u/SyrupMoney4237

Hi, I’ll try to keep this short. Has anyone else had a supply issue in the sub pregnancy due to taking lactation suppressing dopamine agonists like cabergoline or bromocriptine?

- Leaked colostrum since 20w and harvested plenty at 37w.
- Baby is an amazing latcher.
- Cluster fed non-stop at the start. Milk came in fine
- Baby took 3 weeks to regain birth weight (yikes) even though he didn’t lose that much to start with.
- Week 4 on the dot, he got really fed up of my boobs. I call this The Terrible Day. and the poor thing got stuck in a cycle of latching-nothing coming out- screaming- latching until he literally fell asleep sobbing from exhaustion
- I put my foot down and got him formula that night.
- my sweet boy seemed satisfied for the first time in 2 weeks.

Sadly, he got fussy at my breast from now on and I didn’t push it. I feel like I’ve traumatised him at this point and I put all my efforts into power pumping.

- got a fancy, powerful pump
- Spent the next 3 weeks pumping every 2 hours and power pumping 3x a day.

Not a drop more. I make exactly 400ml a day no matter what I do.

I stopped pumping that often and even if I go 6 hours between sessions I make the exact amount. It is as if I simply don’t have the tissue or capacity to make anymore.

Any moment I have spare I’ve been researching what can cause this and I’ve read about development of breast tissue in an adolescent who has PCOS and other things but the last thing that has come up is the pill given after loss to dry up milk and its long lasting effects

I don’t know if I was given cabergoline or maybe bromocriptine. Both of those are dopamine agonists which as far as I understand can mess with your long-term milk supply by changing how prolactin works in your body. The hormonal shift may reset the baseline.

I don’t really know what to do with this info tbh. Just want to know if anyone’s experienced this and sought to fix it?

It doesn’t really matter but I feel a little emotional about all this. I feel I wasn’t informed properly etc. Nothing can be done about it now I guess

3m PP with a perfect little boy. I’m quite fat, bmi 42+ with most of my fat on my apron belly. C-section recovery went surprisingly wonderfully. I was terrified but even recovery from being cut open was easier than lugging around this little tyke in my belly, especially the third trimester.

I thought I’d prepared really well and tbh I had but a few things I’d tell myself if I went back in time.

Get a feeding pillow for the love of god. One that ties or buckles in the back. Sadly I think I’ve done a bit of damage to my back from trying to make do with a million lumpy pillows. Even if you plan to bottle feed. Just get the damn pillow.

Crib on wheels. I ended up moving the stokke cot into my room when I hadn’t planned to use it for 6 more months because it had wheels. it’s so big compared to the next-to-me but I need better maneuverability. The next-to-me didn’t really work that well for me as I needed more support when laying down. Having raised sides didn’t really matter. I don’t know if this is a fat mum issue or just a me thing.

Thirdly, rest! I don’t know if this is just me but I was quite disabled by my third trimester, so much so that I was just overjoyed to be able to move again even with a c-section that I certainly overdid it in that 2nd week of recovery. I think this lead to a delayed muscle recovery in my hip joints and back sadly.