Medical Care for Your Newborn

IBD medication & vaccination safety

Vaccinations are one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect your newborn child from illness. They help promote immunity to certain fatal diseases and protect your child from infections in the future. To ensure your baby gets the best possible protection from vaccines, it's important he or she starts receiving them, typically starting at two months, during the first year of life. Before vaccinating your child, your pediatrician should know of any medications you—the mother—took during pregnancy.

The hepatitis B, DTaP, Hib, pneumococcal and polio vaccines are inactivated vaccines. That means they are made up of cells of the illness grown and killed in a lab, which the human body (even a baby's) can learn to identify and defend against without becoming infected. These types of vaccinations are safe to administer on schedule to babies born to mothers who took any IBD medication during pregnancy. However, Rotavirus vaccines, RotaTeq (RV5) or Rotarix (RV1), are both live vaccines taken by mouth. In the past, women who took biologic medications such as infliximab, adalimumab, golimumab, vedolizumab, ustekinumab, risankizumab, guselkumab or mirikizumab during pregnancy were advised that their infants should not receive the rotavirus vaccine. However, more recent studies have shown that it is safe to give the rotavirus vaccine to infants exposed to these medications in utero. If you were taking one of these biologics while pregnant, please discuss with your baby’s pediatrician and decide together on the approach you are most comfortable with. If you took the other types of immunosuppressive medications, such as steroids, mercaptopurine or azathioprine during pregnancy, then the rotavirus vaccines can typically be started on schedule.

Aside from rotavirus, all live vaccines are given to infants after six months of age. By this time biologic medications are no longer in the baby’s blood, and there are no restrictions as to which vaccines he or she can receive. Breastfeeding does not affect vaccination safety in your baby. He/she can receive any vaccination if you are breastfeeding, regardless of what medication you are taking. You do not need to switch to formula in anticipation of your baby receiving vaccinations.

A final word on infant vaccinations

While some parents may worry that vaccinating their child may increase his or her likelihood of autism, they shouldn't. Vaccine safety experts, including the Center for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics, agree that vaccines do not have a correlation with the development of autism. Discuss your options with your doctor and feel confident knowing you're helping your child stay healthy by vaccinating him or her.