Anyone else worried about having Anti-D injections at 28 and 34 weeks?

[Jane7]

I wasn't, until I read in the brilliant book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth that there has been no long term study of its effect on babies. It says "the rationale for prenatal administration of Anti-D is controversial internationally". Hmmm? Any thoughts?

I've done no research on the subject but have had the injections in 2nd and 3rd pgs with no ill side effects

Have you asked your DH/DP to be tested to see if he is R neg?

If he is there is no need to have the injections.

that's good to know, LeonieD. the book i read was mostly talking about Rhogam in America, and it was published 5 years ago, so maybe things have changed. wezzle - no, i hadn't thought of that. but it's a good idea.

I'm O Rh Neg and DP is Rh Pos and I am definitely having the injections! My mum is ORh- too and she was one of the first people to have them and she had 6 kids, 4 of whom were ORh- and 2 who were Rh Pos. Without the anti-D I might not have been here!

Definitely worth finding out if your DH/P is pos or neg...

On another note, I have however recently discovered that I have anti-E an anti-C antibodies which can cause rhesus disease too, but that's another saga!

I am O RH Neg but only had anti-body D after giving birth and after my babies blood group was tested. Why do some people have injections before??

I didn't have these with my last babe
They were packed full of thimerosal when i had them. Glad that they have taken that out

Thanks LeonieD. Now wandering why different areas follow different guidelines!?!

Hi I am currently living in Italy and 20 weeks pregnant. Where I live in the UK they have started to do routine anti-D injections at 28 and 34 weeks although this is only within the last 3 years (last time I was pregnant which was 5 years ago there was no mention of it although I did have anti-D after the birth). In Italy they just looked at me in wonder when I mentioned it (and this is a country that just loves any kind of intervention!) I think that the point is that the risk is really very small of "invisible bleeds" which is the reason for the routine anti-D. If you had an obvious bleed - a miscarriage or a termination or any significant bleeding within pregnancy - they would give you an anti-D injection straightaway. But the routine ones are a "just in case" thing - the Nice link given by LeonieD is a really good article for explaining this. Having had a REALLY good long think about it I have decided not to worry about it although I will have the anti-D when I move back to the UK at 30 weeks (I decided that the risk was so small that spending hours trying to persuade the Italians to give it to me would probably put me and the babe under more stress than the risk warranted!)

When I was pg with DS1 (in Devon) they only gave the anti-D injection post-natally, and if you actually had a bleed during pg. DS1 was also RhNeg, so I didn't have to have any anti-D. With DS2 (Cornwall) they offered anti-D antenatally. However, as I'd gone without it with DS1, and was fairly sure that DS2 was going to be our last baby, I declined it. I had to sign lots of disclaimers, I don't think they'd had anyone refuse before. However, DS2 turned out to be RhNeg as well (quite rare I think?) so again I didn't need it.

Message withdrawn

Except in my case where they threw the cord blood away before anybody remembered to test it so had to give me the anti-D anyway. I had to remind them.. so keep alert ladies even when it is the last thing you might be thinking about when you've just given birth!

I was going to have it but my mum is uber suprised at my blood test results as she was told at birth I was positive (she's Rh neg)...so more tests to work out where the eff-up was...good job they got it wrong that way round though cos my brother was born positive three years later (though might be worth getting that checked out!)