Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Questions about Reglan/Dom/premies

Two years ago I induced for my son born via a surrogate and was very successful. When we found we had twins on the way via the same surrogate, I began the protocol again. The pregnancy did not go well, with one ruptured sac at 21 weeks. She made it to almost 29 weeks, and now I have two tiny babies in the NICU (2lbs6oz and 2lb9oz). One is fine but just small, and the other (with the ruptured sac) is very sick. I started pumping about 3 weeks ago and it was going well, but the NICU won't give them my milk if I am taking the dom. They told me I could go on Reglan instead. I have a couple of questions for Lenore or others if you can help.

1. What dose of Reglan should I take. The LCs at the hospital told my doctor 10mg/3xday. Is this enough? It seems like a lot less than the 20mg/4xday of dom I was taking.

2. Do you have any resources that compare the dom with the reglan side by side that I can share with the doctors? I'd like to talk to them about letting me back on the dom.

I really hope the Reglan works because my supply crashed when I stopped the dom. If the Reglan doesn't work, I will go back on the dom and just save the milk until they are better and come home. One nurse suggested I just stay on it and not tell the doc, but my little one is so sick and on so many drugs that I don't think that is good advice.

Any advice you can offer me would be greatly appreciated.

Dale
Mommy to Alex (2 years) and Kate and Sarah (5days) via GS

From what I read Reglan has side effects on the mother. Depression ect.. Why wont they give your babies your milk? Could you just tell them that you are taking Reglan? If your supply is doing good on the Domp I would be hesitant to stop. How do they know what you are taking to make your supply. Just let them assume you are taking the Reglan. There is no side effect of Domperidone going through the breast milk. It is such a small amount. The side effects of the Reglan to you, however, could be really bad.

Dale, why does the doc want you off the Dom? I would ask and ask again until you get an answer you are satisfied with. If it is because this doc doesn't have any experience with Dom then that is not a good enough answer. He/she needs to do some research on it before switching you over to a more dangerous drug for you.
Best to you, please keep us posted. Check here often as it sometimes takes Lenore a day or two to get to new posts. You can always email her privately at the email address below in the left hand corner under contact. us

Dear Dale,

According to Thomas Hale, Ph.D. Domperidone is far safer for you and for your babies than Reglan. Reglan is known to cross the blood-brain barrier and is not generally prescribed longer than about 2 weeks. You're going to need your medication long term.

My first son was born at 32 weeks gestation. I breastfed him while taking domperidone. The NICU doctors knew about it and did not try to prevent me from taking it or to prevent me from providing my son with my breastmilk. I've currently been on domperidone now for nearly 3 years for my second son who was born at term. In neither case has there been any adverse side effects for myself or my children.

Over 2000 mothers have used domperidone to bring in their milk supplies. No adverse effects have been reported to us. Some of these mothers induced lactation for premature infants. Again, no adverse effects reported.

There is a study that you can provide your doctor with that looked at the use of domperidone in the NICU here: http://www.asklenore.info/breastfeeding/domperidone_study.html

Perhaps you may be able to ask your doctor if you can sign some sort of medical release that will enable you to take the domperidone and still provide the breastmilk for your babies.

Also, it's VERY important that you perform Kangaroo Mother Care also known as skin to skin as soon as your babies are somewhat stable. For more information on KMC visit this site: http://www.kangaroomothercare.com/

Best,

Hi Dale,
I work in a NICU in Phila. We regularly put our Moms of premies who have difficulty with milk supply on dom without any adverse side effects in the infants.........We prefer Dom to Reglan because of the adverse side effects of Reglan on the Moms.