North East parents are using watered-down evaporated milk in their babies' bottles because of the soaring price of formula.
The North East Child Poverty Commission say parents are also putting off weaning because of fears about the cost of solid food.
It comes as Co-op stores in England start to trial putting baby formula behind the tills in some stores to stop them from being stolen as parents struggle to afford the rising costs.
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The cost of infant formula the cheapest brand of formula has risen by 22% in the last 12 months, with the Healthy Start voucher £8.50 per week, no longer enough to pay for the amount of infant formula needed to feed a baby in the first six months.
The shocking cases from the region were heard by the All-Party Parliamentary Groups Child of the North as part of a report on child poverty and the impact the cost of living crisis is having on the North East.
It brings together policy makers and experts in child outcomes from across the country to find solutions to the disparities suffered by child in the North East.
Amanda Bailey, who is director of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said: "All the evidence shows that the earliest years are critical to a child’s development, fundamentally shaping their future life chances and opportunities.
"It’s therefore devastating that almost half – 47% – of our region’s youngest children are growing up in poverty, and that the cost of living crisis is now seriously exacerbating what were already significant levels of hardship for young families across the North East.
‘"Parents and carers, many with nothing left to cut back on, are being put under unbearable pressure by the soaring cost of essentials and being forced to make increasingly impossible, and potentially unsafe, decisions every day.
"Organisations we work with across the region have shared some really troubling examples of how families with young children are attempting to make ends meet, including watered-down evaporated milk being used instead of formula and parents putting off weaning because of the rising cost of solid food."
Members also heard families in Newcastle have turned down the offer of a free replacement boiler saying 'what's the point? I'm not going to have it on anyway', while a child in East Durham turned up to school with no shoes on.
Households haven't been able to turn up for medical appointments because of travel costs, and Sunderland parents have terminated wanted pregnancies because they cannot afford the costs of a new baby.
Ms Bailey said the Government must recognise both the immediate impacts of the cost of living crisis for young children and the longer-term implications of failing to act.
She added: "This requires decisive action to bring down the cost of household staples, as well ensuring our social security system provides a genuine safety net which – at the very least – guarantees the essentials for those facing tough times."
"We also need a long-term, joined up plan from Government to tackle child poverty if it is serious about levelling up opportunities and living standards for people in the North East."
Child poverty is now the highest it has been since 2000/2001 in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber.
Statistics found that 34% of children were living in poverty in the North during the pandemic, compared with 28% in the rest of England.
And 23% of children in England who are food insecure miss out on free school meals as only families with a very low income are eligible to apply.
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