Physicians treating patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis will often need to care for them throughout pregnancy
and deal with the surrounding issues of fertility, childbirth, and sexuality. Patients often worry about continuing medications
during pregnancy and feel particularly at risk for poor birth outcomes. However, because pregnancy outcomes are most closely
tied to disease activity at the time of conception, patients who are in remission when they conceive will have the most successful
pregnancies. The overriding principle in treating pregnant patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is continued and
close surveillance of disease activity, with aggressive medical, and if indicated, surgical treatment. With few exceptions,
medicines used to induce remission before pregnancy should be continued throughout pregnancy. Pregnant women with active IBD
should be followed by a gastroenterologist with experience in the issues surrounding pregnancy, and by an obstetrician with
access to a tertiary referral center. Properly treated and followed, patients with IBD can expect outcomes from their pregnancies
that approximate those of patients without the disease.