Nutramigen Customer Letter

Here is the letter I sent to Mead Johnson today.  I held off on the sarcasm, because I want them to take my complaint seriously, and I want them to send me some free swag...a Nutramigen onesie maybe.

To Whom It May Concern:

My daughter, Matilda, has used Enfamil Nutramigen since August 15^th 2008.  I know the exact date, because the day before, she was in the hospital for severe dehydration due to vomiting.  My wife had recently discontinued breastfeeding and we started Matilda on Enfamil Lipil, as we did with our first daughter, Annabelle.

For that first 48 hours of bottle feeding, we had no idea why Matilda rejected everything she ate.  My wife blamed herself for not breastfeeding, and our families told us it must be a stomach bug.  By the time we went to the hospital, Matilda was vomiting nothing but bile and had lost a fair amount of weight. 

Once pyloric stenosis was ruled out by the doctors, they diagnosed a milk allergy.  Matilda proved to be severely allergic to casein, a fact later confirmed through blood tests.  The emergency room doctor recommended we use either Nutramigen or Similac Alimentum.  We chose Nutramigen, and as soon as we switched Matilda began eating and regained the weight she lost.

We are 10 months removed from that initial scare, and Matilda is doing great.  She has no other diagnosed food allergies, and now eats numerous solid foods.  The extra cost of Nutramigen, while significant, is outweighed by the memory of seeing Matilda in the hospital.

Imagine then, my disappointment when I opened a can of Nutramigen this week and saw the larger scoop size.  It didn’t take much investigation to realize that your new formulation, which includes Enflora, manages to exclude one major thing…3.4 ounces of powder.  The same size can now yields 24% less formula.  This is an immediate cost increase of $60 a month for our family.  We already spend over $2500 a year to feed Matilda.  This change makes us consider switching brands, but the fear of potential side effects makes that difficult.  Matilda may have grown out of her milk allergy; many children do by this age.

I am writing to see if you would recommend that we give another formula—or whole milk—a whirl?  Would you with your child?

From this inquiry I hope to accomplish two things: To receive from your company a definitive explanation as to why the new formulation needs to contain less powder per can, and to let you know that, like me, many of your loyal customers who opened their new lightweight cans of Nutramigen this week must be considering a switch as well.

Sincerely,

Joseph Poulas

Comments

[Jill]

Joe,

I have been following the formula posts and I'm still a bit confused. The new cans contain less powdered formula for the same price. But what's the deal with the larger scoop size? They must have changed something in the formula that requires a larger scoop size. Does this concern you, in regards to tilda's allergies?

You being cheated twice. Once by putting less powder in the cans. Then requirering more powder per serving. I think you need to say that more clearly in the letter.

[Unfinished Dad]

Jill, I know you are a chemist, and this may not have been clear, but I think the formula simply has to be less dense, no?

[Dani]

Too nice. Make them feel guilty for further gauging parents of allergy stricken kids. You can be meaner than that. Remember the comcast letter- and all they did was f around with you cable. These mo fos are f-ing around with your child's health. Let them have it.