# Domperidone experience



## bradleybrat (Feb 3, 2003)

I am interested in the experiences of those of you who have taken domperidone. Did it work? How long did you take it? How did you decide how long to take it? How did you wean yourself off it? Did your milk supply decrease when you decreased your dosage/stopped taking it? If so, how could you tell (just by baby gaining less weight)? I have Jack Newman's handouts but I'm interested in hearing about some individual experiences.

I have been taking it for the last eight weeks to try to help an unexplained situation of low milk supply.

Background: My baby wasn't gaining weight on breast milk (lost more than a pound of his birth weight by two weeks of age and then didn't gain at all during the next two weeks, despite frequent, long on-cue feedings, and a good latch and suck). After working with LLL leaders, lactation consultants, pumping after feedings, taking fenugreek and blessed thistle, etc etc etc with no success, we have been supplementing with formula using an SNS.

I started taking eight 10 mg domperidone pills per day when my baby was eight weeks old. At first he seemed to be gaining weight a bit better, and I had a bit of breast fullness and a bit of leaking (which I hadn't had before). But I had no dramatic increase in my milk supply, so it has been hard to know if the domperidone has really worked at all.

After taking it for six weeks, I decided to decrease the dosage by one pill each week (i.e. seven pills each day for seven days, then six pills each day for seven days . . .). I am on six pills now and am not sure if I can tell an effect or not. My baby is taking more formula, but he has been gaining well/getting bigger, so that might explain that. I *think* I might notice a lesser supply in the early morning during the last few days (I have always had an adequate supply overnight), but I'm not sure if I'm imagining it.

I'm trying to decide if I should just buy more domperidone and keep taking it until he's six months old or so (or older???) even though I don't know for certain whether it's made any difference or not.

My goal is to breastfeed until my son is ready to wean, hopefully well into toddlerhood. I'm hoping that as soon as he is eating significant amounts of solids we'll be able to discontinue the formula supplementation but keep breastfeeding.

I woud appreciate any advice! Thanks!


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## anabean (May 1, 2003)

i'd like to know about it as well. i just ordered myself some and wouldn love to hear from people who have taken it.

also, is it aa benign a drug as they say? i wonder.

TIA!


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## Heavenly (Nov 21, 2001)

I have been taking domperidone for a year now due to a breast reduction. I went from 60% supply to 85% supply with 12 domperidone a day. I will continue to take it until she's 2 as I feel a child needs as much breast milk as possible until at least that age. 8 a day may not be enough for you, that is the minimum dose. I only saw a small increase at 8 a day but at 12 a day the change was very obvious. You might be able to exlusively breastfed on 12 a day. My DD started solids at 11 months and now at 12 months I only use the lact-aid (at the breast supplementer- the only way I supplement) at nap and bed time. The rest of the time we are able to nurse as normal. I haven't had an side effects at all. The only concern that was ever raised was that at extremely high doses (25 times the human dose!) rats developed breast tumours. But since I would never take 400 pills a day I am not worried, plus breastfeeding for at least 2 years decreases your risk of breast cancer. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.


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## bluemoon72 (Oct 7, 2002)

I don't post a lot but I wanted to share my experience with you. I started takind Domperidone when my ds was 4 months old. I had returned to work as a nurse 3 nights a week and my supply dropped dramatically!!! I think it was a combo of stress and not being around my baby 3 nights a week. I was pumping pretty good, just not getting a lot of milk. I started with 8 pills a day and within 48 hours I was gushing milk!!! I was pumping over 20 ounces in 12 hours!!! My ds is now 11 months old and i take between 8-11 pills a day. I never had to supplement with ABM, because i had tons of milk in the freezer!







I plan on taking the Domeridone till he weans. I tried to decrease my dosage and immediatly noticed a decrease in my supply, so I will stay on it. I should mention that I did take fenugreek and blessed thistle, eat tons of oatmeal, drink tons of water to bring up my supply, also feed on demand!! I hope you have good luck with taking Domperidone, it is worth it!


