How to keep Louisiana infants safe after nationwide baby formula recall

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Friday, Mar. 11 marks two weeks since Abbott Nutrition voluntarily recalled a certain lot of formulas. One of the newest pieces of information is Louisiana WIC has received a federal waiver to get Non-Abbott formula.

This comes after several reports of illnesses in infants, as well as two infant deaths.

The FDA and the Louisiana Department of Health are urging parents to look out for recalled powdered baby formulas.

The impacted ones are Alimentum, Similac and Elecare.

Jennifer Nicklas with the LDH said this is impacting many across the nation and infants in Louisiana.

She said families are reporting stomach issues, fevers and bacterial infections.

Nicklas has some tips for people looking for a formula equivalent.

“There are lots of options in the market,” said Jennifer Nicklas, Director of Nutrition Services with LDH. “So if your baby was on Similac products before, there are other brands that they can go to that have the same types of formulas available to them.”

You can find substitutions for those formulas here:

She said to look for Non-Abbott products.

Some of those big name alternative formulas are Gerber’s products, Good Start and Enfamil.

There are also store brand options.

“I would say if it’s been at least two weeks since the babies had potential impacted formula then we’re probably ok,” said Nicklas. “But we still want to be on the lookout for anything that is not normal and of course have those parents reach out to the pediatricians if they are a WIC family they can reach out to their WIC clinics.”

If you’re still unsure whether you fall under this recall, you can go to the website similacrecall.com and check the lot number that’s on the back of the can.

There’s also a 1-800 number you can call with any questions.

Click here to visit Louisiana WIC online.

Click here to report a typo.

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