Fenugreek or Domperidone?

[organiccarrotcake]

Briefly: EP mum of 7/8 week old. Only expressing around 4x a day and unable to do more. Getting about 1/3 of daily needs this way. Very keen to increase supply and be able to give more BM, and also working on latching baby.

Assuming I've gone through everything else to make what expressions she's doing more effective, would you say domperidone or fenugreek would be helpful? Which? I'm thinking Dom because of prolactin effect but not sure how fenugreek works and can't find it in my books.

What about using them longer term?

I'm V uncomfortable about suggesting gggs (ie medicating rather than increase stimulation) but I think we're at last chance saloon.

i started off with fenugreek. It did make a difference but i found it expensive. By the end I was taking 5 tablets 3 times a day, which meant i was using about 1 bottle of 100 pills a week. I went to my gp and after some argy bargy was finally prescribed them on repeat. As i im in Scotland i also got them free which was great. I found the domperidone worked better than the fenugreek in that i was not having to up my dosage at all.

OCC - TBH I don't think either will work without increased expressing and/or direct feeding. Increasing prolactin levels without more frequent removals will probably just lead to engorgement then a drop back in supply and fenugreek way well do nothing for the same reason.

I would be worried about the effects on her body if she was to take either long term without increasing the amount she expresses. Fenugreek in particular has quite a few contra-indications and could cause digestive discomfort if high doses are taken yet only 300mls of milk are removed (I am assuming that's the approx yield if she is expressing 1/3rd of baby's requirements).

What is the reason mum can't express more? Other children to care for, back at work, ill-health?

Would a SNS/Lact-aid be a more appropriate solution in the short term - baby still getting the supplements but hopefully working to increase mother's milk supply at the same time - not all feeds need to be by SNS/Lact-aid even a few could make a big difference if they were equally spaced with the expressing.

How long did you take it for in the end? Did you find your supply dropped after you stopped or was that the plan anyway?

TS - I'm going to email you. x

I was taking the fenugreek for about 2 months before i started the domperidone, then I was on them for about a year. No side effects and my milk pretty much dropped to nothing when i stopped taking them. I did try the expressing route before i was on fenugreek and whilst i was on it but it didn't make any difference. I tried pretty much everything under the sun to get my milk increased before i asked for domperidone (skin to skin etc) and nothing worked other than the fenugreek and then the domperidone.

Thanks kick :)