Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Saskatchewan’s Nakaylia Tudway-Cains is one of many mothers in Canada feeling the strain of the ongoing baby formula shortage, and says is now paying $400 a month for special over-the-counter formula she needs for her allergic son.
Tudway-Cains’s son Nolan was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy when he was six months old, so she switched him to formula. Now, the cost of that formula has risen amid a serious shortage in the United States.
“We were actually out of province (when the shortage hit) and not ever near a pharmacist or our doctor to ask for help. We were calling every store and then we called back home to see if our family could pick it up, but it just wasn’t available anywhere,” she told CTV News Channel on Thursday.
“It was very stressful. So, we had to resort to a formula that did make him very uncomfortable and very, very sick. We didn’t have another option.”
Health Canada said in an advisory issued Thursday, that there is currently a shortage of an infant formula designed for babies with food allergies and certain medical conditions amid the U.S. shortage.
The health agency said the two types of products affected in Canada at present are extensively hydrolyzed infant formulas and amino acid-based formulas - which are "critical" for babies who are at risk of anaphylactic allergic reactions.
"In certain provinces, the supply of these products is not meeting demand," Health Canada said in a statement.
The Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre told CTV News on May 12 that it has also been affected by the formula recall and says it's in a “critical shortage.” It says it hasn't had formula available for six weeks.
The stakes of the formula shortage are high for babies like Nolan.
“Nolan has lost a fair amount of weight and before, he wasn't gaining any weight at all. It ended up meaning a trip to the emergency room when he was six months old to get that diagnosis because he had blood in his stool,” Tudway-Cains said.
“Now that we are eating some solids, he is gaining some weight and he’s back up to where he should be which is a huge stress off my shoulders.”
The options for mothers like her remain limited, however, as they can’t switch brands for the formula and Health Canada says parents should not use substitutes such as cow's milk, goat's milk, evaporated milk, soy or rice beverages as they are "not nutritionally complete" for an infant.
The agency also advised parents not to "attempt to make homemade infant formula as it can put your baby's health at risk" and recommended commercial infant formula for the nutrients they contain.
To help ease the impact of the shortage, Health Canada said it is monitoring formula supply and working with manufacturers to import products similar to the extensively hydrolyzed and amino acid-based formulas.
In the meantime, Tudway-Cains remains worried about being able to afford Nolan’s baby formula at an inflated cost but is waiting on the government to hopefully help her family with coverage.
With files from Brooklyn Neustaeter
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.