Ashley Rodolphe, a 26-year-old mother living in Texas, started buying ByHeart baby food because she believed it was a safer, cleaner alternative to other baby products on the market.
But this month that assumption was sharply refuted. Rodolphe has learned that ByHeart is recalling its powder formula because it is likely related to… infant botulism outbreak it sickened more than a dozen babies. She panicked, hoping that the formula she had been feeding her daughter for the past three months was not from a defective jar.
“I don’t know if we had these banks or not, and it was pretty scary to think about,” she said in a phone interview Friday. “When you feed your baby formula, you don't think about keeping the jars in case they get recalled.”
Rodolphe and her husband stopped using the mixture on Nov. 9, a day after the product was pulled from store shelves and online retailers amid an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration. The family pediatrician advised her to monitor her daughter Saphira for symptoms.
“You look at your child and see that she's fine, and then you wonder: What if she's not? What if she's showing symptoms and I just don't know what they are? What if she's not fine tomorrow?” – said Rodolphe. “This is an absolutely horrific situation.”
Rodolphe is one of many parents across the country who are deeply affected by the botulism outbreak. As of Friday, there were 23 cases reported in 13 states. according to the FDA. No deaths have been reported so far, the agency said.
The FDA fact sheet says most children with infant botulism initially develop constipation, poor nutrition, loss of head control and difficulty swallowing. Symptoms may become more severe: difficulty breathing, stopping breathing.
According to the FDA, symptoms appear within a few weeks. If left untreated, the infection can lead to paralysis and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
ByHeart initially said it would recall two lots of Whole Nutrition's organic infant formula after the FDA announced it was investigating the outbreak's connection to the product. Then last week, ByHeart expanded the recall to include all batches of the formula.
“The safety and well-being of every child who uses our formula is and will always be our highest priority,” ByHeart co-founder and president Mia Fant said in a statement.
“This national recall reflects our commitment to protecting babies and providing families with clear, helpful information. Along with this recall, we are conducting a comprehensive investigation to do our part to get the answers parents expect and deserve.”
Summer Beseke, a 25-year-old mother from Longview, Texas, said she was nursing her son Sirus when she learned by email that the formula she was using had been recalled.
“I pulled the bottle out of my mouth and started crying,” Beseke said. “I didn’t know what botulism was at first, so I got worried and my heart kind of sank.” She went online and did some research. “Instead of my heart sinking, it was more like a hole burning in my chest because I'm literally actively feeding this to my baby.”
Then Beseke noticed troubling symptoms. A 6-week-old child became constipated. It was difficult for him to raise his head. She said he was “a little more lethargic than usual.”
Cyrus spent two days in the hospital before being released Thursday, his mother said. Besekke and her husband are now awaiting test results to determine whether their son has botulism.
“It was so much anxiety,” she said. “I should have cherished these moments and they took that away from me.”
ByHeart is facing at least two lawsuits from parents who claim their children got sick and claim the company was negligent in selling “defective” formula. The families are seeking financial compensation for medical bills, emotional suffering and other harm.
Jurani and Steven Dexter of Arizona, plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits, said their 4-month-old daughter Rose began getting sick in August. She looked weak and lethargic, her eyelids were half open.
“I just remember her laying there with her arms crossed and being very quiet and refusing the bottle,” Stephen Dexter said in an interview.
The lawsuit says Rose eventually had to be taken by ambulance to a children's hospital in Phoenix, located two hours from their home in Flagstaff. According to her father, she was treated there for about two weeks.
The Dexters believe ByHeart should face consequences.
“You have chosen to provide a product that is directly marketed to a group of people who are by definition powerless,” said Stephen Dexter. “If you don't make a 110% guarantee that the product you're selling is absolutely pure, then we have a problem.”
