Crouch Neighbourhood Resource Centre in the city’s east end, basic needs coordinator Andrea von Wahl said that baby formula is just one of many grocery items that people are increasingly seeking out.

“Families are coming in, and they’re in desperate need of formula. They’re not able to cover even just their basic expenses, and the cost of formula is prohibitive for them,” she said. 

Pragashpathy said she notices the same problem at LUSO’s emergency food cupboard, which services the city’s Northeast and Argyle neighbourhoods, where families tell her the costs of living are piling up.

“It’s always hard to hear because you want to make sure that babies are fed. They’re some of the most vulnerable of our clients,” Pragashpathy said. “It’s one thing for an adult to skip lunch or breakfast, but for a baby, that can be detrimental.”

Because baby formula donations are so slim, all three organizations said they often need to shop for formula themselves to keep the cupboards stocked. 

“We definitely notice it’s more expensive, and unfortunately, that means we can’t buy as many cans,” said von Wahl. 

Each organization stated that they rely on community monetary donations to purchase infant formula, which only goes so far.