40 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • APRIL 4, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
Family planning and IBD: Expert answers to common questions
Having a baby is a wonderful experience,
but for many women, health issues
can cause them to second-guess their
ability to become a mom. Women with
infl ammatory bowel disease (IBD) may
feel as though pregnancy is out of the
question. Th is isn’t necessarily true. In
the U.S., 1.6 million people have IBD - a
group of disorders that include Crohn’s
disease and ulcerative colitis. Of those,
roughly half are women who will consider
getting pregnant one day. When it
comes to IBD and planning for a family,
it’s natural to have questions and concerns.
“Th e IBD Parenthood Project provides
guidance to women with IBD on the continuum
of care and best practices for managing
their IBD throughout all phases of
family planning: trying to conceive, pregnancy
and postpartum,” says Rajeev Jain,
MD, AGAF, FACP, IBD Parenthood
Project Co-Chair and Gastroenterologist
at Texas Digestive Disease Consultants.
Led by the American Gastroenterological
Association (AGA) with support from
the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine,
the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and the
patient support network Girls With Guts,
this program aims to empower women
with IBD, their loved ones and health
care providers to have open conversations
about preconception, pregnancy
and post-delivery care.
Dr. Jain off ers answers to the most
common questions he receives from
women about IBD and family planning:
In your experience, what are the top
concerns women with IBD have when
planning for a family? What are the key
steps you would urge her to take before
she gets pregnant?
Answer: Many women with IBD are
concerned that they won’t be able to
achieve a healthy pregnancy and worry
about factors such as IBD medication
being harmful to their baby. Studies show
that women who have their Crohn’s disease
and ulcerative colitis under control,
and who have never had surgery, can get
pregnant at the same rate as other women
in the general public. For women to have
a successful pregnancy, their IBD should
be under control; avoiding a fl are is the
most critical aspect to achieving a healthy
pregnancy.
What types of health care
providers should a woman
see to ensure she has a
healthy pregnancy?
Answer: Pregnant women with IBD
should work with a maternal-fetal medicine
(MFM) subspecialist who will
coordinate care with her delivery provider
and gastroenterologist (GI). A
pregnant patient with IBD should be
monitored by both a GI, who has a
clear expertise in IBD, and an obstetric
provider, ideally an MFM subspecialist,
with further assistance from other
care providers. An obstetrician (OB) or
MFM subspecialist should lead pregnancy
related care, and the GI should
lead IBD care, with excellent communication
among all providers consulted
during pregnancy.
What is an MFM subspecialist?
Answer: An MFM subspecialist is an
OB with an additional three years of formal
education who is board-certifi ed in
maternal-fetal medicine, making them
highly qualifi ed experts and leaders in
the care of complicated pregnancies. An
MFM subspecialist is distinct and diff erent
from a “high-risk OB.”
Are IBD drugs harmful to
take while trying to get pregnant
or during pregnancy?
Answer: Most women who are in
remission when they get pregnant stay
in remission throughout pregnancy.
Stopping medication can cause a fl are,
which is a risk to a healthy pregnancy.
Treating IBD with the appropriate medication
may help reduce a woman’s risk
of a fl are and can help lead to a healthier
pregnancy.
Will my children have IBD?
Answer: Up to 3 percent of children
with one parent who has IBD will develop
the disease (this means about 97 percent
will not get IBD).
Are women able to breastfeed
while on IBD medication?
Answer: Yes, in many cases, mothers
with IBD who breastfeed can simply follow
standard nutritional recommendations,
which may include increasing the
amount of food in her diet or adding
omega-3 fatty acids.
To download the patient
toolkit and learn more about
pregnancy and IBD, visit www.
IBDParenthoodProject.org.
AGA’s IBD Parenthood Project is funded
through support from UCB, a global
biopharmaceutical company.
Courtesy BPT
/WWW.QNS.COM
/www.IBDParenthoodProject.org
/www.IBDParenthoodProject.org
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