If you've been feeding your baby formula, you're probably well aware of the baby formula shortage. It adds another layer of stress and worry on top of all the other layers of stress and worry that go hand-in-hand with taking care of an infant in the midst of a pandemic. So when we heard that one U.S. baby formula company was actually not dealing with a shortage, we had to share. World, meet ByHeart.
Unlike your kale or even your favorite skincare product, for years parents in the U.S. have not had the option of high-quality, clean or organic formula that's close in composition to breast milk without some sort of ingredient sacrifice (which is why many parents actually turned to Europe for supposedly better quality formula). But ByHeart, along with other newcomers to the formula market, like Bobbie, offer just that. Though Bobbie has announced that it's at capacity in order to honor subscriptions with current customers, ByHeart is up and running at normal speed because they own their entire manufacturing facility, meaning they can zig when the world zags and avoid shortages like we're experiencing now.
The downside? All that good stuff—the science-backed R&D, the Clean Label Project Purity Award, the grass-fed dairy and organic ingredients—no shocker, ups the price. A 24-oz. can of ByHeart sells for $39, or around .21 cents a fluid ounce. That said, the company currently has no limitations on order quantities, is accepting new customers and will absolutely not be raising their prices during the shortage.
In case you can't find your go-to formula and are open to transitioning, Dr. Nicole Avena, author of What to Feed Your Baby and Toddler, advises to try to do it gradually to get your baby used to the taste. Over a few days (if possible), make a bottle that's half the old formula, half new, before fully making the switch. If that's not possible, says Dr. Avena, “Just be aware that if your baby makes a face, it is a natural response to being wary of new tastes.”
