did you gain weight while on domperidone?

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

i'm trying to scrape the $ together to order some to try and have at least a few ounces of milk a day for my lo who never learned to nurse. my supply has dwindled dramatically down and i now pump for a total of about 3.5 hrs and get usally around an ounce for the day- 2 if i am lucky. but i am a VERY big mama already and i really can't afford (as selfish as it sounds) to take a med that is gonna make me gain weight. i've tried the herbal galactogogues and other obvious tricks (i'm a former bf counselor). anyone have any weight gain stories? was it a lot, and was it hard to drop the weight after you stopped taking it? i am hoping to get the money together for it, but won't bother trying if it made everyone gain.

[star8kitten]

I would not say it "makes' you gain weight but I will say that making more milk will make you hungrier.  I took it when I had supply issues with my twins and I did notice a dramtic increase in my hunger.  Now, I am a big mama too so I understand your concerns about it.  I did not always satisfy the new hunger with how shall we say it "healthy options." 

I don't know if it was drug that made me hungrier or my body trying to make enough milk for two babies. I remeber with my first two (no meds) that I was hungrier in the begining but it seemed to level out after the first couple months. 

Hope that helps, as hard as it is satisy the new hunger with better options and you should be okay. 

Also, I know you were not really posting about this but have you tried to offer the breast to your baby recently?  My twins would not latch so I EP for two months.  After the milk was flowing I offered them the breast and lo and behold they started nursing.  We are still going strong at eight months.

Good Luck!

[LilMomma83]

Originally Posted by star8kitten 

I would not say it "makes' you gain weight but I will say that making more milk will make you hungrier.  I took it when I had supply issues with my twins and I did notice a dramtic increase in my hunger.  Now, I am a big mama too so I understand your concerns about it.  I did not always satisfy the new hunger with how shall we say it "healthy options." 

I don't know if it was drug that made me hungrier or my body trying to make enough milk for two babies. I remeber with my first two (no meds) that I was hungrier in the begining but it seemed to level out after the first couple months. 

Hope that helps, as hard as it is satisy the new hunger with better options and you should be okay. 

Also, I know you were not really posting about this but have you tried to offer the breast to your baby recently?  My twins would not latch so I EP for two months.  After the milk was flowing I offered them the breast and lo and behold they started nursing.  We are still going strong at eight months.

Good Luck!

I also have wondered if its the hungry or the dom itself that causes weight gain...I gained a TON when I took it with DS2 but now with DD I have maybe gained 3 pounds in the past month, but, much better than 15/month like I was with DS2! I am just being much more careful to stick to healthy foods. I also have chosen to stick with a supply that's a little less than where I want it, but, much better than it would be without...so that I take the dom, but, less than I would take to have a "perfect" supply.

[LilMomma83]

Originally Posted by LilMomma83 

I also have wondered if its the hungry or the dom itself that causes weight gain...I gained a TON when I took it with DS2 but now with DD I have maybe gained 3 pounds in the past month, but, much better than 15/month like I was with DS2! I am just being much more careful to stick to healthy foods. I also have chosen to stick with a supply that's a little less than where I want it, but, much better than it would be without...so that I take the dom, but, less than I would take to have a "perfect" supply.

Oh..and I don't think it's selfish at all...I feel the same way...and think how important it is for your baby to have a healthy mama...much more important, in my opinion, than having breastmilk.
 

[elevena true]

i don't think i've gained weight, rather i feel that it has been harder to lose weight while on the dom.... this time my baby weight is creeping off, if it's moving at all. nak, hth

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

thanks for sharing your experiences mamas. i ordered some late last night/early this am, and am gonna give it a go- but i'm not going to be taking as much as most people do- i typically have a very sensitive supply, so if it is going to work for me i'm sure i'll see results in just a couple of days easily. if i can get to where i could pump even 2.5 hrs a day while still making at least a couple ounces of milk i'd be happy. i've packed on quite a bit of weight since this last delivery and am at my heaviest ever.  the swimsuit/dress top i bought that i was planning on using to deliver (planned to use a birth center) i bought a lot larger because i knew i wanted it to not be restrictive and i knew i still had some baby growing to do- or so i thought, is now tight :(
 

Originally Posted by star8kitten 

Also, I know you were not really posting about this but have you tried to offer the breast to your baby recently?  My twins would not latch so I EP for two months.  After the milk was flowing I offered them the breast and lo and behold they started nursing.  We are still going strong at eight months.

