Jaundice is a yellow coloration of a newborn baby’s skin and the whites of the eyes. This is a sign that the baby has too much bilirubin in his blood. Hyperbilirubinemia is having too much bilirubin in the blood. Jaundice usually appears in the first 5 days of life. Jaundice is a common condition in newborns, affecting more than 50 percent of all newborns.
Jaundice is especially common in premature babies – boys are more likely to get it than girls. It usually appears within the first week of the baby’s life.
In a healthy baby born at full term, jaundice is rarely a danger signal. It gets better on its own. In rare cases, untreated infant jaundice can lead to brain damage and even death.
Main reasons for jaundice in babies
Infant jaundice is caused by excess bilirubin. Bilirubin is a waste product produced when red blood cells break down. It is normally broken down in the liver and removed from the body in the stool.
Before a baby is born, it has a different form of hemoglobin. Once produced, they break down the old hemoglobin very rapidly. This produces higher-than-normal levels of bilirubin that must be filtered from the bloodstream by the liver and sent to the intestine for excretion.
However, an underdeveloped liver cannot filter bilirubin as fast as it is being produced, resulting in hyperbilirubinemia (an excess of bilirubin).
Infant jaundice is common with breastfeeding. It occurs in newborns who are breastfed in two different forms:
Breastfeeding Jaundice
It occurs in the first week of life if the baby does not feed well, or if the mother’s milk comes in slowly.
Breast milk jaundice
It depends on how breast milk interferes with the breakdown of bilirubin. This occurs after 7 days of life, peaking at 2–3 weeks.
Some cases of severe infant jaundice are associated with an underlying disorder:
- liver disease
- Bleeding under the skull (cephalohematoma) – caused by a difficult delivery
- Sepsis – a blood infection
- Abnormality of baby’s red blood cells
- blocked bile duct or bowel
- Rhesus or ABO incompatibility – when the mother and baby have different blood types, the mother’s antibodies attack the baby’s red cells.
- High number of red blood cells – more common in small infants and twins.
Jaundice Symptoms
The most common sign of infant jaundice is yellow skin and sclera (whites of the eyes). It usually starts on the head and spreads to the chest, abdomen, arms, and legs. Symptoms of infant jaundice can also include:
Yellow stool
Breastfed babies should have greenish-yellow stools, while bottle-fed babies should have greenish-mustard colored stools.
Dark colored urine
Newborn baby’s urine should be colorless
Treatment
Usually, treatment for mild jaundice in infants is unnecessary, as it disappears on its own within 2 weeks. If the infant has severe jaundice, they may need to be hospitalized to treat low levels of bilirubin in the bloodstream. May be required. In some less severe cases, treatment can be done at home. Some treatment options for severe jaundice include:
Phototherapy
Treatment by light rays. The child is covered with a plastic shield to filter out ultraviolet light and placed in a special light. Light manipulates the structure of bilirubin molecules so that they can be excreted.
Exchange blood transfusion
The baby’s blood is repeatedly withdrawn and then replaced with the donor’s blood. This procedure will only be considered if phototherapy does not work as for newborns this would require placing the baby in an intensive care unit (ICU).
Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG)
In cases of Rhesus or ABO incompatibility, the infant may receive a transfusion of immunoglobulin; This is a protein in the blood that reduces the levels of antibodies from the mother, which are attacking the baby’s red blood cells.
We are telling you some home remedies for jaundice in newborn babies
Sunlight- Sunlight is said to be the cure for 100 diseases. In case of jaundice in a newborn baby, sun rays can prove to be a very effective remedy. Sunlight helps in breaking down bilirubin and the baby’s liver can easily remove it. Keep your baby in light or sunlight coming from the window at least twice a day for 10 minutes. But along with this, you also need to be careful not to keep the child in direct sunlight.
If a formula milk is being given to the baby as food, then on the advice of the doctor, you can also give supplementary food. These diets can prove effective in curing jaundice.
Do not trust the myths related to jaundice. There are some myths whose authenticity has not been proved yet, such as in case of jaundice, the mother should not eat yellow clothes or yellow food or keeping the baby’s photo under the tube light at home. Therapy can be done etc. You must have heard this phrase that quacks are dangerous, so instead of relying on any kind of lies, you should follow the suggestions and instructions given by the doctor.
Also, keep in mind that the cases of jaundice increase during the rainy and winter seasons because less sunlight is available during that time. And yes, the most important thing is that do not give any kind of herb or home remedy to your baby without consulting your doctor.