Did your baby have jaundice?

Question

I noticed my son's jaundice by his yellow eyes around day 4. I took him to his pediatrician and she told me to take him out in the sun for 10 minutes at a time and breastfeed him every 2 hours. She never did a blood test. A week later, his eyes were still yellow and I took him back. She told me the same thing and still didnt do a blood test. She said his case was mild. How would she know if she didnt do a blood test? I told her that I was concerned because I read that jaundice can be very dangerous if left untreated and she told me not to worry about. My son is now 3 weeks and hes still yellow in the eyes and face. Should I get another opinion? Shouldnt he be under lights and just get rid of it? Did this happen with your baby?

Answer 1

Make sure that he's nursing enough. Are you still taking him into the sun?

Both of my babies had jaundice and they both got better within 3 weeks. Although, my first was still a little yellow a month later. You can tell from his coloring if it's mild or strong.

Frankly, I think they go a little nuts over jaundice when it's not necessary. I think your doctor has a good head on her shoulders. Since the vast majority of breastfed babies get jaundiced, there HAS to be a biological component to it. In fact, they recently released a study that says that jaundice in breastfed babies is beneficial to their long term health.

So, if your doctor isn't worried, I wouldn't be either.

From the link below:
"Breastmilk jaundice peaks at 10-21 days, but may last for 2-3 months. Breastmilk jaundice is NORMAL. Rarely, if ever, does breastfeeding need to be discontinued even for a short time. There is not one bit of evidence that this jaundice causes any problem at all for the baby. Breastfeeding should not be discontinued "in order to make a diagnosis". If the baby is truly doing well on breast only, there is no reason, none, to stop breastfeeding or supplement with a lactation aid, for that matter. The notion that there is something wrong with the baby being jaundiced comes from the assumption that the formula feeding baby is the standard by which we should determine how the breastfed baby should be. This manner of thinking, almost universal amongst health professionals, truly turns logic upside down. Thus, the formula feeding baby is rarely jaundiced after the first week of life, and when he is, there is usually something wrong. Therefore, the baby with breastmilk jaundice is a concern and "something must be done". However, in our experience, most exclusively breastfed babies who are perfectly healthy and gaining weight well are still jaundiced at 5-6 weeks of life and even later. The question, in fact, should be whether it is normal not to be jaundiced and is this absence of jaundice something we should worry about? "

Answer 2

My son was jaundice when he was born. My husband and I were very worried. The pediatrician kept sending us to the lab for blood tests, but didn't tell us what we could do to reduce the yellow color. After 1-2 months of blood tests every week, the lady at the hospital told us to remove all of our son's clothes (leave diaper on) and let the sun shine on him. We did this for a couple days, one hour each time and his jaundice was gone. The best time would be between 8-10am. Also, feed your baby as much as he will take. The urine and poop that comes out of him will reduce the jaundice situation. I wouldn't recommend taking blood tests at such a young age. When you see your baby crying every single time he gets a blood test, you'll be heart broken. The lab took out so many blood from my son, it could fill up a cup. We finally switched pediatricians because this one was useless.

Answer 3

My son had jaundice too. We put him in sunlight and fed the crap out of him. After about 4 weeks he was cleared up. However, our doctor kept doing blood tests, sometimes twice a week. You definately should get another opinion, and maybe consider switching pediatricians.

They typically don't use the light treatment unless the bilirubin count is very high or it is hard to get the numbers down. Which may be the case. Just keep feeding and putting him in sunlight until you get another opinon and blood tests.

Answer 4

Depends on the cause of the jaundice. Most jaundice does respond readily to the billi blanket. Some does not and may require additional treatment. The light of the billi blanket helps the body remove substances from the blood. I'm mostly only familiar with the jaundice caused by RH incompatibility and this is nearly always treated with transfusions because it does not respond to light treatment.

Answer 5

My baby had the same thing for his first 5 weeks, jaundice is very common in newborns, but only in extreme cases do they get put under the uv light...The yellowness in his skin will gradually clear from the feet first so the last place to clear will be his little face. If he is still interested in feeding and has enough yet nappies in a day you shouldn't worry he will grow out of it in his own time...If you are really worried then do get a second opinion just for your peace of mind...

Good luck, hope it clears up soon

Answer 6

I was in the hospital after giving birth and was told my son had a slight case of jaundice. They put him under the bili light right away. He was under it for 2 or 3 days and it went away. If he is still yellow I think I would get a second opinion.

Answer 7

ours didn't last that long... and only in the hospital did they do a test, I don't even remember the results

but between breastfeeding and us being fairly vigilant about keeping her half naked by a window, at our 2 week appt, it was barely noticable and our ped said she didn't even want to bother to poke her.

breastfed babies can take longer to get rid of it, but that is not a bad thing.... keep up the sunlight, do it frequently - like 10 minutes every hour all day... under a sunny window should be enough... strip down to diaper

here's a good breastfeeding site's info on jaundice: http://www.kellymom.com/newman/07jaundice.html

Answer 8

both of my babies had ABO incompatibility jaundice....they were both under lights...

the yellowing of the skin starts in the face and begins to work it's way down the body....push on the tip of your baby's nose....does it turn white or yellow??

is just his face yellowed?..or his body also?...do different pressure tests on his body like i suggested on the nose trick

with him being breastfed he could stay jaundiced a bit longer and it's okay.....doctors will be less concerned about a breastfeed jaundiced baby

nurse him as much as possible and let him in diaper in the sunlight

he should be fine

by the way.....my babies turned bright orange from jaundice

Answer 9

My oldest son had jaundice and it just went away by itself within 2 weeks. I would recommend getting a second opinion. Better to be safe than sorry.

Answer 10

My son was born with Yellow Jaundice. 2-3 days later they tested him with the Bilyrubin test (spelling is wrong i know)
For him his Dr had me boil water, and add white corn syrup. He was to have that as much as he wanted along with breastfeeding. We did that for the first 6 weeks. No sun bathing was mentioned. Seemed to do the trick. He is a Healthy 25 year old now.