to think that 18 days is too long to wait?

[TinkerBellesMumandFiFi2]

My daughter is three weeks today and still yellow. She had 24 hours on the Bili-Bed while we were still in hospital. We were told that if she was yellow today she would be having another test that involved going into outpatients for awhile.

Nurse came out today to check on us and has taken blood to test. The result will be back today and if it's positive then they will take her back in on 10th February for another test! It seems pointless to even book her an appointment in that case because by then she could be better or worse but I don't believe today's test will be relevant in 18 days time.

I'm being practical not worrying about my precious baby, I'm not too concerned about the jaundice as she's growing just sleepy.

I think it is quite long to wait, but you made me think of something my midwife told me to do with my DS when he had jaundice.

She told me to lie him out in the sunlight, through the window in just his nappy. If you can see any sunlight that is. (Probably not very helpful at all, but I'm trying!)

That does sound stupid. Did the nurse make any effort to explain why that is the procedure?

That does seem like a long time

But tbh bili lights won't help an otherwise healthy baby beyond 10 days or so if they have prolonged jaundice.

Did the nurse take blood just to check her SBR level or for further examination?

It may be that they have to wait another few weeks to determine whether there is an underlying cause for the jaundice as at this stage it may still be 'normal' and they don't want to do too many unneeded tests. Btw is she breastfed? As that can often cause a form of jaundice which is completely harmless and usually goes away by 6 weeks... though can last till they're weaned, but as I said, completely harmless.

If you're worried, phone your HV or even local SCBU to ask if this wait is normal.

Good luck

You're supposed to lay them by a window out of direct sun though, not that that is an issue just now. It works similarly to the phototherapy.

Are you concerned enough to press for more action?

Hearing deficiencies can be traced back to neonatal jaundice - after three weeks, it's not standard jaundice, surely? Maybe it would be worthwhile contacting your GP or neonatal midwife for practical advice?

Despite your sensible approach, you are obviously concerned, or you wouldn't have posted.

Hopefully, someone better qualified will appear soon.

I'm glad baby's happy, if sleepy, in every other respect

It's the community neonatal team that are still visiting me. The nurse was surprised by the waiting time, she said there must be a lot of breastfed babies going home early at the moment! When I was told last week we would be retested it sounded like it would be today. She thinks it's probably breastfed jaundice but she also thinks we will need the prolonged test.

Apparently they test at three weeks because of term babies who may not have had much contact with anyone since birth and their jaundice is more likely to go unnoticed.

Not sure what they're doing with her blood, rechecking her levels is all I've really been told.

I've got jaundice related hearing loss, sniggerdoon.

call scbu without a doubt.

call scbu without a doubt.

In that case, Tink, I really do think 18 days is too long.

Well worth clawing your way higher up the list, if you can bear the politics so soon after baby.

Just had a call, her phototherapy cutoff is 2.4 and she's 2.8. We're taking her to the ward in the morning. Not sure if this is for the prolonged test or phototherapy.

good luck

Good luck TBM.. hope all is ok.. stay strong.

good luck TBM. Thinking of you.

Good luck. Don't know what to say really so just to let you know, thinking of you and FiFi.

Good luck TBM - hopefully they'll be able to actually do something, and properly advise you, in the ward tomorrow morning.

You've probably already left but good luck anyway. They will almost certainly do a prolonged jaundice screen while you are on the ward - we always did and it wasn't that long ago.