High baby formula costs for this Sudbury, Ont., family mean other bills go unpaid

A mother in Sudbury, Ont., says her family has had months where they didn’t pay their phone bills so they could afford formula for her infant.

“So we’re at this point now where sometimes we do have to sacrifice and, you know, we will do that happily to feed our kids,” said Kaitlyn Tann, mother of a five-month-old son and an eight-year-old daughter.

“But ultimately, the fact that formula is so expensive is just so incredibly crippling that sometimes those bills are the things that get pushed aside.”

The Tanns are among Canadian families impacted by the spiralling cost of formula. According to Statistics Canada, the average price increased 30 per cent between February 2022 and February 2024.

Tann said feeding her daughter when she was a baby was manageable, but now, a $35 container of powdered formula lasts her under a week.

“And about eight years ago, you used to get a can that would last you maybe a week and a half, two weeks — like it was huge for the same price.”

Meagan Edwards, also a Sudbury resident, said her family spends around $100 each week on baby formula.

Edwards has a seven-year-old, a three-year-old and a six-month old.

Like Tann, she has noticed formula prices have gone up dramatically since her eldest was a baby.

“With my seven-year-old, I didn’t even think about the price. You just did it. It was affordable.”

While her family can afford the cost, Edwards said it still takes a toll on the grocery budget.

Like a lot of mothers, she tried exclusively breastfeeding at first, but was not able to keep up her supply.

“As a mother, you feel a lot of guilt and shame when you can’t provide for your child with what is supposed to be seen as just natural, and easy and the best thing for your child,” Edwards said.

Finding ways to make ends meet

Some parents are finding savings in other areas to set aside money for baby formula.

Sudbury resident Troy Jamieson said he and his wife are active in a lot of Facebook groups where parents swap items like clothes and toys.

“It’s been rare since we’ve purchased clothing for my son because people are exchanging their clothes,” he said.

“If you have something to give to these communities, they have something to give back to you.”

We hear less about the fact that the market around infant formula is not a competitive market … There are a few big players and often what keeps prices low is competition.– Lesley Frank, Canada Research Chair, Acadia University

Other parents resort to infant food banks to meet their children’s needs.

Linda McLay, a volunteer at an infant food shelf run by the Trinity United Church in North Bay, Ont., said they’ve gotten busier since the COVID-19 pandemic.

McLay said they don’t supply baby formula but do offer families $25 gift cards they can put toward a purchase, so parents can purchase the exact brand and type of formula they use.

Why is formula so expensive?

Lesley Frank, Canada Research Chair in food, health and social justice at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, has studied the high cost of formula and its impact on families for 15 years.

While formula makers cite rising costs for ingredients and labour for rising formula prices, Frank said another reason is likely at play.

“So we hear from the industry that it’s about cost of production for example,” she said.

“We hear less about the fact that the market around infant formula is not a competitive market, right? There are a few big players and often what keeps prices low is competition.”

Regulators in the United Kingdom are investigating the high infant formula costs in that country. Frank said it would take a similar investigation in Canada to get to the bottom of rising prices domestically.

Supporting families

Frank argues that putting more money in families’ pockets is the best way to soften the financial blow of rising formula costs.

“I think that’s a fairly easy thing to do through the Canada child benefit [CCB],” she said. “So it could be a supplement to the Canada child benefit in, you know, the first year or first two years.”

Newfoundland already has such a nutrition supplement to the CCB. 

Frank added it’s important that infants’ nutritional needs be met, especially in the first two years of life. Improper nutrition in the early years is linked to poor health outcomes, including anemia, attachment issues and behavioural problems, as children get older, the researcher added.