DMV Baby Formula Tracker: MOCO Grads Design Outlet To Help Parents

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — A baby formula shortage has left some parents searching far and wide for the food their children need, but a new tool from two Montgomery County Public Schools graduates aims to make that process a little easier.

Matthew Nanas, a 2022 Wheaton High School graduate, and Adam Lederer, a 2022 Clarksburg High School graduate, developed an online database where parents can find information on where to get formula near them in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia area.

The national baby formula shortage, which has made life difficult for some Maryland parents, was caused in large part because of massive Abbott Nutrition recalls of popular Similac, Alimentum and EleCare brands of baby formula.

Out-of-stock rates hit 74 percent across the United States for the week ending on May 28, according to data on 130,000 stores followed by Datasembly.

"Adam previously worked on a website with another friend called Mocovax which helped people find available COVID-19 vaccination appointments," Nanas told Patch. "Because of his previous work, Delegate Lesley Lopez reached out to him requesting a baby formula tracking website. Since Nicholas Fettig (another developer of Mocovax) was busy with school, Adam reached out to me for assistance with coding the baby formula tracker."

Mothers searching for formula have taken drastic measures, including diluting the formula or making their own, FOX Baltimore reported last month. Those are measures doctors warn parents not to do.

There are two parts to the database, hosted on Women's Legislative Caucus of Maryland website. One is a crowdsourcing database, where users can upload pictures of store shelves to report what stores are in and out of stock. The other part of the database scrapes information from chain stores such Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, and buybuy BABY to check the inventory listed on their websites in one search.

"The project will help local families by relieving parents' stress when it comes to finding the right baby formula for infants," Nanas said in an email. "Having one source for reliable information that can be confirmed from the comfort of one's home was the main goal during the development process."

Nanas has plans to attend the University of Maryland this fall, and Lederer will attend Montgomery College, according to the Women's Legislative Caucus of Maryland.