Domperidone - continued
By: Dr. Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

Please Note:

• 6/7/04 - FDA Warning about Domperidone

• 5/18/05 - FDA updated position

• Jan. 2007 - Health Canada Warning about Domperidone

• AAP -The Transfer of Drugs and Other Chemicals Into Human Milk

• Statement from Dr Jack Newman about FDA warnings

How long can I use domperidone?

When domperidone was being used for babies (and now that cisapride is off the market, it is being used again), it was common for the babies to be on the medication for several months. Since the amount of domperidone that gets into the milk is very small indeed, from the baby’s point of view, there should be no issue in the mother taking it to increase milk supply for several months. Our experience with this drug is that short-term side effects are very few and almost always very mild. Worldwide experience with domperidone over at least 2 decades suggests that long-term side effects also are rare. Some of the mothers in our clinic, breastfeeding adopted babies, have been on the medication for 18 months without any apparent side effects.

How long does it take for domperidone to work?

It depends on the situation. In a situation where the mother had a good milk supply, but it decreased for some reason (e.g. going on the birth control pill), domperidone often works very rapidly to increase the milk supply. Often, within a day or two, the mother is seeing a difference (and so does her baby). But this is not always so, and in any situation, it may take a week or more for the mother to get an effect. On occasion, we have had mothers only starting to get an increase in their milk supplies a month or more after starting to take it. Therefore, we generally recommended that the mother take the domperidone for at least 6 weeks in order to be sure whether it has worked or not.

It is our impression that domperidone works best after the first few weeks after the mother has given birth. This has not been proved, but there are theoretical reasons why it may be so. For this reason, we have often waited to prescribe it until the baby is at least 3 weeks, mainly because we did not want the mother to become discouraged if she did not see any rapid increase in her milk supply.

How do I know how long to take domperidone?

Usually, we ask the mother take it for two weeks and re-evaluate. There are several possibilities.

In these two situations, we would ask the mother to start weaning herself from the domperidone in this way.

1. Most mothers are taking 2 tablets four times a day, or 3 tablets three times a day. When you are ready to start weaning from the domperidone, drop one pill, so that now, instead of 8 pills a day, you will be taking 7, or if you were taking 9 pills a day, you will be taking 8.
2. Wait 4 or 5 days, a week if you wish. If you see no change in your milk supply, drop another pill.
3. Wait another 4 or 5 days. If you see no change in your milk supply, drop another pill.
4. Continue in this way until you are down to no pills a day. If there has been no decrease in your milk supply, or if there has been a small decrease that does not affect the breastfeeding and baby’s weight gain, that’s just what we hope to have happened, and many mothers manage this.

It is possible, however, that after two weeks, you are not where you want to be. In that case, you should continue using the domperidone. If you are still not where you want to be after 6 weeks of domperidone, it is time to think some more about the domperidone. If you are supplementing, and have managed to reduce the amount of supplement from 14 ounces to 10 ounces, is it really worth taking a drug in order to do this? If you feel it is, then continue with the domperidone, but try weaning the number of pills down to minimum number that maintain your milk supply, as above. If you do not feel it is worth it, try weaning down as above, and if you don’t see any change once you get to no pills a day, fine. However, if you do notice a real change in the milk supply as you lower the dose, maybe the domperidone is more effective than you had thought (remember, after 6 weeks, your baby is significantly heavier, and it may be that instead of needing 14 ounces without domperidone, the baby might actually need 20 ounces to maintain good weight gain, in which case the domperidone is actually doing something).

Remember: Before using domperidone, the breastfeeding should be fixed, and as quickly as possible. This means:

About The Author: Dr. Jack Newman is a Toronto pediatrician who has practiced medicine since 1970. In 1984 he established the first hospital based breastfeeding clinic in Canada, at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He now holds breastfeeding clinics in several Toronto area hospitals. Jack has been a consultant with UNICEF's Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and has spoken at conferences around the world. He is the father of three children, all breastfed.  Dr. Newman is the author of "The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers"

NOTE: The article above titled "Domperidone-continued" was written by Dr. Jack Newman and is the opinion of its author.  "The New Parents Guide" does not guarantee the information to be factual.  Always use the guidance of your personal doctor or your child's doctor over information you read on this site or elsewhere; your doctors know what is best for you and your baby.