Aptamil Comfort Milk-A National Shortage

 

 

 

We had a but of a shock this week. Following on from my Chemist Direct review, we had three boxes of Baby G’s formula stock piled. As he is draining 9 ounces at each feed though, it is not lasting as long as it used to and, by Friday, I was thinking about buying more.

He has been having Aptamil Comfort milk since he stopped having expressed breast milk. He was crying during feeding and, I self-diagnosed, with the help of Dr Google that he had silent reflux.

I still stand by this diagnosis because, once on the Comfort milk, he fed like a dream.

However, there was a problem. Asda had no Comfort milk in, so I rang my local Boots to check before I travelled but they had none. Then I tried Sainsbury’s. They checked their warehouse and rang me back with the news that not only were they out but there was no hope of getting any in.

I began to panic.

I must have rung every Boots, Sainsburys, Asda, Mothercare, Babys R Us and Tesco in a 30-mile radius. Nada, nothing.

I rang Aptamil who said they would ring me back within the hour, which they did. Meanwhile I had found this statement on their website:

“APTAMIL COMFORT AVAILABILITY (POWDER 900g)

Due to exceptional circumstances we are currently experiencing low availability of Aptamil Comfort Powder 900g. We are continuing to send out supplies regularly, but expect shortages for the next six weeks, after which the situation should improve significantly.

We would like to reassure you that we are working hard to increase supplies to normal levels as soon as possible. We are very sorry about this situation, which is due to a recent fire at one of our factories.

If you can’t find Aptamil Comfort, our trained advisors can help with product information and practical tips on how to deal with your baby’s colic or constipation. Please call our 24/7 Careline on 0800 996 1000.”

 

I really did panic then. I knew they did a Reflux version of the milk but I wasn’t happy changing my baby’s milk.

 

Aptamil rang back, which I was very impressed with on a Saturday. They confirmed the fire and said the only sure supplier they had, at the moment was Ocado in my area.

 

I was running out though. It wouldn’t have lasted until Sunday.

 

Thankfully, Boots at the Trafford Centre found one tub in their store room and promised to keep it behind the counter at the Pharmacy for me.

 

So we got dinner out and a trip to the Disney store for this one tub of golden milk powder.

 

In the meanwhile, Tesco got back to me on Twitter and worked tirelessly for over 24 hours to find out what was happening and look for stock for me.

 

They told me the following:

 

“As you’re already aware there was a fire, they’ve moved production to another factory and are working to build up our production capacity. Supplies of Aptamil Comfort are coming in each week but unfortunately we expect to have low availability for up to three months.”

 

THREE MONTHS!!

 

So I’ve got three coming from Ocado, I went to a Tesco miles away to buy two from there but when I got there, they had gone and I’ve got my mum on the case if she sees any while she is out shopping.

 

It is an absolute nightmare.

 

I did read on Netmums however that Aptamil’s sister company, Cow and Gate do a Comfort Milk and it is very similar so I suppose I always have that to fall back on.

 

As I said to the lovely lady who rang me back from Aptamil, this is yet another thing to make me feel guilty about not breast feeding. It is done now though and, until the supply is back, I will be stalkishly looking for Aptamil Comfort milk.

 

If you see any, let me know.

 

I would like to thank Aptamil, Sainsbury’s, Boots and Tesco who all went above the call of duty to help me out.

 

*UPDATE** As of 11/08/15, there is still a supply problem with Aptamil Comfort Milk. We changed to Cow and Gate Comfort milk but guess what? There’s now a supply problem with this too.

Very worrying time for parents of formula-fed babies.