Newborns whose mothers have immune thrombocytopeniaThrombocytopenia A platelet count that is lower than normal. (ITP) rarely experience dangerous bleeding, according to findings from the MOM-ITP study presented at the British Society for Haematology 66th Annual Scientific Meeting, held April 19 to 21, 2026, in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Platelets are the tiny cells in your blood that stop bleeding. In ITP, the mother’s own immune system attacks her platelets, so her platelet countPlatelet count A measure of how many platelets are in the blood. FNAIT is characterized by severely reduced counts in a fetus or newborn. drops. During pregnancy, the same antibodies can pass to the baby and lower the newborn’s platelets too. ITP is different from fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia, or FNAITFetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia A rare condition in which a mother’s immune system attacks fetal platelets, leading to dangerously low platelet levels before and/or after birth.. In FNAIT, maternal antibodies attack the baby’s blood platelets inherited from the father, while in ITP, the immune system attacks all blood platelets.
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To see how well UK hospitals care for mothers with ITP and their babies, researchers reviewed 159 newborns from 32 centers, born between May 2024 and December 2025. Most mothers already had a confirmed diagnosis, while others were still being checked. Only 13 centers followed a set plan, while 23 built a care plan for each family.
Most mothers needed treatment during pregnancy, but only about 1 in 8 babies needed treatment after birth. Babies were much more likely to develop very low platelets when their mothers had low counts at delivery, and a baby’s count usually dropped to its lowest point about two days after birth.
Read more about FNAIT vs ITP
Reassuringly, only two babies had minor bleeding, just one linked to low platelets, and there were no deaths or serious hemorrhages.
“In one of the largest cohorts of babies born to mothers with ITP, we describe a reassuring low rate of bleeding with no significant neonatal complications,” the researchers said. “There are some associations with severity of maternal ITP, but we highlight a need for standardisation of monitoring and treatment through national guideline development,” they concluded.
