[blparent] Domperidone; was Re: Nursing and not sleeping through the night.

Wed May 30 21:33:36 UTC 2012

Hi Jo Elizabeth,

I don't mind discussing this on-list. At the recommendation of my
lactation consultant, I took domperidone. I ordered this from a
pharmacy in Canada because you can't get it in this country. My
lactation consultant told me (and I saw the same thing in my
independent research) that it had much less severe side effects than
reglan, the drug that is available by prescription in the US to
increase lactation.

Domperidone did increase my milk production, but I still had to
supplement. Additionally, a couple of times when I caught colds, my
supply dropped drastically. I might have kept on going, but I was
starting to experience a lot of anxiety in general, and after the last
cold, I just could not face the prospect of continuing to pump several
times a day at work and wondering just how much my LO got while
nursing. So I stopped taking domperidone. My milk dried up pretty much
immediately at that point. I had no engorgement or anything like that.
My body really was done with milk production.

And not long after, I noticed that my anxiety levels decreased
significantly. I should add that the anxiety was relatively
generalized and encompassed everything from feeding the baby to the
security of my current job.

All of this sounded similar to me to side effects I'd heard about in
conjunction with reglan. But I couldn't find much on breastfeeding
boards about people who had experienced these side effects with
domperidone. I found one discussion about weight gain, which I had
unfortunately experienced as well, but nothing about emotional side
effects.

Like reglan, domperidone is actually manufactured for GI issues. I
decided to look for information about domperidone side effects from
other sources. I eventually found some informative discussions on a
board devoted to GI issues. Other people had experienced similar side
effects with domperidone. (Some of the women had also experienced
lactation, which, for them, was an unwelcome side effect of their GI
medication.)

I have a theory that some of this is due to domperidone's action on
dopamine and the connection between low dopamine levels and social
anxiety disorder, but this is only my own theory.

Anyway, things have started to return to normal for me since I've been
off of domperidone. I went through a whole grieving process because I
gave up nursing much sooner than I wanted to. But I think it's
probably better for Jacob to have a mom who's basically together (or,
at least, not totally crackign under the pressures of a distorted
reality). I am glad I was able to nurse him until he was eight months
old.

I don't regret trying domperidone. Apparently, many moms use it
successfully. My lactation consultant recommended it after pretty much
everything else had failed to get my milk production back up to a
level where I could feed exclusively breastmilk again. (I did do this
successfully for a few months.) And I know now that I tried everything
within my power to nurse for as long as I could. But it truly was an
awful experience. I found it interesting that more people who used the
drug for GI purposes seemed to be reporting issues than  did moms who
used it for lactation.

Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know. But I thought
I'd post this publicly in case someone else is considering
domperidone. I wouldn't tell someone else to stay away from it. I'd
just recommend that anyone be aware of their emotional state and bear
in mind that domperidone could have a negative effect.

And if your experience was at all similar, my heart goes out to you as well.

Angie

On 5/30/12, Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at msn.com> wrote:
>
> I'm wondering, Angie, about what drug you took that had side effects.  Write
>
> me off list if you want, and if it's none of my business, feel free to say
> that as well.  But I had serious issues with a drug, also, and I'm just
> curious if it's the same one.  If it is, my heart goes out to you.
>
> Jo Elizabeth
>
> "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a
> song."  Maya Angelou
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Angie Matney" <angie.matney at gmail.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 12:38 AM
> To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Nursing and not sleeping through the night.
>
>> Every baby is different. Jacob started sleeping through the night
>> before we stopped nursing. Unfortunately, we had to stop because I had
>> chronic low supply issues. I tried everything to maintain my supply,
>> including using a medication to aid with lactation. But it had some
>> unfortunate physical and emotional side effects. so we stopped nursing
>> a little while back. I'm off on a tangent, sorry. Just wantend to say
>> that my son did start sleeping through the night while he was still
>> nursing.
>>
>> Angie
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/29/12, Erin Rumer <erinrumer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Oh, I know it is, but for now I will keep nursing him because my son's
>>> not
>>> ready to wean and I'm alright with waking briefly a couple times per
>>> night.
>>> I just make sure to go to bed early enough so I don't gyp myself on
>>> sleep
>>> and feel drained the next day.
>>>
>>> Erin
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>> On
>>> Behalf Of Allie
>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 3:44 PM
>>> To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
>>> Subject: [blparent] Nursing and not sleeping through the night.
>>>
>>> I wonder if that has to do with the fact that you're nursing him, Erin.
>>> Gabbie didn't sleep through the night 'til after I weaned her off the
>>> breast. Coincidence?
>>>
>>> Allie
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>> On
>>> Behalf Of Erin Rumer
>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 4:58 PM
>>> To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
>>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
>>>
>>> You ladies are blessed!  My son is 19 months and not sleeping through
>>> the
>>> night yet.  It's not horrible though because we co-sleep and he just
>>> wakes
>>> me a couple times per night to have a booby snack and we then both fall
>>> asleep right away again.  I think a lot of it is that he's growing so
>>> fast
>>> and just can't go through the night without having some sustenance and
>>> that's alright by me.  I know that when he does start sleeping through
>>> the
>>> night, there will be a short period of time when I will keep waking on
>>> my
>>> own because my body is so used to it.
>>>
>>> Erin
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>> On
>>> Behalf Of Angie Matney
>>> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 5:59 PM
>>> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
>>>
>>> Hi Bernadetta,
>>>
>>> That's great that he's sleeping through the night already. Jacob was
>>> about
>>> seven months old before he did that consistently. I think he did it just
>>>
>>> in
>>> the nick of time to save my sanity (or what little there is of it,
>>> anyway).
>>>
>>> Angie
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Bernadetta Pracon" <bernadetta_pracon at samobile.net>
>>> To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 6:31 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
>>>
>>>
>>>> Wow, my goodness, your right. It's eleven months, not over a year. lol.
>>>> Ok, I've never been great in math, but I thought I could do basic
>>>> subtraction without a problem. Guess this sleep deprevation is getting
>>>> to me. *grin.
>>>> It's a good thing that my little one has recently started sleeping
>>>> through
>>>
>>>> the night finally. It's been happening for about a week now; He's
>>>> sleeping
>>>
>>>> for seven, eight, even ten hours at a time now. He doesn't even fully
>>>> wake
>>>
>>>> up when I change his diaper. I was really concerned at first; I never
>>>> expected him to sleep that many hours at a time, but the pediatrician
>>>> says
>>>
>>>> it's ok as long as I check on him every now and then.
>>>> Yeah, I heard teething isn't fun. Fourteen teeth, wow, that means your
>>>> little guy is almost home free as far as that's concerned. Mine hasn't
>>>> started teething yet, but he's beginning to drool a bit and trying to
>>>> put his toys into his mouth, so I'll bet that's going to occur soon
>>> enough.
>>>>
>>>> Bernadetta
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
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