Breast feeding or breast milk jaundice

[priscilla101]

My DS2 is 6 weeks ad is still jaundiced. He has had his bilirubin levels checked twice, once in the days after birth and he second time when he was 4 weeks old through the neonatal blood clinic at the hospital where he was born.

He did not need treatment for the jaundice.

The neonatal clinic have written to me today to tell me that his bilirubin levels and hb levels are within the normal range so he is discharged.

However, on Friday we went for the 6week check with the GP who said that the jaundice should have cleared by now and that I should chase the hospital. He is still a little yellow and the whites of his eyes are discoloured. He is a good feeder and is gaining weight beautifully.

When I asked the GP what causes prolonged jaundice she said breastfeeding, but to continue to bf.

I will call the clinic on Thursday, but I have a feeling they are just going to say he is discharged and they are not concerned.

In the meantime I have googled it and here are two kinds of jaundice associated with bf, breast milk jaundice and breastfeeding jaundice.

I wondered if anyone has experience of either? Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can do?

I might post this in children's health too....

What's the difference between breastfeeding and breast milk?

That aside my LO was borderline hospitalisation for jaundice and is BF. it did take quite a long time for the yellow to go and I was told it goes from the bottom of the body first, moving upwards with the eyes last to go white (if that makes sense), I can't remember exactly but at her 8 wk appt it was def gone. Sounds normalish but obviously get it checked if you're in any way unhappy.

GL :)

Sorry I don't have time to write a proper reply but here is a list of reliable info about jaundice in BF babies.

Hope you get it sorted. Happy Christmas :)

Bilirubin is fat soluble and dyes the whites of the eyes and skin. Fat soluble chemicals stay longer in the body than water soluble ones. It sounds like as long as he is putting on weight fine and is alert you don't have much to worry about.

drjaygordon.com/pediatricks/newborns/bilirubin.html
drjaygordon.com/pediatricks/newborns/jaundice.html

My DS had this for about 12 weeks. It was breastfeeding jaundice. We had lots of hospital blood tests. He was fine just yellow! I bf for 11 months.

Most cases of prolonged jaundice are because of breastfeeding and is nothing to be worried about. However, there are some rare-ish medical problems that need to be ruled out. This is easily done with a blood test and a wee sample. Ask the clinc about it. If they aren't interested, get your GP to refer you in, you don't need an out patient appointment, in the ward I used to work on we saw these babies most days for a quick test then home. (Also only one abnormal result in a year, so odds are good. )

The reason jaundice is a problem earlier is when babies are tiny, if the levels are high, it can damage the brain. Light treatment is started a long way before the potential danger levels. When the baby is only a few days old this danger stops, and as I said, it is just a matter if ruling out the other potential causes.

I had a yellow (ebf) baby for about eight weeks. If he is putting on weight and lots of wet and dirty nappies he sounds to be doing v well. But if you're concerned see the GP to put your mind at rest. And if you do a hospital appointment, good luck with getting that urine sample from a newborn

Thanks so much for replying! The links have been especially useful.

Just to add, ds provided urine sample and also had other tests (liver function and full blood count). No reference was made to the results of these tests in the letter from the hospital.

I will see how he goes!

Thanks again!

Des should also have had a thyroid check, and a couloir of other things (testing my memory a bit) but am sure he will be fine. As a previous poster suggested, well done for catching a urine sample.

My BF DS was jaundiced for about 10/12 weeks, people always commented on his beautiful tan :-)