Syntocinon nasal spray was removed from the market by Sandoz Pharmaceutical
Corp who recently acquired Gerber Products Co. In a letter to the editor of
the ILCA Globe, August 1995, Shirley Gross, MD from Edmonton provided
instructions for how oxytocin can be obtained and mixed by a pharmacist into
a nasal spray product. She wrote that there is a place for pharmacists to
obtain discontinued pharmaceutical products, i.e., obtain the oxytocin powder
and formulate it into a spray form. Pharmacists can contact the Professional
Compounding Centers of America, 10925 Kinghurst, Suite 520, Houston, Texas,
77099 Phone 1-800-331-2498

This also reminded me of an old article on the use of oxytocin in enhancing
the quantity of milk produced by preterm moms who were pumping. Ruis H,
Rolland R, Doesburg W, et al: Oxytocin enhances onset of lactation among
mothers delivering prematurely. British Medical Journal 1981; 283:340-342.
Mothers were instructed to pump four times a day and use the oxytocin nasal
spray before each pumping session. The study lasted for the first five days
of pumping and showed that primips pumped 3.5 times the amount of milk than
mothers who did not use the oxytocin. The study was stopped because the
benefit was so obvious that the blinded nature of the trial was lost. Has
anyone else ever used oxytocin for this purpose with results like this? Just
curious if we may have a way to help our preterm moms that might jump start
the process from the beginning.