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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Do I need an Anti -D after miscarriage?

14 replies

sloathy · 28/06/2010 19:56

Hello

I recently had a miscarriage at 6 weeks and will be TTC again soon. I know that my blood group is A negative and a friend of mine has suggested that I might need an Anti D now because of the miscarriage. I had thought that I would only need one for a second baby after actually having a first baby (if that makes sense). I lost the first baby before I even got to a booking in appointment so I don't have a midwife that I can ask. Can anybody help?

OP posts:
D0G · 28/06/2010 20:16

This reply has been deleted

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bluefootedpenguin · 28/06/2010 20:53

Sorry to hear of your loss. I think you should check with your GP but I am pretty sure that this early in pregnancy they would not readily administer Anti-D. I am also Rhesus negative and bled up until 8 weeks in my first pregnancy but was not offered Anti-D.

mamas12 · 28/06/2010 21:02

Sorry to hear of your loss but YES you do need to have an anti D and I'm pretty amazed that no one at the hopital or docs told you or administered it already.

Good luck

pud1 · 28/06/2010 21:13

sorry to hear of you loss

in my experiance it depends on your nhs trust. mine changed their minds between my 2mc and 2dd. they used to give anti d after any loss and at 28 week during pg. mine now only give anti d after a mc at 12 weeks. my local hospital has an early pregnancy ward and i am sure that this is standard. i would contact them and ask the policy. i demanded anti d after my 2nd mc and they gave it to me even though they had changed the rules. the reason i was given for the rule change was cutbacks. hope this helps and good luck with ttc

sloathy · 28/06/2010 21:45

Thank you all. It didn't even occur to me and neither my GP or the hospital where I went for the internal scan mentioned it. I will ring the hospital tomorrow.

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JintyMcGinty · 29/06/2010 10:30

I am A-Neg blood group too and I've had a miscarriage and two ectopics - the guidelines and medical opinion on anti-D injections are not clear cut. I miscarried at six weeks about a year ago and after the ectopic last August, I asked the consultant for an anti-D injection because I was concerned about future pregnancies.

There was a LOT of debate about it in the hospital, to the extent that the consultant, nursing sister and medical students were brought round my bed to discuss whether I did/did not need anti-D.

The general concensus was that it is not necessary to have an anti-D unless the blood of the baby had a chance to mingle with the blood of a mother. I was told that the circulation in the baby did not begin until 12 weeks, so unless the miscarriage happened around or after 12 weeks then anti-D was not necessary and not routinely given.

However, I was told that the consultant that he felt that it should be "best practice" to administer anti-D anyway to any negative blood group mother after any miscarriage "just in case", but that it was not common until the baby was older.

There is no harm in getting one and I definitely wanted one, to be sure - it is a small needle in the bottom and an inexpensive injection for the NHS. However, as I understand it, anti-D has to be administered within 72 hours of potential exposure to the baby's blood to be wholly effective.

Speak to your GP, although the hospital might be a better place to start.

Meita · 29/06/2010 10:51

Very sorry to hear about your loss.

I got Anti-D after my MC at 6 weeks, but that was in Switzerland.
A MN-friend had an MMC discovered at 12 weeks, didn't get any anti-D and now has antibodies, which was discovered when she became pregnant again. This increased her MC risk and her baby risks being anaemic or even needing an intrauterine blood transfusion.

I think at 6 weeks the risks are very low. Do you know your DP's/DH's blood group? If he is also rhesus negative, you do not need the anti-D in any case. That might put your mind at rest!

MumNWLondon · 29/06/2010 12:06

Its irrelevant now, because to make any difference the anti-D would have had to have been administered within 3 days of the miscarriage, and from what you said it sounds like the loss was more than 3 days ago. If it was within 3 days then call hospital to discuss.

That being said, 6 weeks is very early and they wouldn't generally offer an anti-D injection for such an early loss.

If you do have antibodies they would be detected at a booking in appointment and there is nothing you could do before TTC to make any difference.

smokeybacon · 29/06/2010 12:19

Sorry to hear of your mc. Hope you are ok and getting through it.

I am rh - too, and have had 5 mcs. I was told that before 12 weeks, anti D wasn't necessary unless there was an EPRC done. I had two EPRCs and had anti D after both, and co-incidentally went on to carry to term after those, whereas with my other losses where there was no EPRC or anti D,I went on to mc again.

But it does need to be given, I was told, within 48 hours of the mc to be effective so you may be too late depending when your mc was.

Good luck for your future pgs.

DomesticG0ddess · 29/06/2010 12:20

I am sorry to hear of your miscarriage. I had one at about the same stage in January and was not offered an anti-D jab. I am now 24 weeks pg, with no adverse effects. Good luck with TTC - I got pg before I even had a period - I think I was more fertile afterwards.

sloathy · 29/06/2010 19:48

Hi everyone

Just an update - rang the hospital where I went for my internal scan. They told me that as it was a spontaneous and complete mc I did not need an anti-D. They didn't mention it only be at 6 weeks but that might have been an implicit factor in the advice.

So, nothing for it but get on with TTC again. I am very wary about things going wrong again but i guess I'll never know if I don't try.

Thanks DomesticGoddness - you've given me hope!

OP posts:
JintyMcGinty · 29/06/2010 20:12

This is a link to The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines on the administration of Anti-D in the event of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies

www.rcog.org.uk/files/rcog-corp/Anti-D.pdf

Elsa123 · 29/06/2010 20:55

Hi Sloathy- so sorry to hear of your loss- I'm Rh Neg and have had a mc and the mw and the doc disagreed over the Anti D and I did not get it. Am pg now (25 weeks) and even now I don't know when and if I get it! My current GP doesn't think its required at all.....

DomesticG0ddess · 30/06/2010 19:53

Good luck sloathy, and thanks for letting us know as that reassures me too!

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