Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Meds and Breastfeeding

I am using a surrogate due to complex congenital heart defects and we are currently 10 weeks pregnant with TWINS! My husband and I had discussed me inducing lactation long before we transferred and agreed it was something I should attempt to do. I had a friend look up my meds and was told that all were "safe" to use while breastfeeding.

Two weeks ago I went to my GP (I don't have a GYN, mostly out of laziness) and told him I wanted to try the protocol. I brought with me the book "Nursing Mother's Handbook" to show him the protocol. He made copies of those pages and plans to do some research and get back to me. However, he went ahead and prescribed the Ortho-Novum to go ahead and start taking, as I need birth control anyway. I happen to already have some domperidone a friend ended up not needing, but haven't started taking it yet. The babies are due July 2nd. I had been planning to start the protocol by Dec. 11th (6 months prior to the 37 week mark).

Last night I was reading my "Nursing Mother's Handbook" before going to sleep. I got to a part that talked about medications and referenced an appendix, so I went to check it out. I looked up all of my medications and every one of them says that only small amounts are transferred into BM and they are considered "safe" (I knew this already, from talking to my friend, but it was nice to see it in writing).

However, I also read a part about premature babies possibly being affected by smaller amounts than term babies or babies a couple of months old.

So that got me thinking... My babies will come at least a little early, I'm sure. So will all of my meds put them at risk after all? Also, the fact that I take SO many meds, could it cause a problem even though individually they're considered "safe"? I, of course, plan on talking about this with my doctor, but thought I'd see if you have any experience or advice.

Thanks,
Niki

Hi Niki,

Congrats on the twins!

I don't really have an answer to your question, but I'll take a stab at it. I will guess that it depends on the size and health of your babies. Our 2nd son was 3 weeks early but a good weight. If your babies are medically fragile, the benefit of your breastmilk would probably be so much better for them than any risk from the domperidone. What meds do you think you will be on once the babies arrive? Hopefully someone else will chime in here.

Another idea: if the babies are very premature, would the GS be able to pump some milk for them to drink those first few weeks? You could feed it to them in a Lact-Aid.

Best wishes,
Nancy

Niki,
I would try e-mailing Dr. Newman or Lenore to see what they say.
Jennifer

Actually, it's not the domperidone I'm worried about. It's all the heart meds I'm on. They all say they're okay for nursing, but I just worry that the sheer number of meds I'm on could be a problem. This is what I'm on:

coumadin
lanoxin
lasix (I'm going to see if I can change this, as the books say it can inhibit lactation, even though it's safe to take)
vasotec
aldactone
toprol

As for my GS pumping for us, we've already discussed this and she DOES plan to do this for us. So perhaps that will help dilute the amount of my meds they are getting...

Thanks for the responses. I'm starting the domperidone tomorrow!