I have started taking Domperidone. Let’s add that to the list of ‘things’ I am taking each day:

• 6 x Domperidone 10mg
• 1x Burgerstein Schwangerschaft und Stillzeit (pregnancy and breastfeeding multivitamin)
• 3 x Saint John’s Wort 300mg
• 2 x Magnesiocard Magnesium 10
• 2 x 7tabs of Schüsslersalz Magnesium Phosphoricum (Mg for the vasoconstriction I get in my nipples)
• 3 x 3tabs Burgesrtein Lezithin (Lecithin in English? I think? For the milk blister that has been there for weeks)
• 3 x 10 Arnica globuli (heal that bloody blister, damnit!)
• 2 x Weleda Stilltee (breastfeeding tea)
• A big bowl of porridge (not sure if that counts, but I use it as such!), always with raspberries 🙂

Then there’s the topical stuff – Weleda Heilsalbe (healing ointment), Heilwolle (healing wool), Medela PurLan lanolin, and the silver cups. And today I’m getting myself some quark to pop on that blister and see if that helps in some way…  *

 

Domperidone

I’m not really sure what to say about the decision to take Domperidone, to be honest. I suppose it is a big step to start taking medication to (potentially) increase my milk supply, but I am surprisingly calm about it. I’m not actually even expecting it to work, I realise. I feel as if I have ticked so many things off my ‘How to Make More Milk’ list, and none of them have worked, so I’m not holding out hope for this one. If it doesn’t work, then we just keep on keeping on, and that is okay by me.

 

Us right now, as I write this one-handed, with  the tube from the Supplemental Nursing System.

I have been thinking about taking this drug for a while, but always felt a little uncomfortable with it. Lactation is actually just the main side-effect of this drug, with its main use being for gastrointestinal disorders. That makes me uncomfortable, for some reason. To take a drug because you want its side-effect? That just seems a little… backwards. I also harbour a fear that they may uncover a terrible side-effect, in the same way that they did with thalidomide. Again, an unwarranted and totally one-hundred-percent unsubstantiated fear. I used to feel the same way when I was a teenager about inhaling helium!

 

When doing a little research about it, I came across this great website. I initially found myself tensing up when they listed all the things you should try before taking this medication, and then my jaw dropped. I almost stood up in the middle of the living room and cheered! They discussed pumping, which for me is the most dirty word on earth at the moment and brings about the most horrendous feeling of doom. They then say, “Do what you can. A mother exhausted from pumping is probably no further ahead with milk production. And yes, it is not necessary to express your milk if this is a burden and makes you want to stop altogether.”

 

Um, can these guys win the award for Greatest Three Sentences Ever Published Online?! Thank you, Dr Jack Newman.

 

So my curiosity has won out, and I am taking it. I mean, what if it would mean that I would be able to exclusively breastfeed, and I just didn’t try it because of an irrational fear? It’s worth a shot. 

A just-because-photo. My gorgeous boy, thriving in his eight-week-old glory!

* Please please please please please don’t provide me with a list of other things I could be taking or trying in order to increase my milk. The list of things that I have tried in the past is probably in excess of fifty, and the thought of having to defend this decision is emotionally draining. Just trust that I have exhausted all avenues.

(Edit: I later increased my dosage dramatically, read about it here.)