what tests should be done ina mother when a new born baby has neonatal jaundice?

Question

i am trying to find some blood test for the mother if a infant has neonatal jaundice

Answer 1

It's not the mother, baby just has it. It's really VERY common. They have bili-lights at the hospital, hopefully you do not have to do that. They often tell you to use formula for 48 hours, you do NOT have to do that either. That's just a great way to mess up your breastfeeding relationship.

If you go home with a jaundiced baby, be sure to get a lot of sunlight. Some people will tell you to just be in a window. This does not work because new windows have UV protection. You need to be careful about sunburning baby, so pay attention to the time of day and how long. No sunscreen! If it's cold out, OPEN the window and have baby in your lap (to keep warm) in just a diaper for at least 10 minutes a day.

Answer 2

The only time they take blood from the mother is to check her blood type in the case of blood incompatibility causing jaundice. However the mother's blood type is always checked before the baby is born or during labour.

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/07jaundice.html
Introduction

Jaundice is due to a buildup in the blood of bilirubin, a yellow pigment that comes from the breakdown of old red blood cells. It is normal for old red blood cells to break down, but the bilirubin formed does not usually cause jaundice because the liver metabolizes it and gets rid of it into the gut. The newborn baby, however, often becomes jaundiced during the first few days because the liver enzyme that metabolizes bilirubin is relatively immature. Furthermore, newborn babies have more red blood cells than adults, and thus more are breaking down at any one time. If the baby is premature, or stressed from a difficult birth, or the infant of a diabetic mother, or more than the usual number of red blood cells are breaking down (as can happen in blood incompatibility), the level of bilirubin in the blood may rise higher than usual levels.
Two Types of Jaundice

The liver changes bilirubin so that it can be eliminated from the body (the changed bilirubin is now called conjugated, direct reacting, or water soluble bilirubin--all three terms mean essentially the same thing). If, however, the liver is functioning poorly, as occurs during some infections, or the tubes that transport the bilirubin to the gut are blocked, this changed bilirubin may accumulate in the blood and also cause jaundice. When this occurs, the changed bilirubin appears in the urine and turns the urine brown. This brown urine is an important clue that the jaundice is not "ordinary". Jaundice due to conjugated bilirubin is always abnormal, frequently serious and needs to be investigated thoroughly and immediately. Except in the case of a few extremely rare metabolic diseases, breastfeeding can and should continue.

Accumulation of bilirubin before it has been changed by the enzyme of the liver may be normal—"physiologic jaundice" (this bilirubin is called unconjugated, indirect reacting or fat soluble bilirubin). Physiologic jaundice begins about the second day of the baby's life, peaks on the third or fourth day and then begins to disappear. However, there may be other conditions that may require treatment that can cause an exaggeration of this type of jaundice. Because these conditions have no association with breastfeeding, breastfeeding should continue. If, for example, the baby has severe jaundice due to rapid breakdown of red blood cells, this is not a reason to take the baby off the breast. Breastfeeding should continue in such a circumstance.
So-called Breastmilk Jaundice

There is a condition commonly called breastmilk jaundice. No one knows what the cause of breastmilk jaundice is. In order to make this diagnosis, the baby should be at least a week old, though interestingly, many of the babies with breastmilk jaundice also have had exaggerated physiologic jaundice. The baby should be gaining well, with breastfeeding alone, having lots of bowel movements, passing plentiful, clear urine and be generally well (handout #4 Is My Baby Getting Enough Milk?). In such a setting, the baby has what some call breastmilk jaundice, though, on occasion, infections of the urine or an under functioning of the baby's thyroid gland, as well as a few other even rarer illnesses may cause the same picture. Breastmilk jaundice peaks at 10-21 days, but may last for two or three months. Breastmilk jaundice is normal. Rarely, if ever, does breastfeeding need to be discontinued even for a short time. Only very occasionally is any treatment, such as phototherapy, necessary. 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 so-called 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 five to six weeks of life and even later. The question, in fact, should be whether or not it is normal not to be jaundiced and is this absence of jaundice something we should worry about? Do not stop breastfeeding for “breastmilk” jaundice.

Answer 3

the mother doesn't need a test. If the pediatrician considers the baby is too yellowish in color they will draw blood from the baby and run a bilirrubin test.

I know this bc my baby girl had jaundice (level 18) and she had to be put under UV lights at the hospital and had to stay for 2 nights.

Answer 4

The mother shouldn't have to be tested for anything. Neonatal Jaundice is very common and the baby can be treated with billiruben lights. The baby's liver can't break down the billiruben (sp?) in their system, but these special lights can, so they have to lie under the lights until the billiruben levels in their blood are down to normal. Then they are fine. I had it when I was born, my daughter had it when she was born. It is quite common in higher elevations. Nothing to be worried about.

Answer 5

ususlly its the baby who is proucing too much biliruben- jaundice in newborns is quite common and ofetn goes away with little treament
When bresatmilk causes jaundice there is NO reason to quit nursing which evevr doc says that is misinformed

Answer 6

My sister's daughter had jaundice for a few days. The dr. said her bilirubin level (in the liver) was too high, and that my sister's milk was part of the cause. So sister had to stop nursing for a few days, and then the bilirubin level went back to normal and she was able to nurse again.

TX Mom