Families struggling to find baby formula may soon have some relief. A major shipment made touchdown in Fort Worth Thursday.
The White House on Monday announced the fifth “Operation Fly Formula” flight, a program to bring baby formula from Europe to the United States.
Thursday's FedEx flight brought Nestle infant formula from Cologne, Germany to Fort Worth.
It's a basic parental resposibility to make sure you can feed your baby, and when you can't do that it's a real challenge to think about anything else.
Dr. Jason Terk, Texas Pediatric Society
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
The shipment landing in North Texas will be equivalent to 1.6 million 8-ounce bottles.
'This formula will be distributed online to get it into parents' hands as quickly as possible. In the coming weeks, we're gonna continue to make baby formula available whether online, through retailers, grocery store chains or directly through the manufacturer -- so parents can access it as quickly as possible," said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. "Parents -- What should you do? How should you operate to get this formula? Let me suggest to you one thing, go through your normal business to try to get baby formula."
CLICK HERE for HHS Information on the Infant Formula Shortage and the Steps Your Family Can Take
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The Food and Drug Administration had to sign off on the shipment to make sure the formula meets U.S. standards.
"We're going to be able to help a lot of moms and dada who are just trying to do their job," said Dr. Jason Terk with the Texas Pediatric Society.
A MILLION POUNDS OF RELIEF
“It’s like a million pounds of relief for women who have been stressing for months,” said Lacy Rash.
Rash said the journey to find a hypoallergenic baby formula for her one-year-old son, who has specialized nutrition needs that requires a feeding tube, has been challenging for the better part of two months.
“It is no fun feeling like you can’t feed your kid,” Rash said.
The Corsicana mom says she feels lucky she has been able to keep the specialized formula her son needs in stock in her pantry. Still, Rash knows countless other mothers are in even more challenging circumstances, like driving hundreds of miles and spending hours looking for available formula inventory.
“It goes really really fast,” she said.
The White House said the shipment that arrived in Fort Worth on Thursday includes 110,000 pounds of Nestle NAN SupremePro Stage 1 infant formula.
The product will be available nationwide through Nestle/Gerber distribution channels with additional deliveries of Nestle formula expected to be announced in the coming days, according to the White House.
“I’m just so happy that so many women are going to feel more like themselves again,” Rash said.
