Jaundice...

[strawberryeyed]

DD is 2 days old. Has no visible symptoms of jaundice, at the hospital this morning they did a standard screening which came up high enough to warrant the need to blood test & check Bilirubin levels as he may need phototherapy. I'm so confused how he has no symptoms yet requires the blood test indicating he's a scoring quite high on the screening they do? I'm emotional as my first was in ICU & appreciate it's not the same thing but it's still going back in to hospital if it's needed.

*DS

The allowable level of jaundice gradually increases over the first few days, as the brain gets better able to cope with it. So a level of jaundice that needs doublechecking (I presume they used a bilirubinometer, and want to double check with a blood test) would be a visible level at a few days old, but if only day 2 might not be. Phototherapy, if needed, is a really safe effective treatment, turning the bilirubin into a form that the baby can wee out. He may not need treatment at all, but even if he does this is a world apart from your experience of NICU. The vast majority of babies that do need phototherapy can receive it on the postnatal ward, together with their mum.