"Cassandra Shedden has sometimes had to rummage around her home, looking for things to hawk, just to pay for baby formula. The 33-year-old mother of three in Thunder Bay, Ont., describes the price of formula today as gross. According to Statistics Canada, formula prices have climbed nearly 84 per cent since 2017 and about 30 per cent in just the last two years."
""Sometimes you're trying to choose between bills and feeding your kids," said Shedden. She added she'd make minimum payments on bills or try to top up her Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) money and other government income by earning a few extra dollars driving for a delivery service all to ensure her baby's bottle is full of formula and her children are fed."
"Shedden's six-month-old daughter Charlotte is exclusively formula-fed and requires more than the minimum because she has trouble gaining weight. Shedden said she tried her best to breastfeed her two youngest, but couldn't. Today, she said, formula costs her anywhere from $90 to $120 a week. And that's the cheapest brand of formula we can find. The formula only usually lasts about three days."
Cassandra Shedden, a 33-year-old mother of three in Thunder Bay, Ont., faces steep infant formula costs that reach $90 to $120 per week for her six-month-old who is exclusively formula-fed and struggles to gain weight. Statistics Canada reports formula prices rose nearly 84% since 2017 and about 30% in the last two years. Shedden supplements Ontario Disability Support Program income and earns extra money driving to afford formula, sometimes rummaging for items to sell. Social media posts from parents show reliance on the Canada Child Benefit and widespread desperation to secure even a single can of formula.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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