Prolonged newborn jaundice - breastmilk?

[Dani891]

Hi! My little boy is now 6 weeks old and he's still quite jaundiced (eyes, skin). We've had a check at the Prolonged Jaundice clinic where they were happy with his weight, amount of wet nappies and stools. Serum bilirubin came at 180, while the skin meter showed 140. However, they were happy with the rest of the blood tests and said no further checks are needed! Has anyone else been through something similar? As I'm quite worried about the levels and how long it's taking to settle! His levels are below the phototherapy requirements so they said just continue with breastfeeding as normal. He's exclusively breastfed.

DC2's jaundice took more than 3 weeks to clear up and we had to go back for further blood tests, but it did clear up. Doctors obviously aren't worried, so just keep doing what you're doing - plenty of milk, plenty of sunlight. Strip down to the nappy and do a bit of indoor sunbathing.

You just need to get them to wee it out, essentially. It does take longer for EBF babies for unknown reasons. Just keep an eye on them for yourself (white poos, change in behaviour/feeding).

We were told to move the crib/moses basket near a window for daytime naps, and just keep feeding

I was with the prolonged jaundice clinic with my first until about 16 weeks old - he was EBF and it just took time. We BF for 3 years in the end, and it caused no issues. My second had jaundice but was combi-fed so it disappeared sooner. It's a worrying thing but it's relatively common with BF babies.

It took about 8-10 weeks for my BF little girls to go fully. I was really worried as well and had her checked but her levels were under despite being pretty neon. Her eyes were the last to clear up if I remember correctly. As previous post said Keep an eye on him for not feeding, pale poop, sleeping lots etc and if you are worried just go back for another check.

Yep, pretty much exactly what happened to me. I continued to BF and it went away eventually, we did require 2 more midwife checks before it cleared up though. It was around 8 weeks in total.

It's very common in BF babies, at the time I was devastated and thought it was my fault. With hindsight I can see I'd done nothing wrong of course, my hormones were up the wall.

Honestly my boy looked like Donald Trump for a while! It will go eventually. If you're still worried in a few weeks though then call your midwife or HV

My son was breastfed and was jaundice for a while too. Had to go have the tests done at the hospital etc, but luckily didn’t get to the point of needing to go under the UV light. It can just take a little longer with breastfed babies, but midwives and health visitors etc weren’t worried

Similar to other posters my LG was jaundiced until around 10/11 weeks old. The health visitor was a bit concerned but jaundice clinic had discharged us and GP had no worries at all; in the end there was no issue. No treatment needed as below threshold and were told to keep an eye out for pale poos. I constantly googled 8 weeks old jaundice, 9 weeks old jaundice etc until it went away!