Similac Alimentum

[Ashley1102]

So my daughter has been put on similac alimentum and the price of this stuff is a major shocker. I want to know if anyone has any tips for me on how to get it cheaper or places they find that puts it on sale.

I will tell you what I have already done....
-I have called similac and asked them to send me out coupons if they could because I don't ever seem to get anything sent from them and they sent me out (5) $1 off coupons. I am grateful that it was something but they didn't do much
-I have called our insurance company and asked if they cover any amount of formula and got a laughing no.
-I got the doctor to write the formula as a prescription and sent it to apria healthcare to see if they could get my insurance company to go threw them and that was a no go
-My babies doctor doesn't get any coupons or samples sent to them by similac so that is no help
- I have looked at the qualifications for WIC for pa on the computer and it looks like my husband grosses too much to get WIC
- People on Ebay sell similac checks for way to much money!

I'm thinking I'm doing everything possible. I am out of similac formula checks and only have (4) $1 off coupons left so I need help. Does anyone know if alimentum goes on sale AT ALL at babies r us? I saw they had cases of the nutramigen on sale last week so I'm hoping alimentum will go on sale at some point. Not sure if alimentum and nutramigen are that close that I could give my baby which ever one is cheaper at the time.

[CW&M Mom]

This is what I did.

We had to buy nutramagin...same price basically.

I would purchase enfamil retailers checks on ebay (but not the ones specifically for nutramagin) as long as it was good on any enfamil product. Those tended to be cheaper. I often looked for those that had mispelled or were selling one check with a bunch of baby coupons so no one was seeing the post.

I purchased cans straight off of ebay
I purchased cans straight off of craigs list
I purchased cans when really desperate from amazon.com

**back when I was purchasing it..diapers.com wasn't around...so that would be another good place to start.

Mostly I got the price down by about $5.00 a can. Go around to your various stores they won't necessarily all have the same price. AND if you have any store that does cats and gas points...I often would purchase it there with the retailer checks.

You'll never get it as cheap as regular formula...I know it completely sucks.

I would not suggest switching back and forth but if you think you'll find the nutramagin cheaper...it's worth switching over and staying with nutramagin. They are very very similar.

And if nothing just keep reminding yourself...that thank goodness he/she tolerates the alimentum. Because when babies don't tolerate that stuff..you have to go to Neocate or Elecare. No coupons and that stuff is $60 a can (yes the same size small can).

[tacatcon]

Did you look at the Abbott Labs website?-they are the parent company to Similac. Back when my daughter had to be on Alimentum and then Elecare they had a "fund" to help out with the cost and even though we certainly weren't poor by federal guidelines they sent us quite a bit for free. We also were lucky that a friend of a relative was a nurse and she got us a bunch of Alimentum from her hospital before my dd was changed over to Elecare because she failed on Alimentum.

Here is a link to the Abbott Patient Assistance Foundation. They don't cover Alimentum but they do help with Elecare. I'd call and tell them your situation and ask if they have any suggestions. If nothing else, they may have an idea.

Also put a classified ad here looking for some-people do buy and sell formula on here as well in our Classified forum.

Best of luck! I know how hard it is to have to worry about the cost of the formula on top of everything else!

[amylynne01]

My DD2 was on Alimentum from 4months - 15months because of milk issues. Is your doctor willing to work with your health insurance company? The office manager and our ped worked with my insurance company to get it covered because there is a certain way it has to be coded to approve it. It was deemed medically necessary and covered 100% until she turned a year old. We had to get an extension and that was a process, but it happened. Even if you can get 50% coverage, that's better than nothing.

I searched and searched for deals for Alimentum and found absolutely none. :( I refused to pay for Similac checks from ebay because the savings I would actually see was slim to none and not worth my time to get them. Alimentum was never included in the drugstores' deals or with Target's get a gc wyb 2 Similac formulas.

Instead of chasing checks and coupons and sales, I found one website that offered a decent deal and used them regularly. It is abcbabyformula.com. I would pay around $120 (ranged from $110-$130) for 6 cans ($20 a can) with free 2 day shipping. That is better than Walmart's price with a $5 check, and it gets delivered to your door.

One other thought I had was to see who does bring samples to your ped and if there is a similar formula you can use. My ped's office pretty much sees only the Similac rep, so maybe yours sees the Enfamil rep. Nutramigen and Alimentum are the same, so if they're willing to help out with coupons and samples, that might be another idea.

[CW&M Mom]

Some insurance companies exclude formula in all manners. So you need to look at how your policy is written...but if the exclude formula for even kids on feeding tubes you'll probably have no luck. Those folk often have to pay $2000 a month in formula.