Can a couple with hemolysis have a baby?

The fundamental reason for neonatal hemolytic disease is the incompatibility of the blood types of the couple. If the baby's blood type is opposite to that of the mother during development in the mother's body, an rejection reaction will occur, which is the so-called hemolytic reaction. Of course, couples with hemolytic disease can have children, so both husband and wife need to have a blood test before preparing for pregnancy. During pregnancy, the health status of the mother and baby should also be checked regularly to minimize the possibility of hemolytic disease.

Neonatal hemolytic disease is often seen in clinical practice. The root cause of the disease is the incompatibility of blood types between husband and wife. Half of a baby's genetic material comes from the father and half from the mother, so the baby may inherit the mother's blood type or the father's blood type. If the fetus in the mother's body has a different blood type from the mother's, the mother's body will be "sensitized", activating the immune system to produce antibodies that reject the baby's blood type. The antibodies bind to the surface of the baby's red blood cells, causing hemolysis, and the baby will develop hemolytic disease. There is no evidence that you must have the same blood type to get married. It is very common for couples to have blood type incompatibility, so neonatal hemolytic disease is also very common. The disease can usually be detected and treated in time, and it can almost always be cured, and will not affect the child's future health.

Spousal hemolytic disease is what people often call neonatal hemolytic disease. Neonatal hemolytic disease refers to immune hemolysis caused by blood type antibodies produced in the mother's body that are incompatible with the fetal blood type antigens due to blood type incompatibility between mother and child. The most common example is the incompatibility between the Rh blood type system and the ABO blood type system. If the mother's ABO blood type is O and the father's blood type is not O, then there is a small chance that the baby will develop ABO hemolytic disease. Fortunately, most babies do not become ill, and the symptoms caused by ABO hemolytic disease are generally mild.

The incompatibility of blood types between mother and baby does not necessarily directly and inevitably lead to the occurrence of hemolytic disease. There is a certain probability of its occurrence, usually around 20%. However, only about 5% of fetuses actually suffer from hemolysis. This probability is very low, so mothers do not need to worry too much.

In the early stages of pregnancy, an ABO hemolytic exclusion test is generally performed, and venous blood is often drawn from the pregnant woman for a thorough examination. Often during pregnancy, a fetus that does not match the mother's blood type will be naturally eliminated. If miscarriage or stillbirth has occurred, it may be advisable to conduct a further ABO hemolytic examination.

Marital hemolytic disease may sound a bit scary, but it is actually not terrible, and the chance of the baby suffering from hemolytic disease is not high. Even if the baby suffers from hemolytic disease, its actual incidence rate is very low. So parents can rest assured that ABO hemolysis generally will not have much impact on the baby. Unless it is RH hemolytic disease, this is very dangerous and more attention should be paid to it.