Domperidone for breastfeeding

[Anon7861]

I have been using domperidone for breastfeeding supply for the past 10 weeks.

i tried everything before the meds and nothing worked. I initially took 1 x 3 for one week. 2 x 3 for another and then went up to 3 x3 on week 3 which seemed to have really worked very well. I had no let down issues, supply was enough for baby, I wasn’t having to pump etc that lasted 6 weeks until one morning (last week). Baby couldn’t get a let down and my milk supply dropped from 80ml to 20ml overnight per side (the right sometimes only making 5mls). I’m currently on 2 x 4 a day to see if that helps in anyway.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do. My baby is 7 months , she refuses a bottle and isn’t great with solids yet. I have to syringe feed her at times so that she gets enough milk but she doesn’t like that either. I am pumping every 2-3 hours to bring supply up again.

Hope someone can help.

I have hypoplasia and my youngest was a bottle refuser, we used a supplemental nursing system until she was eight months and eating enough solids to make up the calorie gap. I’d used it with my older child for 15 months so can be used as long as needed. A few older babies won’t accept it though in which case you’re probably better pushing high calorie solids like avocado etc

However have you really got a supply issue? Is your baby dropping centiles? Have you had a good evaluation with a lactation consultant? I assume so if they’ve prescribed domperidone but always worth rechecking all the basics.

Are you drinking enough in the heat? Are you sleeping? I would push solids at this stage and maybe stop pumping and just get her onto your boob. I never found pumping helped my supply issues. Will she eat porridge?

I’m not sure if I’m replying correctly on this. Thank you both for your responses. I definitely have a supply issue. It’s my let down that won’t happen as well for 10 minutes or more sometimes and a very frustrated baby. When I pump literally get a couple mls out. My baby is frustrated at the boob as well . I’m trying to get her to eat more solids but it’s an absolute mission between feeding , pumping and solids plus I have 3 older kids. I’m really getting pulled from pillar to post. I have a feeding specialist coming out to see us tomorrow. I’m hoping she can help.

I really just need the domperidone to work again but it’s a week now of feeding and pumping and nothing is working.

My experience with Domperidone was negative. It only really works if you have low prolactin (so typically very good for obesity/PCOS/diabetes). The boost in supply followed by a dip was exactly what I had with fenugreek and for a while supply increased with dose and then it dipped significantly and never came back.

if let down is your issue then there’s some cautious evidence re oxytocin nasal spray but it’s difficult to get prescribed in the UK however with the high doses of Domperidone you’re on I’m guessing sympathetic GP or private so you may get lucky.

Feeding specialist is great as once you’ve got to the root of the supply issue, you can determine what might work. I didn’t bother pumping for supply with my younger ones as I kneew the hypoplasia would just make it additionally miserable and went straight to feeding with the SNS once weight dropped off. I also knew not to bother Domperidone

I took Domperidone as part of a clinical trial a few years ago. They found that if your supply started to drop on it, it couldn’t fix it. An increased dose didn’t do anything but increase the risks of cardiac issues for you.

Are you getting support with getting her interested in food, as well as your supply?

Domperidone worked beautifully for me, but I’m still in contact with some of the other ladies from the trial so I can ask what they tried once it stopped working. I know one found it worked in eight week bursts for her but she was removed from the trial as the stress it was putting on her body was immense.

Yes so the feeding specialists have come round today and basically have said that she has a bit of a high palette and the tongue tie she had released at 3 months has worked but she still has oral dysfunction and at 7 months it’s hard to rectify.

they gave me a few cups etc to try. She will struggle with a bottle either way due to the oral dysfunction. Every time my supply increases it inevitably drops because she isn’t good at extracting milk.

They have suggested at the moment to keep pumping and feeding her myself so feed her and express after to get supply going but unfortunately even with that it will always be a dwindling supply unless I always pump.

It’s a tough situation really , they have suggested to ensure she eats more as well.

thank you all for you help. I would like to know what your friend did when the domperidone worked for 8 weeks and then didn’t again. I have purchased oxytocin nasal spray online, hoping it arrives soon. I did research into it and it seems to work very well for let dowN.

Hello can you tell me more about the supplement nursing system you used? I’m assuming you used formula? My baby doesn’t like formula at all. If I try and syringe her some she’s not very happy.

i can probably express tiny amounts to make up one bottle to use at least once in the day but I feel like she’s 7 months and she will notice? I could slip it in whilst she’s asleep and hope for the best I guess ? Can you tell me a bit more about how it works?

thank you

Also how long did you nurse for with a low milk supply and how low was your supply in your opinion? Mine is super low probably getting 20-30 ml off the right side and 40-50 on the left side that’s when she’s not nursed for at least 3 hours. Whe she wants to nurse in between it’s a lot less that than. Going off what I pump between certain hours I know roughly the output she also has a high palette and not great at getting all the milk out so I do compressions a lot.

I am trying to encourage more solids and feeding her as a drink when she’s done with her meals. It’s really a lot and hard work especially since I have 3 older children

I used a Medela SNS and formula. If I did it now I’d probably use donor milk from Human Milk for Human babies if possible. My supply was considerably lower than yours, even with my first in NICU I couldn’t ever pump more than 20mls total, I once got 30mls with power pumping,
best supply with youngest and at around 6 months could pump 60mls on the odd occasion at work. Both babies two and three did the classic hypoplasia weight drop around 14 days so we introduced supplementing then.

i used the SNS for 15 months with child 2 and he then weaned entirely, I used it for eight months with DC3 and she then was eating enough solids not to need it and is still breastfeeding on occasion (she’s six now and I’m hoping she’s weaning!)

Wow that’s amazing ok I’ll have to keep going and maybe try and get her to eat more solids so she’s not so dependant on me for milk. She’s 7 months now

I’ve sent you a personal message, I hope you don’t mind ! Thank you

I can't help on the feeding aspect but have you tried using formula in food?

My daughter has food allergies and we were trying to get her used to the flavour of the disgusting allergy formula so I could hopefully stop breastfeeding as it was very damaging to my health. She had a bottle aversion so we couldn't give it like that but she would take a couple of Oz in food mostly in Weetabix or porridge for breakfast. When we did eventually get her over the bottle aversion at 10 months she took to the formula really well.

How many months was your daughter when you stopped breastfeeding and giving solids with formula? I am using formula in some food , she does not like the taste but we are getting there.

my baby has bottle aversion. She just won’t take it

She was 10 months but she didn't eat enough to not have formula in bottles too, although over time she had got used to the taste of formula in food, we had been doirit for about 2 months by this point. Unfortunately I couldn't breastfeed any longer and we had to stop cold turkey. It was pretty brutal but after 26 hours without a breastfeed before she accepted the bottle. Prior to this she couldn't look at a bottle. I had to go into hospital so we were backed into a corner. At the time she only ate about half a Weetabix a day and 3 or 4 spoons of food over course of the day and had stopped gaining weight