Starting to panic over Jaundice

[flic22s]

My DS was born at 35w 2d he had the usual SCBU treatment, tube feeding , incubator and after a day phototherapy too. My 1st DS was born at 34w and had the same. DS2 is now 15 days old and was released to the ward yesterday. His jaundice levels were high but below the treatment line and had fallen slightly at the last test. They checked his blood again this morning and the levels had risen into the treatment levels again so he is back under the lights by my bed. Has any one else had experience of this. He is now otherwise healthy and is feeding and gaining weight well. I am starting to get worried that the Jaundice may have another cause other than the usual premie new born type as it is going on so long.

Is he BF? FWIW my 35 ish weeker was under the horrid lamp for ages, all pictures for first two weeks bright yellow.

Yeah I am also starting to suspect along with other things that it might be my BM as DS1 was a bit yellow for ages after he was discharged , I would hate to give up feeding as I forgot how lovely an experience it is

I don't think they advise you to stop feeding for breastmilk jaundice do they? It may just be that they should have left him under the lamp a bit longer the first time to really break it down.

Is he def feeding well e.g. lots of wet and dirty nappies?

My DD was 36 weeks born and ended up jaundiced for 8 bloomin weeks! I carried on exclusively BF and it cleared........eventually.

It isn't specifically your bm. I breastfed ds and he had prolonged jaundice until he was about 8 weeks but there was no underlying cause. He didn't need phototherapy though.

Dd was JUST under the treatment line but once I introduced formula she got over the jaundice very quickly. This is NOT to say you should stop breastfeeding - I had various reasons for stopping including PPH, PND and a tongue tie which was severe and undiagnosed.

It might be worth asking to speak to someone re the breastfeeding even if just to boost your confidence?

With dd because she was jaundiced long before she was 24 hours old they were worried there was an underlying cause - they very nearly did a lot of blood tests to look at that - therefore I'm sure your paeds are on top of it and if tests need done then they'll do them and act accordingly.

Congratulations on your lovely new baby.

Yeah his feeding should be fine, he put on weight after his first weighing after coming off tube feeds which they were happy with, another weighing tomorrow to confirm and nearly every nappy change with feed is wet and dirty. They seem to think it should have cleared by 15 days he came of the lights last weds and stayed below the line but then shot up over the last two days. Its been a hard day thought we would be getting discharged on thursday but looks like we will be here well into next week at the earliest. He is the cutest little thing and seems to be thriving in every other way

My little girl was a few weeks early and jaundice, not too bad though, we put her chair in the window to get natural day light which really helped speed up the breaking down process. Is there a window on your ward you can sit in with him, or take him outside as much as possible?

Hope you get sorted soon xxx

BM is great for jaundiced babies. Don't stop! Just keep feeding him as much as possible and it will flush everything through his system. Sometimes the jaundice can make them a bit sleepy which can make it hard to get them latched on but if he's feeding away then that's a good sign. Congratulations! :)

My 36 weeker had prolonged jaundice. Had phototherapy while in hospital but levels rose when we got home and we were referred for prolonged jaundice test. I too was panicking but turned out to be breasmilk jaundice, which can go on for months. Think it cleared after 8-9 weeks,

My 36 weeker had jaundice for around 3 months. He had phototherapy from around day 6-8 but was yellow for ages after and needed regular hospital checks.

I BF him but was advised to top up with formula after each BF - which I did- as the Drs said that jaundice exits the body by the the bilirubin (that causes jaundice) binding itself to fat. The formula was fattier than my BM apparently.