Similac Go & Grow Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Toddler Drink Is Harmful for Children Under Two

Abbott Laboratories allegedly induced parents to purchase Similac toddler drinks by making misleading claims about health benefits for young children.

A California mother has filed a class action lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories on behalf of parents who purchased Similac Go & Grow since 2021, alleging that the manufacturer has made deceptive and unlawful claims about health benefits provided by the toddler drinks, which contain added sugar and may actually be harmful for young children.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Alana Gutierrez in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on September 5, indicating that the marketing of Similac toddler drinks violates U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules, by making dubious claims about nutrients directly on the packaging of a product marketed for young children.

The FDA strictly prohibits manufacturers from making nutrient content claims on products for children under two years old, due to a lack of scientific knowledge about the nutritional needs of children between the ages of 12 and 36 months, as well as concerns that such claims could be confusing and misleading for parents.

Gutierrez’s lawsuit points out that the Similac toddler drink contains four grams of sugar, even though U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary guidelines recommend against toddlers consuming any sugar. Instead, the USDA urges parents to make sure that children under the age of two consume nutrient rich foods that will encourage them to establish healthy eating patterns.

“Defendants marketing the Product as providing physical health benefits for toddlers being a healthful and safe source of nutrients for babies and toddlers is misleading to reasonable consumers and the Product is actually harmful for children under two, both nutritionally and developmentally,” Gutierrez says in her complaint.

Gutierrez’s complaint comes as Abbott Laboratories already faces hundreds of Similac lawsuits, raising allegations that the company placed its desire for profits before the health and safety of premature infants in marketing its cow milk-based infant formulas, which are now known to increase the risk that newborns may develop a devastating gastrointestinal injury, known as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Similac Formula Lawsuits

The Similac infant formula claims have been brought on behalf of infants diagnosed with NEC, which is a serious health condition that causes inflamed intestinal tissues among premature infants. This leads to perforations that allow bacteria into the abdomen, which can infiltrate the bloodstream and cause a number of life-threatening infections. In many cases infants with NEC require immediate surgery while the baby is still in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and many do not survive the injury.

The lawsuits allege that Abbott ignored a number of studies published in recent years, which have found that cow’s milk-based infant formula like Similac increases the risk of NEC. Rather than warning parents and medical providers, those claims allege that the company not only suppressed information about the risk, but actually promoted certain versions of Similac for premature infants.

In July 2024, a jury awarded $495 million in a Similac NEC lawsuit that went to trial against Abbott in St. Louis, Missouri, including $400 million in punitive damages designed to punish the company for recklessly disregarding the health and safety of premature infants.

The case was the first Similac trial to go before a jury, but a number of other claims are moving through the U.S. court system, each involving similar allegations.

In the federal court system, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) centralized all NEC baby formula lawsuits as part of an MDL in April 2022, including claims brought against Abbott, as well as Enfamil lawsuits filed against Mead Johnson, over the competing cow’s milk formula, which has also been linked to a risk of NEC.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over the federal litigation is currently preparing a small group of “bellwether” claims to trial, with the first NEC baby formula lawsuits expected to reach a jury in the federal court system by May 2025.

Although the outcome of these early bellwether trials will have no binding impact on other claims, the average payouts awarded will likely have a large influence on any infant formula NEC settlements that plaintiffs and defendants may reach to avoid all of the individual cases going before juries over the next few years.