Good Luck!

yeah i still offer occasionally, the most he does is lick the milk off the nipple if i hand express a few drops out. he is older though so i don't really have any hope for it. my oldest son didn't learn to nurse til he was almost 6 months old. the youngest is 31 months now. i just want to make enough milk for him to have some each day for the next couple months til we are well past cold/flu/rsv season. my older ones weaned themselves- oldest ds after 11 months of tandeming and dd right after she turned 5,

[Snowflower]

Ug. So that's what is going on. Ya. I've gained so much weight its embarrassing. I'm a big mama as it is too. I have a pair of jeans someone gave me when I was super pregnant that i scoffed at, like I could never wear pants That big. Oh
guess who's wearin those pants? Now I know why I'm even bigger than I was peggo. Darn it all. I'm weaning off the domperidone. I feel like fenugreek works better anyway. baby is 5 months now and my supply is fine. Fenugreek is supposed to help loose weight too. Good luck mama!

[experiencedmom]

Hi there,

As a past user of domperidone, I was just reading some of the recent health concerns about it and was wondering if you were aware of them?  I might not have chosen to use it if I'd known...

Regarding the weight, I was hungrier and found that I didn't lose the baby weight as they say will happen when you're nursing.  I did start exercising and dieting when my babies were 1 and 3 (after I'd quit nursing) and lost the weight then.  What I did find, though, was that I quit domperidone earlier with my second baby and my milk supply didn't decrease. So maybe you don't need to keep taking it after nursing is established?  I woudn't, if I were doing it again.  If a drug can have negative effects on us as adults, what might it do to our tiny children?  My daughter was found to have a patent septal valve opening (heart murmer) at 2 1/2 months, a few weeks after I started taking domperidone.  Thank God it resolved itself, but now I wonder where it came from.

[Megan73]

Hey OP,
Dom increases gastric motility so your stomach empties faster and you get hungrier. That's why most people prescribed dom take it.
So yeah, you can gain weight. My SIL gained about 20 lb taking dom - 120 mg a day - but I've been really lucky. I've taken 90 mg a day for both my nurslings (for 15 months with my first and 14 months and counting with my second) and am thinner than I've ever been although still pudgy, sadly.
That said, I know dom is expensive for U.S. moms - I just get a prescription from my doc and bill my insurance in Canada - and weight gain is a known side effect for some women so it's up to you whether it's worth it.
Hugs for spending so much of your day pumping for your LO!

Originally Posted by experiencedmom 

Hi there,

As a past user of domperidone, I was just reading some of the recent health concerns about it and was wondering if you were aware of them?  I might not have chosen to use it if I'd known...

Regarding the weight, I was hungrier and found that I didn't lose the baby weight as they say will happen when you're nursing.  I did start exercising and dieting when my babies were 1 and 3 (after I'd quit nursing) and lost the weight then.  What I did find, though, was that I quit domperidone earlier with my second baby and my milk supply didn't decrease. So maybe you don't need to keep taking it after nursing is established?  I woudn't, if I were doing it again.  If a drug can have negative effects on us as adults, what might it do to our tiny children?  My daughter was found to have a patent septal valve opening (heart murmer) at 2 1/2 months, a few weeks after I started taking domperidone.  Thank God it resolved itself, but now I wonder where it came from.

What "recent health concerns" are you talking about? If it's the FDA warning it was eight years ago and Dr. Jack Newman pretty thoroughly debunks it as politically-motivated: http://www.nbci.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81:on-the-fda-and-domperidone&catid=5:information&Itemid=17
I've never read anything about the amount of domperidone a baby would get from mom's milk being harmful - in fact it's been used to treat babies with reflux.
Finally, aren't heart defects like your daughter's congenital? I've read they're the most common birth defect in the U.S.

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

i'm not concerned about the dom- like the previous poster said, dr jack did a wonderufl job breaking it down. the majority of the users having issues were not taking it orally and were older and unhealthy to begin with.

i have seen an improvement in supply, and have been able to cut pumping down to about 2.5 hrs a day and am only taking 40 mg of dom max (2 of them 2 x  a day), and i have more than doubled supply so i now make about 4 oz a day (at the lowest i got 11 cc in one pumping session- after an hour+ of double pumping)

not sure if i've gained weigh as i've not gotten on a scale. i am making it a point to get outside and get at least some walking in though on the days it isn't already hot, and we're applying for aid from the y so hopefuilly we can get in there so i can at least swim (and zumba looks fun too- though i know i won't be able to keep up in the beginning and i wonder about the timing and littlest ds' care while i will be there- swimming we'll all do together)