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My doctor and I have concluded that I am most likely intolerant to mesalamine (I have UC).  Ugh.  Big bummer. I have been trying to taper off of prednisone for a while now and every time I introduce mesalamine back into the mix my symptoms come back.  I'm giving Asacol one last try, but will most likely start Remicade.  My husband and I are ready to start trying for our first baby and I am a little nervous even though both my GI doc and OB told me as long as I am in remission it is ok to get pregnant on Remicade.  

Anyone have experience with Remicade and pregnancy?  How about breastfeeding while on Remicade?  My GI doc said it was ok... my OB thinks otherwise.  

I'm really interested to hear what other people's experiences have been like. 

Thank you!

Thanks for all of the replies.  I did start the Remicade in April and it has been working great, no UC symptoms at all and no infusion reactions.  We did get pregnant in June but unfortunately miscarried around 7 weeks.  I am hoping it was just a fluke genetic or chromosomal abnormality that caused the pregnancy to not be viable, not the Remicade.  I still don't have the green light to start trying again from my OB but hopefully we can start again soon...

 Reply posted for nbh83.

I have been on Remicade since 2008 and it has worked great for me. I had my first child in 2010 and both my GI, OBGYN, and PCP told me that Remicade was classified as a "Class B" medication and therefore safe to take during pregnancy. My GI recommended that I stay on the Remicade during preganacy as did my other doctors. I did have a ultrasound specialist tell me that I ought to stop the meds, but she did not know anything about Crohn's, Remicade or me, I only saw her once. I followed all my doctors advice (that I received prior to even trying to get pregnant) and disregarded her advice.  I did not have any complications with my pregnancy and he was born naturally, no c-section here! I breastfeed him until he was 12 months old and was on both Remicade and Pentasa through the pregnancy and nursing. Something that I was told, was that he could not have any live vaccinations due to the Remicade being in his system and so we had to make sure the vaccines he received for the first 6 months were not live. I am in my second pregnancy now and everything is going good. I have a little more pain this go around and am nervous because I did not stop my Remicade treatments last time at 30 weeks, but I will be stopping my treatments this pregnancy at 30 weeks. 30 weeks happened to be yesterday, so now I am on my own until this baby comes, I hope it all goes well, but plan on being careful with my diet. I would recommend following your GI's advice, OBGYNs and other doctors are not familiar with these medications, they don't see patients with these types of problems and really don't know that much about it. Your GI does, and should make sure that you are being taken care of on this side of things, your OBGYN is there to make sure that your pregnancy and baby are being taken care of. I do not go into remission during pregnancy, like some women, so it was very important for me to stay on my medications.  

 Reply posted for nbh83.


Hi there,
My name is Lisa I'm 27 and I'm 20 weeks pregnant. I have crohns disease 11 years and have been on remicade for 2 years.  I have received conflicting information for my gastro doc and OBGYN about weather or not i should have an elective C-Section or natural birth. Can anyone tell me about their birthing experience?


Thanks very much

 Reply posted for Shiffmeg.

thanks, I had the same question.. remicade is next step but i'm scared of the side effects and want to have another baby.. i don't think i'd feel comfortable conceiving especially since there is no research on the safety during pregnancy. 
as far as breastfeeding, i've found that lactation consultants are the most knowledgeable about drugs and breastfeeding.   your hospital likely has a consultant on staff that you can call for free.  otherwise, ask you ob/gyn for a recommendation.  you can also reach out to La Leche League. 

 Reply posted for nbh83.

I started remicade treatments in Novemeber 2011, and found out that I was pregnant (first child) just a couple days before. I had been using other medications like asacold and prednisone which did not work for me. ever since being on remicade everything has been going much, much better. I have been putting on weight and even though my pregnancy is high risk due to my crohn's disease the baby is doing very very well! I am told that remicade treatment is safe during breastfeeding, and is potentially safe during pregnancy (however there are studies being done to see if there are any developmental issues with children in the future). The only thing is that your GI/OB doc will want to stop the infusions with week 30 and on because the baby is more likely to recieve more of it and this can also jeopordize his/her immune system. The concern with this is that it can potentially cause a flare up, which usually your GI doctor will treat with prednisone until your next infusion can be administered (yuck). I had a lot of horrible side effects to other treatments, but I am very lucky in that I do not have any serious side effects with remicade and I am hoping that thanks to this new treatment I will be in remission (and that I'm not just doing well because of the pregnancy). Hope this helps!

 Reply posted for nbh83.

My second son was conceived while I was on remicade and my obgyn never told me to get off it what he said to me was the class(which I don't remember)  the medicine is in has not be totally proven to cause problems during pregnancy but there hasn't been many tests on it either singe didn't recommend it but he left it u p to me! I decided to stop it bc I didn't wanna take the chance! Since my son was born in 2008 I have been in remission and my new gastro doctor told me sometimes child can rest our bodies but if I have a flare up an try to get pregnant he recommends stopping all medication!