CLAREMORE, Okla. -- Parents of newborns are concerned about getting resources for their babies through the government because of the shutdown.
Two-month-old Piper gave her mother a scare when she got sick from breast milk.
"She was just extremely fussy, screaming all hours of the night, you can tell she was in pain," said Amanda Brull, a parent in Claremore.
Doctors suggested Piper to drink soy milk.
"2 a.m. in the morning one night I change her, her diaper is full of blood," Brull said.
As a new mom, Amanda was horrified.
"When you don’t have any experience and you have something hit you like that at full force, it terrifies you to the core," Brull said.
After a proper diagnosis of CMPI, Cow Milk Protein Intolerance, Piper finally reacted well to a specialized formula called Alfamino.
"60 dollars a can, 120 dollars a week, she can go through more than two cans if she’s hungry," Brull said.
With costs adding up quickly, Amanda reached out for help.
"She needs it to live, and with WIC, they cover it," Brull said.
WIC is a nutrition program for pregnant women, new mothers and their babies. It's federally funded through the State Department of Health.
"With the government shutdown we don’t know for how long she’ll have her formula," Brull said.
Officials at the Rogers County Health Department say they'll be funded into March, but with what seems like no end in sight to the shutdown, Amanda fears for her daughter's health.
"It’s really scary especially for these babies who need these life-saving formulas and that’s going to be taken away," Brull said.
She wants to spread the message to donate baby formula to food pantries to help other parents who may be going through a similar situation.
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