Other complications

There are many tiny vessels in some parts of the developing baby’s brain, these can occasionally break and cause small haemorrhages that do not appear to cause any long term problems. However these small blood losses sometimes create a clot that can block the fluid flowing from the brain to the spinal cord and this can give the baby some problems.

Sometimes there are larger blood losses and these can create more serious problems as they may limit the blood flow to certain parts of the brain and therefore these parts might not receive enough oxygen and some cells could die being replaced by fluid filled sacs.

Babies at risk will be monitored by carrying out regular ultrasound scans, and should the larger haemorrhages occur the neonatologist will be able to explain the possible consequences.