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Medicaid Reform as a Tool to Support Breastfeeding in Non-Hispanic Black Women

      Between September 6, 2021 and January 4, 2022, four infants who consumed powdered infant formula manufactured in Abbott Nutrition's facility in Sturgis, Michigan, were infected with Cronobacter sakasakii. All the 4 infants required hospitalization, and the Cronobacter infection may have contributed to the death of 2 infants.

      Powdered infant formula recall: what to know. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/powdered-infant-formula-recall-what-know. Updated May 12, 2022. Accessed November 16, 2022.

      In a nation where only one quarter of infants at age 6 months are exclusively breastfed and slightly over one third of infants are breastfeeding at age 1 year, the subsequent fallout from the recall of multiple formula lines, facility inspections, and supply limitations resulted in an unprecedented infant feeding emergency.

      Powdered infant formula recall: what to know. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/powdered-infant-formula-recall-what-know. Updated May 12, 2022. Accessed November 16, 2022.

      ,

      Breastfeeding among U.S. Children born 2012–2019, CDC national immunization survey. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/nis_data/results.html. Updated August 1, 2022. Accessed November 16, 2022.

      As anecdotes and frightening stories flooded the news and social media and with shortage rates skyrocketing to 70% in the week of May 21, the American populace watched as panicked caregivers scrambled for formula and as conversations around infant feeding culture in the U.S. were reignited.

      Paris M. U.S. baby formula shortage rate jumps to 70% as crisis worsens. Bloomberg News. May 28, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-27/the-cities-and-states-where-the-baby-formula-shortage-is-worst. Accessed November 16, 2022.

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      REFERENCES

      1. Powdered infant formula recall: what to know. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/powdered-infant-formula-recall-what-know. Updated May 12, 2022. Accessed November 16, 2022.

      2. Breastfeeding among U.S. Children born 2012–2019, CDC national immunization survey. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/nis_data/results.html. Updated August 1, 2022. Accessed November 16, 2022.

      3. Paris M. U.S. baby formula shortage rate jumps to 70% as crisis worsens. Bloomberg News. May 28, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-27/the-cities-and-states-where-the-baby-formula-shortage-is-worst. Accessed November 16, 2022.

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