how can a baby have a different blood type as its mother?

You have several questions here first
Can a baby have a different blood type from its mother? The answer is yes. Secondly, does a baby share its mothers blood in the womb, the answer is no, yes the child is lodging inside of your uterus but he/she is only sharing your nutrient and oxygen intake. Think of the DNA helix-Both parents have a say in the childs blood type, not just the mother, there are allelles taken from the 9th chromosome of each parent and it is catergorized as A, B, AB or O. The dominate Blood type wins. For example if Mother has O blood type and Father has A blood type, A is dominate, so A wins. Baby will have A blood type different from Mommy!!! :-) Hope this helps...

First off, NO THE BABY AND MOM DO NOT SHARE BLOOD. Mom has her blood, baby has its blood. The barrier is the placenta. However, that doesn't mean their blood isn't ever in contact with one another. The placenta cannot filter out all maternal antibodies or diseases. Blood also exchanges during birth - both baby and mom take a beating.

Ok, now that that's out of the way let's talk about blood types. Blood cells will have one of four types of surface. Think of an antigen as a special-shaped "bump" on the outside of the surface of a cell. Type O blood is no antigen. Type A has one type of antigen. Type B has another type of antigen. Type AB is the combination of the two antigens. It's determined by genetics of the parents.

Rh factor is something entirely different. You can be Rh positive or Rh negative. If you are Rh negative, you can generate antibodies against Rh positive. This is why if you have a baby who is Rh positive and you are Rh negative your next pregnancy will be watched very closely. The first baby will have exposed you to Rh factor and your body will develop antibodies against it, potentially killing a second child who is Rh positive.

It depends on the blood type of the mother and the father. In the simpliest terms (forget about Rh + and - for now), there are 4 blood groups, A, B, O and AB. Type A could be AA or AO (O is the recessive type). So, if a mother is AO and the father is a BO, there's a 1/4 chance that the baby will be
1) AO (A from mother, O from dad)
2) BO (O from mother, B from dad)
3) AB (A from mother, B from dad)
4) O (O from mother and O from dad)
This A, B, AB and O doesn't harm your kid.

The problem comes in from the Rh factor. Say, you're a Rh- and the kid's father is Rh+, that would make the kid Rh+. But because your body doesn't have Rh factor, it will see Rh as an "intruder" and will begin to make antibodies. These antibodies will attack the baby's blood.That's where the Rh immunoglobulin (RhIg) comes in via injection. It helps suppress your body's ability to react to the Rh positive red cells (and thus not harm the baby's blood).

The fetus and the mother do not share the same blood supply. They each have their own blood supply. In the placenta nutrients & oxygen leave the mother's blood supply and enter the the baby's blood but they are kept separate the entire time. The baby gets its blood by making it just like it makes any other organ. Instructions for making its blood (and all other body parts and organs) are encoded in its DNA. Because its DNA comes from both parents it is entire possible for a baby to a different blood type than its mother. This is not a problem unless the mother has a negative blood type and the baby has a positive blood type.

The baby may have the father's blood type or they may be totally different it is all in how the chromosomes combine and there is no need to worry. The dr. will tell you if something is wrong and most generally there isn't.

I have ab- blood type and my husband has a positive. I started bleeding on Nov 1st and went to the ER and the gave me the rhogam shot (which hurts so freakin bad by the way) but it was too late and i had a miscarriage. I was completely confused about it too. but good news: just found out i'm pregnant again :)

The baby gets its blood type from both the father and the mother...so if the mother is A+ and the father B-, the baby will be AB+. The mothers blood goes into the baby, and since the baby already has A antigens, then the baby will be fine...the only issue is with Rh+ (what makes blood positive or negative) and if the baby is Rh+ and the mother is Rh- the mother will have to get a shot called Rhogam to prevent any complications with future pregnancies.

Yup. I'm B- and there's a chance of my baby being a +. It would be a bad thing and it would cause my body to make anti bodies and attact the baby, which would basically kill the baby. To avoid this they give Rhogam shots which protect the baby and the mother.


DANYELLE....wtf are you talking about?
Research? Im pretttttty sure I talked to my doctor about it.

The only way this applies to a mother and fetus is if the Mother has a -RH factor and the fetus is +.

The baby produces blood of its own your blood from what I can understand about pregnancy is not your blood...your blood feeds your baby I think...through the placenta and umbilical cord...but the baby can have either father or mothers blood type but not mothers actual blood...