Gastric Sleeve and having babies?

[Jaffa 5]

Ok, I am starting some research for a friend. Yes, really a friend, since I'm a man and obviously I can't get pregnant.

Does anyone know how difficult it would be for someone to get pregnant and or go through a pregnancy with the gastric sleeve operation?

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Ok, I am starting some research for a friend. Yes, really a friend, since I'm a man and obviously I can't get pregnant.

Does anyone know how difficult it would be for someone to get pregnant and or go through a pregnancy with the gastric sleeve operation?

It's not a problem. My doc says to just wait until a year after losing weight. She may have to add an extra meal daily but it's totally doable.

[Jaffa 5]

Man, that is good. The friend is actually my daughter. She is 24, and I want to get her started on a better life, I don't want her to spend the next 10 years struggling, just to get nowhere.

I figure between the genetics she inherited, and the bad food habits we taught her by example, she doesn't have a chance.

[Jaffa 5]

I noticed that Gastic Sleeve is not recommended for people with a history of GERD. My daughter doesn't have it, but I was just wondering, why? They instead recommend GB for people with a history of GERD?

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I noticed that Gastic Sleeve is not recommended for people with a history of GERD. My daughter doesn't have it, but I was just wondering, why? They instead recommend GB for people with a history of GERD?

In a minority of people the sleeve can cause reflux. If you already have reflux it's a horror after being sleeved if the reflux wasn't caused by a hiatal hernia.

I know there are more details on that but I'm not sure what it is, I'll dig around and find out.

[Jachut 487]

Hmmm, I dont know that I'd risk it before pregnancy to be honest. My first two pregnancies were text book, so easy, my third baby was breech, she sat high, I could BARELY eat by five months in. I had the most horrendous reflux and heartburn too, I'd bend over to pick up something and just vomit everywhere. I honstly dont know how I'd have coped - I had more restriction with pregnancy than I do with my band, I could only eat teeny tiny quantities. If my teeny tiny sleeved stomach were as squashed and misplaced as mine was, then its NOT as simple as eating an extra meal a day, not at all. It'd just about have to be a constant infusion of tiny morsels which would not be a pleasant way to live for six months I dont think.

Then again, I'd be nervous about a band before pregnancy too, so many stories of just never getting back to good restriction.

Personally, I'd say that its safest to have no WLS pre pregnancy but obviously that's not an answer for everyone.

I think its one of these things, like with a band where the literature says fine, no problem, but pregnancy does weird things to your body and the way it works.

[Jaffa 5]

Yea, I can see that, I guess right now she is heavy enough that the doctors are saying she will have a very difficult time getting pregnant.

My wife has been reading the stuff about the surgery for my daughter and now she might be interested also.....oh man, I wonder if I can get a two for one special.....one can dream!!!!

[Elisabethsew 50]

I never had heart burn or reflux and then I got banded and all the trouble started. It's the main reason I got rid of it and yes, the surgeons did tell me to for a bypass and not the sleeve. Well, I had a revision to a sleeve and the heart burn and reflux are history. I am now on a soft diet and still remain "cured" and sleeping flat on one pillow in bed is heaven.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Hmmm, I dont know that I'd risk it before pregnancy to be honest. My first two pregnancies were text book, so easy, my third baby was breech, she sat high, I could BARELY eat by five months in. I had the most horrendous reflux and heartburn too, I'd bend over to pick up something and just vomit everywhere. I honstly dont know how I'd have coped - I had more restriction with pregnancy than I do with my band, I could only eat teeny tiny quantities. If my teeny tiny sleeved stomach were as squashed and misplaced as mine was, then its NOT as simple as eating an extra meal a day, not at all. It'd just about have to be a constant infusion of tiny morsels which would not be a pleasant way to live for six months I dont think.

Then again, I'd be nervous about a band before pregnancy too, so many stories of just never getting back to good restriction.

Personally, I'd say that its safest to have no WLS pre pregnancy but obviously that's not an answer for everyone.

I think its one of these things, like with a band where the literature says fine, no problem, but pregnancy does weird things to your body and the way it works.

There are unique and bizarre things that can happen with any pregnancy but she stands a much better chance of getting pregnant and carrying to term if she loses weight first.

There are a million little things that can happen, but to not have WLS first cuts her chances of ever getting preggers and having a family if that is what she wants.

[Elisabethsew 50]

I think weight loss surgery increases fertility and any OB/GYN will tell you the more weight you lose, the easier the pregnancy for mom and baby. The fast that a pregnant woman's blood viscosity increases 50% is reason enough to lose weight, stay active, and decrease the chance of emboli.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

My daughter could not get pregnant when she weighed 320 lbs. at age 25. She did not have the sleeve, or the band. She choose gastric bypass, which I was against because of the malabsorption issue.

She got pregnant at about a year post op. She had a very healthy pregnancy and has a very healthy baby boy, who is the love of my life. She has never lost the 40 lbs she gained during her pregnancy, but then again she hasn't really tried to either.

[Jachut 487]

Oh, for sure, that's why I said its not the answer for everyone. You have to get pregnant in the first place, and in such cases its a risk/benefit analysis. And the benefits FAR outweigh the risks.

But breech babies and reflux and being unable to eat a lot are hardly bizarre or unusual pregnancy symptoms, they're very normal and very common. I simply mean that in a situation like mine, where I had no problem getting pregnant I would personally wait until after a pregnancy because I can foresee some (tiresome rather than dangerous) problems with a non adjustable sleeve and there's definitely been lots of stories about bands refusing to behave the same way again after the baby is born.

[Elisabethsew 50]

Oh, for sure, that's why I said its not the answer for everyone. You have to get pregnant in the first place, and in such cases its a risk/benefit analysis. And the benefits FAR outweigh the risks.

But breech babies and reflux and being unable to eat a lot are hardly bizarre or unusual pregnancy symptoms, they're very normal and very common. I simply mean that in a situation like mine, where I had no problem getting pregnant I would personally wait until after a pregnancy because I can foresee some (tiresome rather than dangerous) problems with a non adjustable sleeve and there's definitely been lots of stories about bands refusing to behave the same way again after the baby is born.

Just out of curiousity, did you revise to a sleeve?