Premature babies may have difficulty breathing, may develop jaundice, and may become anemic. In modern neonatal units, these problems can be easily treated. Babies weighing more than 3 pounds at birth grow normally. About 10 percent of women with Anti-Ro antibodies, or about 3 percent of all lupus women, will have a baby with a syndrome known as neonatal lupus. Neonatal lupus consists of a transient rash, transient blood count abnormalities, and a special type of heart beat abnormality.
Neonatal lupus is the only type of congenital abnormality found in children of mothers with lupus.
For babies with neonatal lupus who do not have the heart problem, there is no trace of the disease by 3-6 months of age, and it does not recur. Even babies with the heart beat abnormality problem grow normally. If a mother has had one child with neonatal lupus, there is about a 25 percent chance of having another child with the same problem. This is often both the safest and fastest method of delivery in these cases. Usually the decision about type of delivery is not made in advance because the specific circumstances at the time of delivery are the determining factors.