As the price of baby formula in Venezuela soars, moms turn to each other for help

But Vargas wanted to give her baby the healthiest start possible without ruining the family budget. And she found it in an unexpected way. Her boss at an online food delivery company where she works as a sales executive had a sister, the mother of a 6-month-old baby, who volunteered to give Vargas breast milk.

She received frozen breast milk every 15 days, preserved in little plastic bags with the date marked in pen. “Mathias gained the proper weight in just weeks. It was incredible,” Vargas said, holding her baby, now 16 months old, in her arms.

In Venezuela, baby formula has become so expensive for families that some mothers have begun turning to other women for breast milk donations or even to nurse the babies directly.