They came too early, and too small. The NICU became your whole world — the alarms, the isolette, the numbers on the monitor you taught yourself to read. Somewhere in those weeks a nurse fed them a formula you never chose. Then came a swollen belly, an emergency surgery, and a word nobody had ever said to you before.
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Almost no parent is. NICU feeding orders are recorded hour by hour, and a firm can pull those records for you. Not knowing is not a reason to skip the review.
— Educational
This was not your fault. In nearly every one of these cases the formula was given inside a hospital NICU, ordered by clinicians, often while a mother was recovering from an emergency delivery or unable to produce milk yet. Parents did not choose it. Nobody told them there was a risk.
These lawsuits are not about what parents did. They are about whether the companies that made these products should have warned hospitals and families, and did not.
One more thing worth saying plainly: this litigation is about premature babies in NICUs. It is not about ordinary infant formula for healthy full-term babies. Nothing on this page is reason for any parent to stop feeding their child.
Necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, is a severe illness where tissue in a baby’s intestine becomes inflamed and starts to die. It is the most common serious digestive disease in newborns. It can require emergency surgery to remove part of the bowel, and it can be fatal.
Prematurity itself is the biggest risk factor. A premature baby’s intestines and immune system are not finished developing. About 7% of very low birth weight infants develop NEC, and some of them were never given formula at all. That has to be said honestly.
What the lawsuits allege is that formula increased that risk. Research has consistently found that babies fed human milk develop NEC less often than babies fed cow’s milk-based formula. A 2024 Cochrane review put the reduction at roughly half, and rated the evidence as high certainty.
The claims say Abbott and Mead Johnson knew about this research for years, and still sold preterm formula and fortifiers without warning hospitals or parents.
— Compensation
If a claim succeeds, compensation is meant to cover what this has cost your family — the care already given, the care still ahead, and what cannot be replaced.
— The process
You will not be asked to relive anything you are not ready to talk about, and you do not need records to begin.
Fill out the short form or call. How early your baby was born, what happened, and which hospital. It takes about two minutes. There is no cost and no obligation.
If your situation fits, we connect you with a participating law firm. That firm looks at your case on its own and decides whether to represent you. If it does, you sign an agreement directly with the firm.
You sign a records authorization. The firm obtains the feeding orders, birth records and diagnosis notes that show what your baby was given and when. This is the part that decides the case, and they handle it.
Your case is filed in federal or state court, whichever fits your facts. Your firm keeps you updated as the current trials play out. You are never required to accept an offer you do not want.
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What Direct2Attorney is
What Direct2Attorney is not
We are not a law firm. We cannot give you legal advice, represent you, or file anything on your behalf. Only a law firm you sign with can do that.
If your premature baby was fed cow’s milk-based formula in the NICU and later diagnosed with NEC, it costs nothing to find out where your family stands. You do not need the records or the brand name. In many states a child’s own deadline does not begin until they turn 18, so there may be more time than you think — but claims brought by parents run on much shorter clocks.
Participating law firms are generally reviewing claims where a baby was born prematurely, usually before 37 weeks and often at a very low birth weight, was fed a cow’s milk-based preterm formula or fortifier such as Similac or Enfamil in the NICU, and was then diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis. Medical records need to show both the formula feeding and the NEC diagnosis. Families who lost a baby may bring a wrongful death claim.
No. In nearly every one of these cases the formula was given inside a hospital NICU, ordered by clinicians, often while a mother was recovering from an emergency delivery or unable to produce milk. Parents did not choose it and were not told there was a risk. These lawsuits are not about what parents did. They are about whether the manufacturers should have warned hospitals and families about the risk and did not.
The results are genuinely split. In the federal MDL, Abbott won the first several test cases on summary judgment, and in July 2026 a federal appeals court upheld one of those wins. In state courts, juries have returned large plaintiff verdicts, including $495 million in Missouri in 2024 and $70 million in Chicago in April 2026. Two federal test trials are underway in July and August 2026. There is no global settlement.
Generally no. This litigation is specifically about premature infants, usually born before 37 weeks and often under about 3 pounds 5 ounces, who were fed cow’s milk-based preterm formula or fortifier in a hospital NICU. Standard infant formula for healthy full-term babies is not what these cases are about.
Deadlines vary by state and by claim type. Many states pause the clock on a child’s own injury claim until the child turns 18, which can leave far more time than parents expect. Claims brought by parents in their own right, and wrongful death claims, usually run on much shorter deadlines. Only an attorney licensed in your state can confirm what applies to your family.
Nothing to ask. The case review is free with no obligation. If a participating law firm takes your case, it will normally work on contingency. That means the fee comes out of a recovery, and no fee is owed if there is no recovery.
No. Direct2Attorney is a legal marketing and referral service, not a law firm. An attorney-client relationship may form only after a participating law firm reviews your information and signs a separate representation agreement with you.
Ask it on the call. The review is free, and there is no obligation to move forward.
— News & updates
A million Dollars NEC verdict against Abbott in 2024 is shaking up the infant formula industry in 2025. Learn how
A Parent’s Guide to Understanding NEC, Toxic Formulas, and the Global Push for Accountability What Is the NEC Baby Formula
