Enhancing Human Milk Production With Domperidone in Mothers of Preterm Infants

Mothers of preterm infants often are at risk of expressing an inadequate amount of milk for their infants and the use of galactogogues is often considered. Domperidone is a widely used galactogogue with little information available to guide clinicians regarding initiation, timing, and duration of treatment. Research aim: The primary objective of this study was to determine whether administration of domperidone within the first 21 days after delivery would lead to a higher proportion of mothers achieving a 50% increase in the volume of milk at the end of 14 days of treatment compared with mothers receiving placebo.

Eligible mothers were randomized to one of two treatment arms: Group A-domperidone 10 mg orally three times daily for 28 days; or Group B-placebo 10 mg orally three times daily for 14 days followed by domperidone 10 mg orally three times daily for 14 days.

A total of 90 mothers of infants ≤ 29 weeks gestation were randomized. Mean milk volumes at entry were similar for both groups. More mothers achieved a 50% increase in milk volume after 14 days in Group A (77.8%) compared with Group B (57.8%), odds ratio = 2.56, 95% confidence interval [1.02, 6.25], p = .04.

A greater number of mothers experienced a 50% or more increase in human milk volume, but the absolute increase in milk volume was modest.