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## anabean (May 1, 2003)

thanks for posting, bluemoon. that's really great to hear. i can't wait to get the stuff in the mail.

i still worry about long term use, i hope i don't have to use it for a long period of time. are there any good studies about this? my doctor said that there aren't and that's why they don't recommend it and wouldn't support my decision of taking it. of course i didn't tell them i'm planning on taking it.









also, i wanted to ask you ladies, where did you use to get your domperidone? since they won't prescribe it, i ordered it online, but it seems a bit pricey. i was wondering if anyone has a better source.

thanks again.


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## bluemoon72 (Oct 7, 2002)

anabean,
I ordered mine online too, global drug I think. At times I too worry about the long term effects, but I know that htere have been mommas that have been on it a couple of years in order to feed their adopted babies. I just hope that I don't need to use it with all my babies!! Good Luck to you!


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## bananasmom (Aug 2, 2002)

http://www.bfar.org/domperidone-newman.shtml

for more information about the use of domperidone.

I know there is a link on the Jack Newman website, of the places that you can order. I think New Zealand may have had one of the cheapest... I can't find the link at the moment.


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## anabean (May 1, 2003)

cool, thanks. i just ordered more from www.globaldrug.tv
900 pills for $95!! and i paid $65 for 300 pills on freedom pharmacy.com







:


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## Proud50andPG (Feb 20, 2003)

HI,

My two cents. My situation was very similar to yours: first three weeks of my son's life he was feeding all the time and crying much of the time and ultimately losing weight. Finally figured out I had very, very low milk supply -- was probably providing only about a third of what he needed. Worse, he had bad thrush and ultimately could not latch, which caused my supply to drop even further.

Immediately began supplementing with formula and he just as immediately began gaining weight. For 6-7 weeks he gained A POUND A WEEK. Clearly, he needed the calories the formula provided. Also cleared up the thrush and his latch returned, so during that time he was also breastfeeding.

I was so exhausted those early weeks and could never get the hang of the SNS. So just did a bottle with formula and, while my son's latch was no good from the thrush, pumped 4-5 times daily. Ultimately, he was feeding (on cue) about 7 times per day, with each feeding comprising breast and then 4 ounces of formula in the bottle. Meanwhile I was eating avocadoes, drinking mothers milk tea, and taking lactaflow tincture. Was not really aware of my supply going up, though I know it did slightly when my son regained his latch and began breastfeeding regularly. At that time I pretty much stopped pumping except for the rare times when he was at the nanny's (Wednesday afternoons).

Finally got over the exhaustion and figured why not try domperidone. For six weeks now have done the "standard" initial dose: 20 mg 4 times daily.

The results? Well, mixed. When I pump, I pump barely more than I did before once we got past the thrush: a meager 50-60 milliliters. But my son seems very different. Where he used to take a bottle 7 times per day, now he seems interested in it only 5-6 times a day. I am also not automatically offering it to him at the end of each breastfeeding, but rather waiting a while to see if he "asks" for it. Sometimes he does right away, sometimes he does after an hour or so, and sometimes he doesn't ask at all. This means that one of his two night feedings is now breast only, a HUGE improvement in terms of my rest.

I also am making a point of offering him the breast even when he doesn't seem to ask for it. Bottom line, he's at the breast probably 8-9 times daily and takes the bottle 5-6 times daily. So his formula consumption is down significantly, but his weight continues to rise.

Bottom line -- though my pumping doesn't seem to yield significantly more on the dom, my son seems to be getting significantly more. And that's what counts.

Martha

P.S. In another post I was reporting on my happily successful mixing of breast and formula feeding, and I made an unfortunate reference to what I called "radical breastfeeding propaganda." Though no one wrote to complain, I worried that I may have offended some people and want to apologize now, and explain a little.

I am TOTALLY pro-breastfeeding.

