Does having a negative blood type affect pregnancy?

Having an Rh negative blood type is not an illness and usually does not affect your health. However, it can affect your pregnancy. Your pregnancy needs special care if you’re Rh negative and your baby is Rh positive (Rh incompatibility). A baby can inherit the Rh factor from either parent.

Can parents with negative blood types have a positive baby?

Rh Negative Blood Types: A baby may have the blood type and Rh factor of either parent, or a combination of both parents. Rh factors follow a common pattern of genetic inheritance. The Rh-positive gene is dominant (stronger) and even when paired with an Rh-negative gene, the positive gene takes over.

What happens if you are pregnant and Rh-negative?

If your blood is Rh-negative and you have been sensitized to Rh-positive blood, you now have antibodies to Rh-positive blood. The antibodies kill Rh-positive red blood cells. If you become pregnant with an Rh-positive baby (fetus), the antibodies can destroy your fetus’s red blood cells. This can cause anemia.

Can Rh negative cause infertility?

A: There’s no evidence that Rh factor can affect fertility or increase the risk of first trimester losses.

Does being Rh negative cause miscarriage?

Rh sensitization can cause fetal anemia (low iron in the blood), miscarriage, stillbirth, or a serious illness in the baby that is called hemolytic disease of the newborn.

Can being Rh negative cause a miscarriage?

Being Rh-negative in and of itself does not cause miscarriage or pregnancy loss. You are only at risk if you have been sensitized. The risk is very small if you have the recommended RhoGAM shots during pregnancy, or after an ectopic pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or induced abortion.

How soon can Rh negative affect pregnancy?

At 28 weeks of pregnancy—A small number of Rh-negative women may be exposed to Rh-positive blood cells from the fetus in the last few months of pregnancy and may make antibodies against these cells. RhIg given at 28 weeks of pregnancy destroys these Rh-positive cells in the woman’s body.