6 week old with slight jaundice?

[hippy3]

hi i have six week old twins, and one of them looks slightly yellow. i took him to see the doctor who said that he is very slightly yellow...and we would just keep an eye on it.

i am formula feeding them, he has lots of wet and pooey nappies, and he is in daylight all the time, we get out of the house every day and my living room is very light. he is sleepy but then he is 6 weeks and was 4 weeks premature.... he woke me up screaming this morning for food and is eating properly, he also screams when i change him, which is normal behaviour for him.....

i am worried its going to have some affect on him ...long term? any tips.... or is this common??? I prob have new mum nerves also....

thanks.... x

Are you waking him regularly for feeds? Ordinarily i don't believe in waking a sleeping baby but my DS had jaundice when he was tiny and i was advised to wake him for feeds as jaundiced babies are sleepier and will happily sleep for hours without a feed. Otherwise it sounds like you're doing all the right things - plenty of daylight etc. When you're in the house do you park him next to a window?

I'm sure he'll be fine (my DS took his time to grow out of it) but if you're worried about it longer term then keep pestering your doctor and don't feel bad about it. It's probably linked to him being premature and he'll just grow out of it when he's made up his stocks of vitamin D!

My DS is now a very happy, healthy little boy.

Good luck.

DS1 is 11 weeks and has been jaundiced until a couple of weeks ago (he was born at term,but it was a forceps delivery) We were told it can take up to 6 weeks for the jaundice to go, so when it didn't we took him to the doctor. They didn't seem too concerned, but checked his bilirubin level and it turned out it was high-ish. So we had repeat blood tests a few days ago and now the level was back to normal.

It seems that some babies take longer to get over it, but don't hesitate to pester the doctor and insist for a blood test, just to give you peace of mind. It is not nice, but DS actually slept through it, so it can't have been very painful. And I felt reassured after that.

If he is having lots of wet and dirty nappies and eating well, this is a good sign - I was always asked about that. Also, I asked the doctor if the prolonged jaundice would have long term effects and he said no, for it to affect other organs the bilirubin levels would need to be very high.

This is just my experience, however, as I said don't hesitate to pester your doctor so he can give you some peace of mind. xx

My Ds is 7 weeks. Other than when he was a couple of days old, the HCPs have not mentioned jaundice until the dr saw him on Monday for his 6 week check. She mentioned the colour if his skin, checked his eyes and said that as he is obviously thriving, it was nothing to worry about. The following day the HV mentioned it too and said it could possibly be breastfeeding jaundice, but again nothing to worry about. However, I'm a first time mum who spends her whole day looking at her handsome DS and not worrying isn't easy. The rational side of me knows that he is feeding well (has gone from 50th to 75th centile), his nappies are normal and everything else seems fine. His grandfather is Spanish so up until this week I thought how lucky DS was for having bug brown eyes and olive skin. I'm taking him to the clinic on Wed so will ask if he can be tested for my own piece of mind (and sanity)!

My DS's jaundice didn't really go till he was 8/9 weeks. It was also breastfeeding jaundice. Because he was really quite yellow I kept getting a lot of comment and concern from MWs, but his bilirubin levels were checked 4 times since the jaundice started (at 3 days old) and have never been high enough for him to have to be treated. He was always really alert (barely sleeping at first) and had lots of wet/pooey nappies throughout. I was told to wake him every three hours minimum for feeds. I kept this up till told that, though baby was still yellow, he was getting on fine, and I could stop. Incidentally, paediatricians said sticking a baby outdoors wouldn't have any effect because so little of his skin would be exposed to sunlight.

You can do a fair bit of research on this on the web, which will probably reassure you because it suggests that a small proportion of cases lead to longterm problems (which can be very severe - cerebral palsy) but most babies are fine. It depends on the type of jaundice as well as the degree of it. Get it checked out by taking your baby to A & E, but it doesn't sound as if your baby's is a problem. HVs, MWs and GPs are very vigilant for jaundice in newborns IME and if they're not too worried...

Thanks for the comments.... He seems to be not so yellow this morning for somereason, and has been much more awake... he is sat here looking at me at the moment, and has been awake since 6.30 since his feed..... so I will keep an eye on it and if it continues I will go abck to the GP next week and ask for a blood test.....

Other than that he seem ok..... x Thanks again...xx