Can drugs induce lactation or increase the milk supply?
A. There is no safe drug readily available to specifically induce lactation or build up the milk supply. Some tranquilizers can cause lactation as a side effect in some women. However, determining appropriate dosage and predicting possible effects are so difficult as to make it unadvisable. Such use has not been common since the mid-1970s. It is known that estrogen and progesterone stimulate proliferation (increase in number and size) of the alveoli and ducts of the breasts, as during menstruation and just prior to menses in the menstrual cycle. However, these hormones also may inhibit lactation. A few adoptive-nursing mothers have received estrogen and/or progesterone prior to adoption to stimulate gland and duct development, with use of the hormones stopped at the time of adoption, or greatly reduced in dosage. Most of these women either had infrequent ovulation or hysterectomy, and it may be reasonable to assume that such hormone use could have been helpful in increasing breast tiss
