When Taylor’s phenylalanine levels get too high, he smacks his head on the floor and cries all day long. It’s been explained to us that he hits his head because his head hurts from the excess phenylalanine, and there’s no other way to tell us that.

We take Taylor and Jax’s blood every Sunday, before sending it to the Children’s National Hospital near to where we live in Leesburg, Virginia. Doctors there test their phenylalanine levels, and a week later, we get their blood back. We need to know so we can ensure we’re balancing their protein levels. You’ve got to be right in the sweet spot, which is very hard to do, especially with our little one, Jax. His formula recipe gets changed every week because he’s growing so much.

So, we’re really feeling the ripple effects of the U.S. baby formula shortage. We use a product by the brand Nutricia, but there’s only three big companies that make the type of formula product we use—Cambrooke, Nutricia, and Abbott.

Now, the formula we use is nowhere to be found. It’s not anywhere. I’ve even been talking to the director of one of the main companies who produce the type of formula we use, and she told me that they are two weeks out from having more of the formula ready, and then it will be another two weeks until pharmacies get it.