use of neo pride as galactogogue

[Chenni]

A mother was referred to me by a gastroentrologist.
2 month old baby with lactose intolerance slowly recovering now adv iced to start with direct breast feeding. Mother reported of less milk supply. Been adviced NY gastroentrologist for perinorm for 10 days and neopride for 1 month.
Can you please let me know the use of neo pride for rrelactation

[admin]

Chenni:

Neopride is levosulpiride, an antipsychotic that also stimulates prolactin levels in males and females. It is often used to stimulate prolactin levels in breastfeeding mothers. An older product, sulpiride, has been around for years.

Below is some data on it from my book, Medications and Mothers Milk. I assume, levosulpiride, is just the bioactive component from Sulpiride.

I consider sulpiride (and levosulpiride) to be probably safe to use in breastfeeding mothers, although I prefer Domperidone at 10-20 mg TID.

Tom Hale Ph.D.



Sulpiride is a strong neuroleptic antipsychotic drug; however, several studies using smaller doses have found it to significantly increase prolactin levels and breastmilk production in smaller doses that do not produce overt neuroleptic effects on the mother.[1] In a study with 14 women who received sulpiride (50 mg three times daily), and in a subsequent study with 36 breastfeeding women, Ylikorkala found major increases in prolactin levels and significant but only moderate increases in breastmilk production.[2,3] In a group of 20 women who received 50 mg twice daily, breastmilk samples were drawn 2 hours after the dose.[4] The concentration of sulpiride in breastmilk ranged from 0.26 to 1.97 mg/L. No effects on breastfed infants were noted. The authors concluded that sulpiride, when administered early in the postpartum period, is useful in promoting initiation of lactation. In a study by McMurdo, sulpiride was found to be a potent stimulant of maternal plasma prolactin levels.[5] Interestingly, it appears that the prolactin response to sulpiride is not dose-related and reached a maximum at 3-10 mg and thereafter, further increased doses did not further increase prolactin levels. Sulpiride is not available in the USA.