I Was a New Mom During the Formula Shortage. Here's What "Best Baby Formula" Actually Means.

My son was four months old in May 2022 when the shelves went empty.

I want to put that plainly before I say anything else: formula wasn't a preference for us. It was the only option. And for about eight weeks, I drove to four stores before finding any.

I remember reading "best baby formula" rankings during that period with a combination of relief (any information was useful) and fury (you could rank them all you wanted, none of them were on any shelf within 40 miles of me).

The Abbott/Similac recall — triggered by bacterial contamination at their Michigan plant — removed roughly 40% of U.S. formula production from the market. That's not a product failure. That's a systemic failure. Two companies controlled most of the supply, one plant went offline, and parents across a country couldn't feed their infants.

What I learned that no ranking will tell you:

Diversify. Don't become dependent on one formula brand, however highly ranked. Babies can tolerate more transition than pediatricians used to admit.

European formulas are stricter, not looser. HiPP and Kendamil were readily available during the shortage. They meet EU standards which, in some respects, exceed FDA requirements.

The ranking should include supply resilience. A formula that scores 9.2 on nutrition but has single-source manufacturing is less "best" than one that scores 8.8 but has multiple production facilities.

I still read these rankings. They matter. I just read them differently now.