Mom of 4 is Desperately Trying to Get Baby Formula: “This is all Biden Administration’s Fault”

A Maryland mom of four children, including 10-month-old twins, is having a heck of a time finding baby formula for her little ones and she’s really, really angry at the Biden administration right now.

Kayla Zurenko and her husband, Cody, of Calvert County, Maryland, have four children; 7-year-old Gavin, 5-year-old Grayson and 10-month-old twins named Gabriella and Gannon. 

“I have enough formula for two babies for 14 days,” she said about her current supply. “Where am I going to find formula after that?” she added, becoming upset as she spoke. 

The couple live about an hour south of Washington, D.C. 

Husband Cody works for Tesla, while Kayla has been a stay-at-home parent since giving birth to their twins last June. The couple enjoy watching their oldest child play baseball; Kayla Zurenko volunteers at the boys’ school as much as possible.  

But now, Zurenko has found herself with a new full-time job that she never applied for: searching for baby formula to buy for her children.

She’s been searching for baby formula in her tri-state area of Maryland, D.C. and Virginia and in recent days has found nothing, literally nothing, she said in a phone interview this week.

It wasn’t until after she ordered baby formula online, then received notice that those orders had been canceled, that she took to social media to vent her frustration.

“This has GOT to be addressed!!!!” Zurenko wrote recently, exasperated. “Raise the gas prices, inflate the food prices, but give our babies the food they NEED!!!!”

“I shouldn’t have to search a tri-STATE area for baby formula,” she added, “and STILL not find any!”

“My online orders are being canceled, stores are out, with no end in sight,” she also wrote. “This should be TOP priority immediately for every government agency and this joke of an administration! THIS IS SCARY!” 

Up until January, Zurenko had been breastfeeding her twins. 

She was not familiar with the baby formula shortages that other parents and caregivers had been facing until she couldn’t breastfeed her babies any longer. 

That’s because, in January, she came down with COVID-19.

Once she tested positive for the coronavirus, her husband began hunting for baby formula to feed their infants to no avail. But still, they did not realize the challenges up ahead.

“I sent him for a curbside order and the order got canceled,” Zurenko said.

“We did a curbside order from a Target, and he was able to get that one. Then he brought it home and we were fine,” Zurenko said. 

“And then after four days, I went back to breastfeeding when my milk supply came back up. But I realized that it just never came back to a sustainable level after we had COVID.” 

Now, Zurenko and her family have joined many American parents in the desperate and ongoing quest for baby formula. And it is clearly taking a toll. 

During an interview on Tuesday afternoon, Kayla Zurenko broke down in tears. She said that she feels she is in survival mode to feed her babies.  

“I have enough formula for two babies for 14 days,” she said about her current supply. “Where am I going to find formula after that?” she added, her upset turning to anger.

“Is this how it’s looking every single morning when I wake up? I just kind of hit a breaking point on Monday, and I got really upset and I was pissed off. And I was scared.” 

Zurenko said she’s asked family members in Alabama and in Washington State, plus her stepmom in Florida, to keep checking local stores to see if they have any baby formula and, if so, to ship it to the family. 

In the meantime, she and her sister-in-law, Casey, are stopping at any Target, Walmart, Walgreens and CVS, “no matter where we are”, to try to find formula. 

Yet even if the formula is in stock at certain retailers, supplies per person are often limited.

Retailers such as CVS and Walgreens are placing purchase limits on baby formula. Target also has some online product limitations in place.

“I have to show them pictures of my twins,” Zurenko said, referring to the stores she visits. “I’m like, ‘Look, I really have two babies.’”

She said she understands the store limits, “but then I feel guilty for essentially hoarding formula. At the same time, it’s terrifying,” she added referring to the thought of not being able to feed her babies.

Zurenko compared today’s baby formula shortage to what happened in the U.S. amid COVID. “It’s going back to the toilet paper shortage, where everybody just started hoarding toilet paper,” she said.

“Formula is fundamental for all of us moms who don’t have a choice in the matter. And we’re going to have babies that are malnourished.” 

Everybody’s arguing about gas prices, she said. “And everybody’s arguing about inflation, but at least food and gas are available,” she added. “Gas is way too high and it’s overpriced. But it’s available, that is the difference.” 

This mom added, “I would almost rather the formula be available and the prices inflated, like everything else in the country right now.”

The current baby formula shortage in the U.S. started with COVID-19 supply chain issues. 

In six different states; Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Tennessee; over half the baby formula was sold out during the week starting Sunday, April 24, said Datasembly, a Virginia-based provider of real-time product pricing and assortment data for retailers.