Risks of having a baby boy 02 July 2003 Women whose first child
is a boy are more likely to have a miscarriage in later
pregnancies, according to research. Scientists believe this may
be because some mothers have an immune reaction to male babies
which causes problems when they are expecting more children. At
a fertility conference yesterday they unveiled a treatment that
could prevent women's bodies rejecting male infants. The
reaction takes place because baby boys secrete proteins linked
to the male Y chromosome, which may cause the mother's immune
system to form antibodies to try to fight off the 'invader'. The
first pregnancy survives because the foetus is strong enough to
resist by the time the immune response begins. But experts say
women's bodies may 'remember' what has happened and form similar
antibodies early on in their next pregnancy, causing them to
miscarry. Researchers from Rigshospitalet Fertility Clinic in
Copenhagen, Denmark, studied nearly 200 women who had suffered
at least three miscarria