Rhogam is Rh gamma globulin.  It consists of preformed IgG antibodies
against the Rh antigen.  Its function is to destroy any of the infants
blood cells that leak into the maternal circulation through the placenta
or at birth before the Rh negative mother can be sensitized to the Rh
antigen and make her own antibodies.  These maternal antibodies cross
the placenta in later pregnancies, and destroy the red blood cells of an
Rh positive fetus.  An old friend lost 5 siblings in the pre-rhogam days
to erythroblastosis fetalis, the condition that occurs when the fetus
attempts to replace the red blood cells with increasingly immature cells
in a losing fight to carry oxygen.
        Only minimal amounts of IgG are transferred into breast milk, and they
are digested in the infants' gut.  Rhogam does not persist in the
mother's circulation, that's why a second dose is required at birth.  If
it "hung around" it would be just as dangerous as the mother's own
antibodies in a subsequent pregnancy.
--
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  New York City  mailto:[log in to unmask]

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