Jaundice And Your Newborn Baby

Jaundice is a yellow discoloration in a baby’s skin and eye, it occur in a newborn baby because the baby’s blood contains an excess of  yellow pigment of red blood cells called bilirubin, it mostly occur in newborn babies born below the  thirty-eight months of pregnancy  and some breast fed babies.  It occurs because the newborn babies liver is not developed enough to get rid of the excess bilirubin in the infant blood sometimes diseases do cause jaundices. Bilirubin is normally produced by the breakdown of red blood cells, passes out through the liver and excreted as bile. 

Causes of jaundice in infant:

·         Newborn makes more bilirubin than adult because they have more turnovers of red blood cells than adult.

·          A  new baby is still developing its liver and cannot be able to remove the excess bilirubin

·          Large amount of it is reabsorbed by the baby in the intestine.

High level of bilirubin can cause deafness in the baby, cerebral palsy or other form of brain damage in the baby. , sometimes it indicate the presence of some less severe infections like thyroid problems, it is advisable that all new born babies should be investigated for jaundice few days after their delivery.

 Types of jaundice:

·         Breast milk jaundice: This type occurs in breastfed babies if their mom’s breast milk contains substances that can raise the level of the bilirubin, it occurs in 1-2% of breastfed babies. This effect can prevent the excretion of bilirubin through the intestines.

·         Physiological jaundice: it is the most common type of jaundice occurring in most newborn babies, it occur due to immaturity of the liver, which lead to the slow processing of the bilirubin,, it mostly appear from two to four days  and disappear after one or two weeks of birth.

·         Jaundice of prematurity:  this type occur in premature babies,, because the less ready to excrete bilirubin effectively,

·         Breastfeeding jaundice:  it occurs when a baby is not getting enough milk either because the baby is getting inadequate milk or the mother’s milk is not ready or some other breastfeeding difficulties.

·         RH problems: also known as blood group incompatibility, if the blood group of the mother is different from that of the newborn, the mother may produce antibodies that may destroy the infant’s red blood cells. This will eventually lead to a sudden build up of bilirubin within the body of the infant. This type of jaundice start immediately after birth and in the past, has been recorded to have caused the most severe type of jaundice, but now can be prevented by given an injection of Rh immune goblin to the mother within the 72 hour after delivery to prevent the mother from developing any antibodies that may affect her baby.

 How to know if your baby is having jaundice:

Jaundice begins after 1 or 2 days of birth and started from head and moves downwards, the face of a jaundiced baby will appear yellow, then the chest and the stomach and the legs. It can also cause the whites of an infant eye to appear yellow.

 Most hospital will discharge a new mother after 2 or 3 days, it is advisable to let the doctor check the newborn for jaundice before living the hospital.

 You should call your doctor when you notice any symptoms of jaundice in your baby especially when jaundice is noted 24hrs after delivery, when it is spreading or getting intense, your child’s body temperature rises above 37°C or when your child looks sick. When the color deepens or your baby not feeding well.