Planning and Managing Pregnancy After Gastric Bypass

You want a family, but you want to lose weight before your pregnancy. Your doctor may recommend gastric bypass surgery if you’re obese and can’t manage weight loss on your own. 

At Turnquest Surgical Solutions, our board-certified bariatric surgeons, Dexter Turnquest, MD, and Victoria C. Chang, MD, perform gastric bypass and other weight loss surgeries to help our patients reach personal goals that lead to a better quality of life. 

Obesity can hinder fertility and increase your health risks

Obesity hampers conception in several ways. Excess fat may produce an overabundance of estrogen, which in turn may affect ovulation. Obesity is also linked to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which impedes regular ovulation. 

In addition, obesity increases the risk of miscarriage and fetal growth issues. It also increases the risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension, and other health conditions. 

You want a healthy baby, so if you’ve opted for gastric bypass surgery, you’ve increased your chances of getting pregnant and giving birth to a healthy child. 

How long after gastric bypass should I wait to become pregnant? 

In general, doctors recommend waiting at least a year or two after your weight loss surgery to become pregnant. We want your weight to remain stable over a period of time before you become pregnant. 

Gastric bypass surgery hinders your body’s ability to absorb some nutrients from the food you eat, so we want to ensure you’re not anemic when you become pregnant. You need proper nutrition to deliver a healthy baby.  

Each woman responds differently to the surgery, so your doctor advises you when it’s safe to try to conceive. 

If you were on birth control pills before your surgery, you’ll need to switch to another form of birth control until you’re ready to conceive. After surgery, oral contraceptives aren’t as reliable because your body cannot absorb nutrients as effectively (malabsorption).  

Monitoring during pregnancy

Your medical team monitors your weight during your pregnancy to ensure you’re not gaining too much weight or, conversely, not gaining enough. 

We recommend you take daily vitamin and mineral supplements during your pregnancy to ensure you and your baby receive the necessary nutrition for good health. 

Folate helps protect your baby from neural tube abnormalities. Calcium and vitamin D protect your bones and those of your baby. Iron protects you from anemia. You’ll receive periodic blood tests to check your nutrient levels.

Your dietitian and doctors adjust diet recommendations as needed based on your baby’s growth rate and your blood test results. 

You may not be able to take the standard glucose tolerance test given between weeks 24 and 28 of your pregnancy. Your glucose could spike, or the reading could be inaccurate. 

It could also precipitate dumping syndrome. Symptoms include dizziness, rapid heartbeat, sweating, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and other distressing events.  Your doctor may recommend continuous glucose monitoring or self-monitoring with a finger prick meter. 

Good news about pregnancy after bariatric surgery 

Bariatric surgery can help improve obesity-related health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. The surgery reduces the chance of gestational diabetes and a low-birth-weight baby. 

Long-term commitment to a new lifestyle after gastric bypass 

In addition to a healthy diet, when you commit to gastric bypass surgery, you also commit to taking daily vitamin and mineral supplements for the rest of your life. This supplementation is essential after the surgery because your body cannot absorb the amount of nutrition it did before your operation. 

In opting for gastric bypass surgery, you commit to a lifestyle change. You can no longer binge on sweet treats, fried foods, and ultra-processed foods with little nutritional value. You need to eat healthily to stay healthy. 

Call us at Turnquest Surgical Solutions or book an appointment online today at one of our Houston, Texas, locations if you’re considering weight loss surgery and want to increase your chances of conceiving.