What I meant when I wrote those words was the implication in much breastfeeding literature that once a baby starts on a bottle (formula) he won't go back to the breast -- and I found in my son's case that just wasn't true (fortunately). It may be true in many cases, and the authors probably want women to be very careful about using bottles for that reason. So I imagine that's why they make the warnings so pointed.

But in my case, recalling all those words made me very depressed for a while, for I truly believed that having to start formula supplementation was going to be the end of my breastfeeding. So while I don't blame the authors for telling it "like it is" I wish there were more words in these publications about women like me, who are unlucky enough to have a lousy supply, but lucky enough to successfully mix breastfeeding and formula feeding. So it would be nice if the literature were able to sound a little more optimistic.


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## Quirky (Jun 18, 2002)

bradleybrat, have you had your thyroid levels checked? hypothyroidism is common post partum and can cause low milk supply. Your TSH levels should be between 0.3 and 3 (although you should get a full thyroid panel done).

Dom really worked for us; in fact I think I'm going to start it again because I just can't seem to keep up with my son's needs and he's starting to get frustrated and crying at the breast.









I think it's very safe; I'd much rather take dom than Reglan, which has tons of side effects (like worsening PPD!







)


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## Mary (Nov 19, 2001)

I took it and had a great experience with it. First a little background- I had had surgery and lost alot of blood when my son was 4 months old. That was supply buster number one. A few weeks later I started taking the minipill and then two weeks after that I started back to work. All of this together was just too much and my supply crashed. I immediately quit the minipill and nursed as much as I possibly could, but when working all day long and not responding to the pump, I had to do something more.

I ordered domperidone and began taking it and in a couple of days saw results. I was able to pump enough milk and then some. I took it for the whole three months that I was working. Probably the last month I took less than half the recommended dosage. When I was home again I was able to nurse on demand and everything was fine.

I will say that I think I produced more than needed when I was on it. It's easy to get used to being so full of milk. I don't think I would have needed it if I wasn't pumping full time at work.


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## Lolapony (Aug 2, 2014)

Heavenly said:


> I have been taking domperidone for a year now due to a breast reduction. I went from 60% supply to 85% supply with 12 domperidone a day. I will continue to take it until she's 2 as I feel a child needs as much breast milk as possible until at least that age. 8 a day may not be enough for you, that is the minimum dose. I only saw a small increase at 8 a day but at 12 a day the change was very obvious. You might be able to exlusively breastfed on 12 a day. My DD started solids at 11 months and now at 12 months I only use the lact-aid (at the breast supplementer- the only way I supplement) at nap and bed time. The rest of the time we are able to nurse as normal. I haven't had an side effects at all. The only concern that was ever raised was that at extremely high doses (25 times the human dose!) rats developed breast tumours. But since I would never take 400 pills a day I am not worried, plus breastfeeding for at least 2 years decreases your risk of breast cancer. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.


Hi! Just wondering what the dosage if your domperidone was. My doctor has me starting in 10mg x 4 daily. My situation is almost exactly the same as yours and I really want this to help. Your level of production increase is awesome! Can you let me know? Also how long you took the medication for...


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## TwinMamaKasey (Sep 24, 2014)

I have 2 1/2 month old twins whom I used to supplement at every feeding. I started a generic brand of Dom called Vomistop and went from 21oz a day to 30oz on just 40mg per day (10mg every six hours). 

Over three weeks I increased to 80mg per day and on my last pump test discovered that I am producing 64oz a day - I TRIPLED MY SUPPLY IN LESS THAN A MONTH!! I am now exclusively breastfeeding and my boys are gaining weight steadily still  I couldn't be happier with the results.


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## Iigi (Mar 6, 2017)

I used domperidone with great success - partiaIIy breastfeeding at six months. UntiI I started the domperidone my baby may weII have fed on bIood from a stone. We tried the skin-to-skin, the constant feeding, the teas, the massages, but basicaIIy my miIk never came in in sufficient quantity. Just as I was about to quit, a friend suggested domperidone. I was abIe to stop the domperidone after a whiIe and suppIy heId more or Iess steady.


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