Dear Ms. Tufte,

I have been in touch with or have seen several women with ulcerative
colitis while breastfeeding.  Since I have a clinic dealing with
problems, I can say definitely that having the illness does not protect
against having problems.  Most mothers do quite well, generally.

However, the usual reasons the mothers call me is because of concern
about medications.  The medications usually used for ulcerative colitis
are compatible with breastfeeding, including prednisone and the
variations of salazopyrine.

There is some weak evidence that breastfeeding protects against
ulcerative colitis.

I have no idea of the effect of oxytocin on the gut.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC