Before birth, a baby's blood carries mostly fetal haemoglobin, a form of the oxygen-carrying protein that holds on to oxygen tightly. New research shows that even very premature babies are born with mostly fetal haemoglobin, that blood transfusions from adult donors replace it faster, and that…

Babies born very early need frequent blood tests, and because they have so little blood to begin with, the small amounts taken for testing add up quickly. A large study across 22 European countries found that hospitals differ widely in how much blood their laboratory machines need, and two smaller…

Many very premature babies need a blood transfusion in their first weeks, and doctors now know it is safe to wait until a baby's blood count drops a little lower before giving one. New research shows that US hospitals have been following that advice more closely, hints that the way donated blood is…

Babies in intensive care sometimes develop blood clots in their veins, most often around the thin tubes doctors use to give nutrition and medicines. New research shows these clots are more common in babies with heart problems or infections, but also that many clots shrink or disappear within a few…

A new study of nearly 750 premature babies found that giving plasma to correct an abnormal blood-clotting test does not, on its own, protect against brain bleeding — and in the most premature infants, it may actually be linked to a higher chance of it. Using careful statistical methods designed to…

Babies born with Down syndrome very often have unusual blood counts in their first days, and a small number have a temporary condition called transient abnormal myelopoiesis that can occasionally turn into leukaemia within a few years. Three studies published in 2026 sort out which findings should…

In a small number of pregnancies a mother's immune system makes antibodies against her baby's red blood cells, and those antibodies cross the placenta and destroy them. This is hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn — now rare, at roughly 29 pregnancies per 100,000, thanks to a preventive…

Sometimes a mother's immune system makes antibodies against her baby's platelets — the cells that stop bleeding — because the baby inherited a marker from the father that she does not carry. The antibodies cross the placenta and destroy the baby's platelets, a condition called fetal and neonatal…

Blood clots are one of the lesser-known risks of newborn intensive care. They form most often around the thin plastic tubes, called central lines, that carry nutrition and medicine into a sick baby's bloodstream. Three recent medical reports examined how often these clots happen, how doctors find…

Newborn babies are born with very little vitamin K, the nutrient the body needs to make blood clot, and for six decades a single injection given shortly after birth has protected them from rare but devastating bleeding. A 2026 review gathers what is known about why babies are so vulnerable, how…

Very premature babies often need blood transfusions, and those transfusions usually use blood donated by adults. A trial in Italy asked a new question: what if the blood came instead from donated umbilical cords, which is naturally richer in the type of hemoglobin a baby is born with? In its first…

If you have spent time beside an incubator in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), you may have heard the word transfusion more than once. Babies born very early and very small — under about two pounds, or 1,000 grams — almost always become anemic, meaning they run low on red blood cells. Red…