Has anyone on this board given birth to a child and now their child has an inflammatory bowel diease. I have suffered from colitis and I had surgery to remove my colon. But I still have some commplications from the disease. I have not given birth to a child and I want to have kids. So I am wondering what might be the possibilty that I could pass this disease to my child. I heard IBD runs in families.

Hi Stephanie,
My GI doc told me that while UC has a definite genetic aspect (it runs in families) there's nothing to say you will pass it on to any kids you might have. Mine are too young for me to know for sure if they're in the clear (10 and 7) but when I was diagnosed, I worried about the same thing as you. My kids were about 6 and 3 at the time. So I asked him then. I guess if you were to have kids with another UC or Crohns sufferer, you'd be raising the odds, but we can basically have healthy kids.

Stephanie

I have given birth to five children two before my surgery and triplets after my surgery and so far knock on wood nobody has any significnat problems with their gut except my 2nd child who cannot eat movie theater popcorn, orange juice or eat at subway or she gets horrible cramps. The drs say as long as she does not have any other problems and she stays away from those foods they will leave things alone. I have passed on my asthma to 3 of the 5 children but that seems to be it. Don't be afraid just be informed but if you want to be a mom I say go for it

I have two children, one was born before I had UC and I developed UC while pregnant with the second.

Neither of them seem to have any problems but it will always be something to watch for.

I wouldn't worry about it as there are so many people with UC and Crohns that have healthy children, and on the flip side, there are so many healthy people who have children with health issues

If you want children, I'd say go for it and enjoy them every minute of your life

The lifetime risk of passing IBD on to your children is about 5-10% if one parent has IBD (the link is stronger with Crohn's than it is with UC). It can be as high as 30-50% if both parents have IBD.

So, that means if you are the only parent with IBD, there is a 90% chance that your children will NEVER develop IBD in their lifetime.

Both myself and my husband have UC. I figure that my boys have at least a 50% chance that they will live their entire lives without UC. Hopefully, my breastfeeding them will make a difference. I certainly do not regret having my children because they may have a disease at some point. Their risk of heart disease is higher, but that is not a reason not to exist. They are now 19 and 21. Neither have ever had any bowel disease.

Jan