Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Prolonged jaundice, how worried should I be?

2 replies

Primafacie · 29/06/2011 16:11

My baby was born at 34 weeks with pathological jaundice for which he received phototherapy. We were discharged when he was 10 days old, still jaundiced but under the tx threshold. He is exclusively BF, I got plenty of milk and his weight gain has been spectacular: by 8 weeks (2 weeks adjusted) he had doubled his birthweight. He keeps jumping centiles every time I have him weighed, so I know he is thriving.

The problem is, he is still quite jaundiced. I had my 8 week check up yesterday, the dr said obviously he is still visibly jaundiced but given he is thriving, waking up to feed, and producing lots of wet and dirty nappies, I should not worry about it. I had read that breasfeeding jaundice usually clears up after 2 to 3 months, however my dr said in calculating that period we should use his adjusted age (3 weeks tomorrow) and not his chronological age (9 weeks tomorrow) as the liver fx matures more slowly in preterm babies. Does this sound right to the BF experts on here? I just did a search and of course found a thread where someone said a baby with prolonged jaundiced had died in his sleep at 8 weeks, so feeling all panicked now!

OP posts:
sc2987 · 29/06/2011 16:31

My breastfed baby had jaundice till 10 weeks (or 13 corrected) and was fine. The HV said she would refer us to the prolonged jaundice clinic in case, but she forgot and I wasn't worried.

If you do go for further testing, the NICE guidelines say they should use a transcutaneous bilirubinometer first (less invasive), and only a blood test if warranted afterwards.

Primafacie · 29/06/2011 18:28

Thanks, it is good to hear of others having similar experiences. I would rather not have more monitoring but I am starting to feel impatient to see it clear up.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread