Quest For Formula

It is with great panic that we scrounge around the metro area searching for more cans of formula for Bryce. For some unknown reason, every store locally has stopped carrying Bryce's soy formula. We first noticed something was going on when Meijer put the cans on clearance for $16 instead of the $22.99 regular price. We assumed it was because they would be getting new packaging or something.

Then-they were gone. No shelf space for the formula at Meijer. When I talked to the infant/toddler department manager, she told me that all Meijer's were no longer carrying the Good Start Soy Formula 2. She didn't know why and suggested I call Good Start and ask.

I did call and that was such a waste. Basically, I called Gerber (which owns Good Start) which is HQ'd here in west Michigan. The person I spoke to looked it up in his computer and then rattled off all the stores in my area where the formula is carried. I told him that I've been to every single one of those stores and they do NOT have it anymore. He then told me he'd mail me a form to ask the store manager to special order it for me. Right. I talked to someone at Meijer and decisions like that are made at the corporate level-not the store level. So we're out of luck, short of ordering cases of it from online websites.

Here's the stores we've checked that DO NOT carry it: Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Meijer, Walgreen's, Costco (they've never had it), Kroger and CVS. That isn't one store per chain, that's ALL the stores in a 20 minute driving radius. That's probably close to 20 stores I've checked while driving around. I've found one Target locally that is clearing it out for $12/can and bought 2 cans there today.

The nice infant/toddler department manager at our local Meijer found one can in the back and spotted me one day shopping & went and got that can for me. How nice was that? Turns out her oldest daughter, now in college, has food allergies and she felt for us not being able to find Bryce's formula that she hunted around in the back and found the one single can. She then waited, hoping she'd see me to give it to me. Talk about customer service!

We now have 3 full cans and 1 partial can. When we realized we were running out we started to wean Bryce to soy milk, Silk For Kids, and we've got him on a combo of 24 ounces per day, 12 oz of Silk and 8 oz of formula. We spread it out in his three daily bottles, 2 ounces of formula/6 ounces of Silk in the AM, 4oz/4oz in the afternoon, and a repeat of the AM bottle's contents in the evening. We like the nutrient content in the formula and feel like Bryce is just beginning to eat better, so we feel comfortable cutting back on the formula.

I had a panic just last week. I went to the store to buy Silk For Kids and couldn't find ANY. So I bought Silk Very Vanilla and hoped it was close. Relief-when I got home, I realized that "Silk For Kids" has had a package and name change. Whew. At least I don't have to go on a quest for soy milk, too.