meanwhile parents are still struggling to get their hands on baby formula more than a year after the shortage began all those Facebook groups and websites created to help ease the crisis and connect parents with the formula they need well they're still operating and federal Regulators are warning lawmakers the Nationwide crisis could easily reoccur Melissa Rose Cooper reports a year after a nationwide shortage of baby formula left parents struggling to feed their children many families are still having issues finding what they need people are still really struggling it's gotten better for some things um but like Enfamil AR for existence or for example it's impossible to find it's absolutely impossible to find there's a lot of people you know please if you see it anywhere please let me know does anybody have a sample can of it and you know no one's really even getting sample cans of it anymore it just kind of dropped off the face of the Earth like you know everyone is struggling still Stephanie Esposito understands the struggle last may she created the Formula Finder NJ group on Facebook to connect families looking for formula after she herself was having problems getting it for her baby and with almost 5200 members now Esposito says she never thought a shortage would still be an issue and I actually have some people that have left the group and then they're coming back because they need either the toddler version of whatever formula it may be and they can't find that so they're coming back in saying you know I was a former member but now I need this or you know their child was almost a year at the point when I started and now they're pregnant again maybe and they are they're like well I need to start looking for formula now because we want a formula feed and it's still hard to find so now I even have like repeat people joining and they're telling their family members and it's constant I always have at least 10 people a day trying they're requesting to come in this shortage first came to light last year after one of the largest baby formula manufacturers Abbott Laboratories issued a recall and shut down its facility since then production has gone back up but pharmacist Yasha says the supply just isn't meeting the demand we're getting the trickle-down effect we're getting the the product into the pharmacies but uh the demand is just so high you know we can't keep up with the demand this shortage is also causing some stores to limit the amount of formula customers can buy Amy Renato says she shops at multiple Wholesale stores to get enough formula for her twin six-month-old babies right now she has about three weeks worth of Supply but is worried about running out as adults food is always readily available for us for babies we can't just switch to a different kind of formula their sense stomachs are so sensitive so it's it's really nerve-wracking being sure that we have enough on hand that's the only nutrition that the new ones have so babies until four months or even sometimes six months they don't do not eat anything else besides the formula so this is what will give them all the nutrition all the minerals all everything calories that they need to grow so if you don't have the formula it's just like starving somebody for uh the food so I think it is very critical that there is adequate supply of the formula in the country and parents do not have to struggle for that the FDA warns another severe shortage could still happen if production of baby formula isn't expanded parents who are struggling to find Formula are encouraged to reach out to their pediatrician and connect with groups like Formula Finder NJ for help for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]