The first thing every parent in this situation should know is this: you are not expected to have a receipt from when your child was an infant. Attorneys who handle MDL litigation understand that everyday consumer purchases are rarely documented. What matters most is not a paper trail of purchases — it is the medical record documenting your child’s diagnosis, combined with your good-faith recollection (sometimes called a ‘product identification declaration’) of what brands you regularly purchased. That combination is sufficient to open a case.

The evidence categories that strengthen a baby food heavy metals case are: (1) Medical records — the ASD, ADHD, or developmental delay diagnosis, neuropsychological testing reports, and any early intervention records; (2) Pediatric records — well-child visit notes from the exposure period (ages 0–2) documenting which foods your child ate and any developmental milestone concerns flagged by your pediatrician; (3) Purchase records — loyalty program history from grocery stores, Amazon subscription data, WIC records, or bank/credit card statements showing grocery purchases; (4) Blood lead or heavy metal tests — if your child was ever tested, those results are powerful evidence; (5) School records — IEP, 504 plan, teacher evaluations, or report cards documenting learning or behavioral challenges.

Through the MDL discovery process, plaintiffs’ attorneys have access to a trove of evidence that individual plaintiffs could never obtain on their own: the defendants’ own internal testing records (already partially disclosed via the Congressional report), manufacturing and quality control data, communications between executives about the contamination, and FDA inspection records. This shared discovery pool is one of the primary advantages of joining the MDL — your case benefits from the combined discovery resources of hundreds of law firms and thousands of plaintiffs.