Jaundice
Jaundice refers to the yellow colour of your newborn baby’s skin. It’s a condition that affects more than half of newborn babies and is in most cases not a danger to his health.
Simply put, Jaundice presents itself once the baby is about 3 days old. It’s caused by a breakdown in blood cells, shortly after birth. This breakdown then causes an excess in the pigment called bilirubin, which makes the baby’s skin turn slightly yellow.
The yellowing will start from the head and work its way down to the baby’s toes. In babies with darker skin-tones, the yellowing will be more prominent in the whites of the baby’s eyes and the palms of his hands and soles of his feet.
When the baby is still tiny, his immature liver is not able to break the excess bilirubin down quickly enough, for the kidneys to expel. The bilirubin then builds up in the blood, causing Jaundice. The Jaundice should, in most cases, sort itself out in the first week.
Should that not happen, the doctor will put your baby under a light; called Phototherapy, for about 12 hours.
In most cases however, the best remedy for Jaundice, is to keep feeding your baby, so that he can flush the excess bilirubin out of his system.
Breastmilk or Feeding Jaundice
Breastfeeding Jaundice can occur, when a breastfed baby isn’t getting enough milk from his mother, or because something in the mother’s milk isn’t agreeing with him.
In most cases you can continue breastfeeding.
In some cases, however, your doctor may recommend that you stop breastfeeding for a while, and that you formula feed until the problem is sorted out. If you’d like to resume breastfeeding once baby is better, use a breast pump regularly to keep your milk flowing.
Premature Jaundice
Often, when a baby is born prematurely, he’ll develop jaundice. Because his liver is even more premature, he’ll struggle even more to excrete the excess bilirubin.
It’ll usually take slightly longer for the yellow tinge to disappear in a premature baby.
Blood Group Jaundice or Pathologic Jaundice
If your baby is born with a yellow tinge, he’ll probably be suffering from this form of Jaundice.
It’s caused when the baby and the mother have different RH factors in their blood. In these cases, the mother’s blood type may produce certain antibodies that destroy the baby’s red blood cells.
Once the doctor has established that Blood Group Jaundice is responsible for the baby’s condition, the mother will be given an injection to prevent this from happening with any future babies.
Should this condition be severe, the doctor may decide to perform a blood transfusion.
Obstructive Jaundice
If Jaundice develops several days after the baby is born, he’ll probably have an obstruction in his liver, which prevents him from processing the Bilirubin properly. In such cases, the baby may have to undergo surgery to remove the obstruction.
Jaundice in older children
In an older baby, the development of Jaundice may indicate that your child is suffering from hepatitis, anaemia or another liver abnormality. This should be reported to your doctor as soon as possible.
