What to Do If Your Baby Has Colic

Colic is a word that no parent wants to hear. Listening to your beautiful newborn scream for hours on end is heartbreaking. It’s also not the introduction to parenthood anyone wants or expects. However, for those parents dealing with a colicy baby, take heart that colic is fairly common and can affect up to 1 in 4 newborn babies.

What is colic?

Colic is when a baby who has no known health conditions cries for a long time for no obvious reason. Colic is most common in babies 6 weeks and younger and usually goes away by the time the baby is four months old.

A baby is diagnosed as having colic based on three rules:

• Your baby cries at least three hours a day
• The crying episodes occur at least three days a week
• The crying episodes persist for at least three weeks in a row

What causes colic?

It is unknown what causes one baby to have colic and not another. There are a few theories, but one idea gaining in popularity is that babies with colic are not crying for no reason, but crying because they have a milk protein allergy which is causing them distress.

How to treat colic

It is not easy to treat colic babies, but one idea parents can try is to switch to a hypoallergenic formula. Some symptoms of colic such as the incessant crying may result from problems digesting lactose or milk protein. Even for babies who are breastfed, if they are allergic to dairy and the mom is eating dairy, that dairy protein is passed along to the baby through breast milk.

How to get hypoallergenic formula covered by insurance

One barrier to trying hypoallergenic formula and finding relief for yourself and your infant is the cost. Hypoallergenic formulas can often be very expensive. However, if your pediatrician agrees that the colic may be caused by an allergy, they can prescribe a hypoallergenic formula that may be covered by your insurance.

That’s where Insurance Covered Baby Formula comes in. We work with your insurance company to get your formula covered. We are an in-network provider with most insurance companies and we work on your behalf to ensure your specialty formula is covered.

Hypoallergenic formula options

There are many hypoallergenic formula options for babies with colic. You can see which formulas we offer covered through insurance here.

Two of our most popular hypoallergenic infant formulas are Nutramigen with Enflora LGG and Similac Alimentum. Both formulas are nutritionally complete for infants with food allergies including colic symptoms.

We know that parenting takes a village. And we want you to be successful!

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