Considerations for Patients with Neurologic Conditions during Pregnancy and Lactation

MotherToBaby supports neurologists in managing neurological diseases during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. We understand the challenges that you face when deciding on treatment courses when your patient is pregnant or breastfeeding. Care of people who are pregnant and lactating with serious conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, or chronic migraines is further complicated by the physiological changes of pregnancy that may alter symptoms, severity, or treatment needs. Our resources will help you weigh the risks and benefits to both the your patient who is pregnant and their baby as you determine a treatment plan that maximizes disease management and minimizes maternal and fetal/infant risk. 

We are also dedicated to furthering the information and understanding of medication safety in pregnancy through our observational MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies. We are proud to lead more than half of all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-mandated pregnancy registries conducted in the U.S., including studies on MS treatments. MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies are rigorously designed cohort studies that aim to provide critically needed product safety information – and your patient referrals make all the difference. With your referral, you are helping us generate data that will lead to improved product safety information in pregnancy, thereby providing you and your MS patients with the evidence you need to make more informed treatment decisions.

Neurological disease in pregnancy is becoming more common as a result of both an increase in neurological diagnoses as well as delayed childbearing. Additionally, medications for neurologic conditions have become increasingly sophisticated in their biological targets; therefore, practitioners must stay up to date in understanding their effects during pregnancy and lactation.

— Toscano & Thornburg, 2019

Explore how we can help you and your pregnant and breastfeeding patients by providing no-cost exposure risk assessments, patient education materials, observational studies to monitor pregnancy outcomes, and more.

LactRx App

Download our LactRx app for on-the-go access to the Library of Medicine’s LactMed database for current information on neurology medications as well as other drugs and vaccinations to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed.

Partners

• MyHealthTeams
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society
• Patient Education Genius
• PatientsLikeMe
• Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
• Society for Birth Defects Research & Prevention
• The Mighty

Managing Gastrointestinal Conditions in Pregnancy and Lactation

MotherToBaby supports gastroenterologists in managing gastrointestinal diseases during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. We understand the challenges that you face when deciding on treatment courses when your patient is pregnant or breastfeeding. Care of people who are pregnant and/or lactating with serious conditions like IBD, constipation, or GERD is further complicated by the physiological changes of pregnancy that may alter symptoms, severity, or treatment needs. Our resources will help you weigh the risks and benefits to both your patient who is pregnant and their baby as you determine a treatment plan that maximizes disease management and minimizes maternal and fetal/infant risk. 

We are also dedicated to furthering the information and understanding of medication safety in pregnancy through our observational MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies. We are proud to lead more than half of all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-mandated pregnancy registries conducted in the U.S., including studies on IBD treatments. MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies are rigorously designed cohort studies that aim to provide critically needed product safety information – and your patient referrals make all the difference. With your referral, you are helping us generate data that will lead to improved product safety information in pregnancy, thereby providing you and your IBD patients with the evidence you need to make more informed treatment decisions.

Pregnancy is a challenging period for the gastroenterologist. Chronic gastrointestinal diseases require treatment maintenance during this period, raising the challenging question whether outcomes beneficial to the [parent] may be harmful for the fetus.

— Gomes et al., 2018

Explore how we can help you and your pregnant and breastfeeding patients by providing no-cost exposure risk assessments, patient education materials, observational studies to monitor pregnancy outcomes, and more.

LactRx App

Download our LactRx app for on-the-go access to the Library of Medicine’s LactMed database for current information on gastroenterology medications as well as other drugs and vaccinations to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed.

Partners

• Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
• MyHealthTeams
• PatientsLikeMe
• Patient Education Genius
• Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
• Society for Birth Defects Research & Prevention
• The Mighty

Providing Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Exposure Information to Nebraskans

MotherToBaby Nebraska specialists answer questions from healthcare providers as well as the general public about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Inquiries are on a variety of topics including prescribed and over-the-counter medications, infections, occupational hazards, common household products, and substances of abuse. MotherToBaby Nebraska is housed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 

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Contact Us

University of Nebraska Medical Center
985440 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5440

402.559.5071
Hours: Open Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm CT except federal holidays
Languages: English

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Meet Our Team

Dr. Jessica Vernon, a New York-based OBGYN recently featured on the Today Show, continues telling her story of postpartum depression and anxiety (also known as perinatal mood disorders). In this second part of the conversation, she talks about certain medications prescribed during pregnancy and breastfeeding. 

When Your Bundle of Joy Comes with a Bundle of Questions – We’re Your Experts

MotherToBaby is the nation’s most trusted source of evidence-based information on medications and other exposures during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. MotherToBaby Fact Sheets summarize all the available scientific information to determine whether or not parents and their developing babies are at risk because of an exposure. We offer over 300 Fact Sheets on a wide variety of exposure topics that are available to the public 24/7 in English and Spanish. Our Fact Sheets cover many common pregnancy and breastfeeding exposures that a woman may experience, including prescription and over-the-counter medications, recreational substances, cosmetic treatments, maternal health conditions, infections, vaccines, chemicals, and workplace exposures.

Our Fact Sheets are not the only way that MotherToBaby provides information about the benefits or risks of exposures that a woman who is pregnant or breastfeeding may encounter. Our experts also provide personalized information by live chat, text, phone, and email at no-cost to to residents of the United States and its territories. If our database of Fact Sheets does not include the exposure that you are interested in or if you have additional questions about the exposure, please don’t hesitate to contact our information specialists.

Everyone should have access to accurate information to make the best health decisions for themselves and their family.

While our experts are steeped in scientific backgrounds, we focus on communicating information about pregnancy and breastfeeding exposures in an easy to read format through multiple channels, including The MotherToBaby Podcast and our Baby Blog. You can listen to The MotherToBaby Podcast to hear from host, MotherToBaby specialist, and mom-of-four, Chris Stallman, as she takes listeners’ questions on exposures and engages guest experts to address what’s okay and what’s not during pregnancy and breastfeeding. You can also read our Baby Blogs, which provide helpful information on some of today’s most pressing exposure topics.

Our team knows so much about pregnancy and breastfeeding exposures because we are also top researchers in the field of birth defects prevention and medication use in pregnancy and breastfeeding. Our MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies are observational research studies that aim to answer questions about whether a person’s health conditions and treatments affect their pregnancy. Our research has been instrumental in identifying previously unrecognized exposures that can be harmful to pregnancy, as well as ruling out substantial risk for other medications and vaccines. MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies provides study opportunities to residents of the United States and Canada. The information yielded by our research gets included on medication labels and can be used by the public and their health professionals to make treatment decisions during pregnancy.

Browse below to find our most popular exposure topics and to access related fact sheets, blogs, podcasts, ongoing observational MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies, and more. Check back frequently as we are constantly adding new resources and updating existing information!

Explore Our Most Popular Topics