Baby Formula/Insurance advice

[K-Train]

Hey guys, hoping some of y'all with experience can steer me in the right direction or offer advice. Long story short, after 7 weeks of switching formulas trying to find one that agreed with our newborn baby girl's stomach, the pediatrician has said she has a severe cow milk protein allergy and wrote us a prescription for "Pure Amino DHA & ARA baby formula". This was after she was already on Nutramigen, a hypoallergenic formula for this problem, and still had blood in her stool. They gave us a few cans as samples and she seems to be doing great on it.

Problem number one is trying to find a pharmacy or medical supply company that even deals with baby formula let alone someone who can get it because of covid etc. Problem number two, he wrote us a script so that insurance would help cover it. With insurance, it is $47 for a can that lasts around three days. Do the rough math and thats $15 a day, $470 a month, over $1400 for the three month supply that they are supposed to send us. My wife has been on the phone with Insurance all day after she was misquoted multiple times and is trying to get it figured out. The can without insurance is only $5 more....thanks Blue Cross!

I am new to all of this and don't really know much about prescriptions/pharmacies/Insurance/Coupons etc. I have heard people and seen commercials for Good RX or prescription savings programs etc... Is there anything I can look into to help lower the cost or find a better deal on it? I really don't want to switch different formulas if we can get this one as she seems to be happy and healthy. I will pay the full price in a heartbeat if thats what it comes down to, I just wanted to seek advice from people who might have been there and could help me from having to sell my boat! Thanks guys

[bobc]

I will check some PBM pricing in the morning and let you know what I can find. I work in that industry.

Aside from that, have you considered trying goat milk? Wonder if that would make a difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ThisLadyHunts]

There is no kind of misery like that which is created by an unhappy infant!

You mentioned having check pricing through Good Rx but have you also checked with the manufacturer? Often times, they’ll offer discount cards that can be used in combination with insurance benefits.

[dirtybay]

Have y’all tried other hypoallergenic formulas? We have had great luck with store brand: target, Walmart, Walgreens, cvs all from same factory
Soy?

[Walker]

Have you tried goat milk. It is the universal donor of milk.I was allergic to cows milk when I started taking a bottle. Not sure what they fed me though. That was in 1952 & 1953 and I was born at a very young age.

[topwater blowup]

My Twins were both on Nutramigen, I will have to go back and look it up but yes the insurance was a god send.

[Mitchell8]

Any problem with breastfeeding? Talk to the pediatrician about wet nurses. Had a friend that sold hers or gave it away not sure the details on all that

[Jon B]

Man I feel your pain. We got a huge raise after our youngest got off of Formula. We literally had it figured out where we could get it at the lowest price per ounce and we took advantage of target's specials where you buy two big cans and get a $10.00 give card. We were spending around $70.00 a week on average. It was horrible. I really hope y'all can get it figured out.

[TX Doc]

First of all is your baby gaining weight? There are some slight differences between formulas but most of it is marketing BS. Nutramagen and Alimentum will be the most processed and broken down OTC formulas on the market. That also means they stink and certainly don’t taste anything like breast milk. Some babies spit up a lot at every feed but if they are gaining weight and hitting their milestones there isn’t anything to do and they will grow out of it by age 1. Medications don’t help reflux and spitting up. A gastric emptying study can be done but will likely be normal. I have never had to prescribe a prescription formula and certainly wouldn’t give it to my child unless it was recommended by the gastroenterologist. Babies are like puppies. It takes a while for their system to get used to new formula. If you’ve been changing multiple times over the last 7 weeks then you’re contributing to the problem. I would just go with Alimentum or Nutramagen and stick with it for 3-4 weeks. Use a bottle with an air vent and a slower flow rate nipple. People have been raising babies for thousands of years. Don’t over complicate it. If you wait and leave the child alone they generally do fine.

[Jaker]

Our insurance covered ours, I believe it was shipped directly from express scripts also check eBay or wet nurses like mentioned above.

[El Paisano]

My granddaughter does best on Alimentum. It is available at Walmart for about $12 per 32 oz bottle. May be cheaper with Rx.

[drwilliams]

Our insurance covered ours, I believe it was shipped directly from express scripts also check eBay or wet nurses like mentioned above.

We used express scripts as well through my insurance. It was cheap having the insurance. That was about 3 years ago so I'm not sure what it's all like now.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[SaintBlaise]

Very sorry to hear that, we went through many formulas before settling with Nutramagen. Nutramagen is the only formula that smells better on the way out. FWIW, they ask you to stay with a formula for a set amount of time to see if it works. However, my wife didn’t follow that recommendation.

[TX_Hoghunter]

Our middle daughter had the same issue. We found a formula that was basically goats milk. It work great. That was nearly 30 years ago. Good luck.

-john

[bbqfan5909]

Our now 5 yr old had same thing, we used Similac Alimentum Hypoallergenic Infant Formula. Best advise, see if any friends get discounts on formula. It gets better brother, just a phase.