Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Flip

Original poster

5 mo dropping percentiles - domperidone??

15 replies

snackered · 26/08/2015 14:08

Hi all,

Wondering if I can get some help. My 5mo DS is ebf. We had loads of feeding problems at the beginning - tongue tie, thrush, mastitis, poor latch, supply dropped and his weight plummeted. Did lots of work on it, pumping, taking supplements, feeding round the clock and he got back up.

All great for about a month. Very happy baby, putting on 200g a week. Great.

Then a bad bout of teething led to old bad feeding habits and my supply has dropped and he's dropped two percentiles. He's now on the 2nd. His sleep is awful - up every two hours, nap refuser, he's back to taking about an hour to feed as clearly my supply's so low / it's not coming quick enough (essentially I think that's it - there's milk but it comes really slowly.

He won't take formula - he screams and screams. He's pale, tired, hungry, upset all the time. My hv is pretty useless - says not to worry / it's a phase. Doctor is much better.

Has anyone had any experience of domperidone?? I've suggested it to doc, who's a bit hesitant and doing some research. I wonder if it would speed the flow up or just increase supply?

Any other tips? He's miserable, I'm miserable and feeling like a massive failure.

Thanks for reading - what a big old moan.

OP posts:

JiltedJohnsJulie · 26/08/2015 18:52

No experience of the drug sorry. Could it be that the txt has reattached? Have you tried things like breast compressions too?

As he's dropped 2 centiles, I'd give one of the Bfing Helplines a call and go to a Bfing Support group in your area, if there are any.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 26/08/2015 18:53

This is a good article too here

BreeVDKamp · 26/08/2015 19:15

Bumping for you

for you battling on through!

DS is today down to the 2nd centile after being born on the 75th, argh!

Original poster

snackered · 27/08/2015 20:49

Thanks for the replies

John - had tt checked and it's not reattached. I do breast compressions at every feed - thanks lots for the article, that's really interesting.

Bree - agh - for you too. It's so heartbreaking, isn't it. DS was on the 75th at birth too, but hung around the 25th for a while and is now on the 2nd.

I've got some domperidone, fingers crossed that helps.

OP posts:

LL0015 · 27/08/2015 20:53

Dd had domperidone for reflux. It aids the digestion for them, in DD case she kept sicking up what she took.

My friend has similar issues. 85 to 2. She curvy and plump and had a big baby.
He's now 8 and still on 2nd centile and smallest in class. So maybe sometimes they just need to find their line. If he now stays on it, take heart.

LL0015 · 27/08/2015 20:55

Sorry for typos! On phone!
Had similar issues. DD and her Ds are now 8!
DD born 25 and now 75 (height)
Her DS born 85 now 2 height.

ReallyTired · 27/08/2015 21:01

It is stressful when children don't neatly follow percentiles. However our children have never read the baby charts. My little girl's weight fell from the 50th centile to the 0.4th centile I had the baby police health visitors coming round my house to weigh my daughter. My daughter was absolutely fine, she was just destined to be tiny and still is tiny at the age of six. If a mother is well nourished then she might have a large baby whose weight then falls to his or her natural level.

I am a little confused is the domperidone for the baby or for your to increase your milk supply? Would you consider a gentle introduction to solids? It may well be worth getting advice from a paediatrian rather than some random mumsnetter.

ElphabaTheGreen · 27/08/2015 21:06

What you're describing is both of my DSs. Definitely nothing wrong with my supply with either of them, they were just fractious, clingy Velcro-babies who needed to be attached to me, ideally with boob in mouth, 24/7, until they were over a year. Both also slid gently down a few centiles, but were so off-the-charts tall, I wasn't remotely worried.

I would be surprised if the domperidone does anything, TBH. He just sounds like your common-or-garden variety high needs baby to me, who went into overdrive with the four month sleep regression and its associated developmental leaps.

ElphabaTheGreen · 27/08/2015 21:09

Domperidone is prescribed for mothers to stimulate milk production, in addition to refluxy babies. I'm assuming the OP is taking it. It's not for the baby.

Hackersschmakers · 28/08/2015 09:46

Iwas diagnosed it to help with milk production (Dts were on it for reflux too). I'm afraid it did nothing for me and the amounts needed were massive to make any difference.

They don't prescribe it for reflux babies any more apparently.

BookTart · 28/08/2015 09:51

DD was very similar, dropping down the centiles and permanently latched on. She was prescribed Domperidone for silent reflux and hated it so much that we stopped giving it within a week. In the end her problem turned out to be cows' milk, even though she was ebf she was getting the proteins through my milk and I had to give it up. Any chance it could be something like this? I'm no expert, but after 5 months is it likely to be a supply problem? What makes you think it is?

BreeVDKamp · 28/08/2015 10:14

Thanks snackered!

Doc advised more formula yesterday, for weight gain and other reasons. So we are slowly weaning off BF now :( boo :(

I think since DS had tt for 8 weeks my supply has never been what it should have been. Cest la vie! DS is happier after/during formula feeds so that's the main thing.

Original poster

snackered · 28/08/2015 14:45

Elphaba - that's really interesting. And also super useful to get a different
lesshysterical perspective. DS is also very long - both DP and I are tall. I think it's more that he seemed much happier, more content and slept well around the time he was putting on a fair bit of weight consistently. But your explanation makes a lot of sense, and you've described his temperament exactly.

Maybe the domperidone (which I'm taking ReallyTired) won't do much. We're seeing a paediatrician next week on doc's referral.

Book - you could be right, it might not be supply. But it feels like it is...

Lots of luck Bree - it's great he's taking formula and is happier.

OP posts:

ElphabaTheGreen · 28/08/2015 17:08

If it helps at all I got my DS1's tongue tie divided when he was six months old because I thought it would do something to space his feeds and get him 'fuller' and therefore less of a boob monster. Nope. His utterly identical brother convinced me it was just their personalities. I never bothered with getting either of them weighed much, though, even though DS1 lost 11% of his birthweight when a newborn. I figured that they both fed so damn much, there wouldn't be any conceivable way of getting more milk into them. I took it on faith that outgrowing clothes fairly regularly and filling nappies accordingly was a good sign that my supply was OK. I attributed their pallor (and mine) to the preference for boob over sleep.

Check your DS against the high-needs baby bingo card here and practice saying, 'This too shall pass...this too shall pass...' while rocking and clutching coffee

BreeVDKamp · 28/08/2015 22:22

My baby isn't filling nappies as expected or growing out of clothes much (3 months and still in a few newborn items). Phew I'm glad the docs have got me to give formula now as I was in 2 minds about it but the more I read and think about it the more I think I just need to get calories in him. Our paeds appointment isn't until October

Sorry op, just musing and not much help to you! :-/ but you're not far off weaning now and hopefully the domperidone will help!

Flip