Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Pregnancy : University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

What should I do if I discover I am pregnant and I have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?

Once your pregnancy is confirmed please self-refer for maternity care at your chosen hospital. This will then start the process of you receiving midwife appointments and pregnancy scans. If you choose to have your ante-natal care at UCLH you can find the self-referral form on the UCLH maternity services website.

Please contact your IBD specialist nurse and let them know how many weeks pregnant you think you are. We recommend you start taking folic acid. If you are taking Methotrexate or a JAK inhibitor you should contact the IBD nurses and stop taking these. Otherwise please don’t make any changes to your IBD medication without speaking to a member of the IBD team.

Most women will be advised to keep taking their medicines during pregnancy to help keep their Crohn’s or Colitis under control. We will consider how severe your disease is and the stage of your pregnancy when advising you on your treatment options.

For further information about IBD and pregnancy please read the ‘Pregnancy and Breastfeeding’ leaflet on the CCUK website.

What is the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Obstetric Clinic?

At UCLH we run a combined clinic for women with Inflammatory Bowel Disease who are pregnant. We will still see you in this clinic if you are having your maternity care at another hospital closer to home, but are under the care of the UCLH IBD team.

We will arrange the IBD obstetric clinic appointment after you have had your 12 week pregnancy scan.

In the clinic you will see a Consultant Gastroenterologist (Dr Sara McCartney or Dr Paul Harrow), a Consultant in Maternal Medicine (Prof David Williams), a Consultant Obstetrician (Dr Diane Lambo), an IBD Clinical Nurse Specialist (Heather Parker) and an Obstetric registrar, all in one appointment/clinic room.

This enables joint decision making with you and the whole team, around your care and medication during pregnancy. The clinic is held once a month on a Tuesday afternoon, in the Elizabeth Garret Anderson Wing. We like to see you at least once in person (especially if you have any symptoms), but we can also arrange a telephone/video clinic review.