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Humira, pregnancy, and vaccines

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 1/31/2015 8:02 AM (GMT -7)
Hello all,
I am currently 15 weeks pregnant. I am on Humira for Crohn's disease. Was diagnosed about a year ago. It is working very well. My doctor said I can continue it as stopping it could cause a flare and then even if it doesn't, it may not work as well when I go back on it. My concern is vaccinating my child if I continue It throughout my ENTIRE pregnancy, which I plan on doing. I know you are supposed to wait to vaccinate, as the baby's immune system will be compromised at birth. I am wondering if anyone had this experience. How did vaccinating your baby go if you were on the medication for the whole pregnancy? How long did you wait tin vaccinate? What about breast feeding? Was the baby more susceptible to other illnesses in the first year of birth because of their compromised immune system? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

- worried.
Posted 1/31/2015 8:51 AM (GMT -7)
Congratulations on your pregancy! I had a Humira baby (after two Remicade babies) and everything went well with vaccinations. The standard is to delay live vaccines until about 8 weeks after birth to give time for any Humira that might have gotten in baby's system to get out. My kiddo got all vaccines on time and now 6 years later she is healthy, no problems whatsoever.

I breastfed for about 9 months. No complications there either as far as taking the Humira goes. The molecule is too large to pass through to the milk.

I was part of the OTIS study on pregnant women taking Humira. They followed me through the pregnancy. I was taking a double dose of Humira. The head doctor, Dr. Kenneth Lyons (he "discovered" fetal alcohol syndrome) actually flew to my home to examine my daughter when she turned one. He said she was perfect and that the study showed that Humira was not causing any fetal growth and development problems.

I hope that can put your mind at ease. If you think of any other questions, feel free to ask! I'm no expert, but I've "been there, done that" and am happy to help however I can.
Posted 1/31/2015 9:02 AM (GMT -7)
This helps a lot! Thank you so much for your quick response. This is all new territory for me, as I know it was for you. So many questions! So you were on it throughout your entire preg without stopping it? Also, Do they test the baby's blood after birth and track the amount of Humira in it to determine when to start vaccinating? And how about common colds, illnesses.. Not a problem? Thanks again for your response...what a story you have!
Posted 1/31/2015 11:12 AM (GMT -7)
I was on Remicade for the first trimester, but it had lost effectiveness so my GI switched me over to Humira at about 13 weeks. I stayed on it the entire pregnancy without stopping.

No blood tests were done on my baby. But that was 6 years ago. Maybe they do that now. Or, maybe a very proactive pediatrician would be willing to do it, but I don't think it's necessary. Ask your maternal/fetal medicine specialist and they will be able to give you better answers on that.

She did not get more common colds/illnesses than the average kid. Nothing out of the ordinary and nothing serious.

It's good that you are getting informed so that you can be prepared to do what's best for your baby's health. As far as my baby was concerned, Humira didn't cause any problems at all.
Posted 1/31/2015 1:14 PM (GMT -7)
I can't thank you enough for the information. You have greatly put my mind at ease knowing that others have gone through it. I will certainly take all of this information to my doctor and talk further about this. I really appreciate all of the insight you've given me. Thank you so much again!
Posted 1/31/2015 2:02 PM (GMT -7)
I was on Remicade the entire pregnancy. We did all immunizations except for live vaccines, which they said to wait until 6 months after birth.
Posted 1/31/2015 2:08 PM (GMT -7)
Thank you for the insight!
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