Is pregnancy safe after weight loss surgery?

Surgery for weight loss (called bariatric surgery) used to be seen as a last resort. But its success, especially compared with diet and exercise alone, means it's gotten a lot more common for people who need to lose a lot of weight.

So now doctors want to know what long-term effects it might have. More than 50,000 women aged 18 to 45 had bariatric surgery between 2003 and 2005. That's a lot of women who will likely go on to have babies. So what kind of effect does bariatric surgery have on future pregnancies? Fortunately, the outlook seems to be good. Researchers rounded up all the studies looking at pregnancy after bariatric surgery, to get a good overview.

They found women were as likely to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby after bariatric surgery, as women who'd not had surgery. Even better, some studies suggest that women who'd had surgery might have had fewer problems than if they'd remained very overweight. The studies looked at problems like pregnancy-related diabetes, high blood pressure, premature birth, and whether the baby was born at a healthy weight.

What you need to know. If you've had bariatric surgery, and you're thinking of having a baby, these results are good news. They show that your surgery is unlikely to cause any problems, and may help you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

However, doctors usually advise women not to get pregnant in the first year after surgery, while you are still losing a lot of weight. You may also need to take supplements, to make sure you're getting enough nutrients for you and your growing baby.

—Anna Sayburn, patient editor, BMJ Group

ConsumerReportsHealth.org has partnered with The BMJ Group to monitor the latest medical research and assess the evidence to help you decide which news you should use.

If you're overweight and considering surgery or medications, see our questions to ask your doctor. And take a look at our Treatment Ratings for gastric bypass, diet pills, and other surgical and non-surgical options.

Comments

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Most weight loss surgery programs recommend that their patients not consider becoming pregnant until they are at least one-and-a-half years past the date of their operation.