Last Ditch Effort

After almost 10 weeks, and doing everything I possibly could to increase my milk supply I have finally decided to order Domperidone. I wanted so badly to breastfeed without medicinal assistance but unfortunatly that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me (at least not with Luke). I’ve spent probably close to 500 hours researching ways to increase milk supply.

I’ve tried skin-to-skin contact – literally spending days in bed with Luke laying bare skinned on my chest. I’ve tried putting him to the breast every chance I get. I’ve power pumped, pumped after feeding, pumped between feedings. I’ve taken fenugreek until I smelled like syrup, moringa, milk thistle, goats rue and alfalfa. I’ve tried to drink mothers love tea. I ate as much as I could, drank as much as I could. I massaged my breasts with various oils and fed Luke in the tub…..and still no increase in supply.

Domperidone is my hail mary. If this doesn’t work I’m out of ideas. Domperidone was recommended to me first by a lactation consultant who recommended I go to the pediatric lactation clinic and see my sons pediatrician. She recommended I take domperidone and told me where to get it from. After doing some research, my initial reaction was NO.

You see, Domperidone has been banned in the U.S. after claims that the medication can cause heart problems and even death. Further research revealed that the people who died from the medication already had compromised immune systems, and were given 1000 times the recommended dose intravenously. There has been very little ill effects in an otherwise healthy individual, and is actually prescribed in the UK and Canada for babies with reflux.

I ordered it online from a reputable source after talking to numerous women about it. Hopefully the pills will be here by the end of the month, but it could take up to 3 weeks if they get stuck in customs. According to what I have found online if this works I should expect to see a sigificant increase in supply. From what I have been told women have gone from 10 ounces a day to 30 or more ounces a day. I don’t think I get 10 ounces in a day yet…..the most I’ve pumped is 3 ounces in a day, with Luke getting 4-6 ounces from me. If I could double my output, I could feed Luke between 8 and 12 ounces a day (12-18 if my supply triples) and pump an additional 6 (or 9).

I’ll most probably never be able to exclusively breastfeed Luke, and I’m okay with that. If I can increase my supply even a little, it will be worth it.