If the mother has type O blood and the father has type AB blood, it is possible to give birth to a child with hemolysis. If the mother has type AB blood and the father has type O blood, it is possible to give birth to a child without hemolysis.
1. Mother’s blood type O, father’s blood type AB: In this case, a child with blood type A or B may be born. This is the most common case of ABO hemolysis where the mother is type O and the fetus is type A or B. The reason for this is that the mother with type O blood is stimulated by the substances of type A or B blood in nature, and her blood contains anti-A or anti-B antibodies, which can attack the fetus’s blood cells through the placenta and thus cause hemolysis.
2. Mother’s AB blood type and father’s O blood type: In this case, the child born is also A or B blood type, but because the mother is AB blood type, the red blood cell itself has A antigen and B antigen, and will not produce anti-A or anti-B antibody, so it will not cause hemolysis in the fetus.
If a child born to a mother with type O blood and a father with type AB blood develops jaundice within 24 hours after birth and is accompanied by symptoms such as anemia and liver and spleen enlargement, the child should be alerted to ABO hemolysis, and should be seen promptly for examination and standardized treatment in order to prevent bilirubin encephalopathy from occurring.