Newborn jaundice advice please.

[Totoro1234]

My baby is 10 days old. At around 3/4 days she started with a mild yellowing tinge to her skin and eyes. At the day 2 home check the midwife didn’t note any concerns about jaundice. At the 5 day check a healthcare worker checked her over and said there could be jaundice. She didn’t do any tests for it but said to monitor. It didn’t get worse and cleared on day 10. I noticed her eyes didn’t have any yellow in yesterday. Baby is sleepy and sleeps majority of the day but she wakes up for her feeds (maybe 2/3 times we’ve had to wake her and twice had to strip her down a bit when breastfeeding). Shes been exclusively formula fed for the last 4 days. She feeds well and is gaining weight appropriately. I’m paranoid I should have asked for her to be tested for bilirubin levels? She looks a great colour now it’s cleared and I’m convincing myself it was worse than it was. My first daughter had mild jaundice that was tested for when we were in hospital that cleared on its own. Read online that jaundice can cause brain damage. Does the fact it cleared on its own by 10 days rule that out? Did anyone have mild yellowing that wasn’t tested?

Yes don't worry about it at all. Jaundice is very very very common and can last a month or two and still be fine!

@Eestar thank you! Think it’s just because it wasn’t tested I feel like i’ll never know if it was more severe if that makes sense!

As PP said it's very common, my son had it no one was really concerned. I sat him in front of the window for a bit of sun in the first days!

I was told just to put Ds’s Moses basket in front of the window to clear his jaundice. It worked and that was the end of that!

Please do not do this. Especially as some places are as hot as 28/29'

@Muchtoomuchtodo thanks so much for the advice- do you remember him being tested for it or were you just told based off his colour? Thanks!

@daff0di1 thanks! Do you remember being tested for it or were you just told based off his colour? X

He was never tested but his skin and eyes were noticeably yellow

My DS had jaundice, plenty of natural light even if the sun isn't shining will make a world of difference.

@Muchtoomuchtodo Thanks so much! That gives me reassurance that it’s normal not to be tested despite being having that colour.

Yeah famous Australian research paper called "Don't Burn The Baby"!

Mine looked like a tiny oompa loompah, she was practically orange. Lasted a couple of weeks then just went, rather than a gradual fading. She was a winter baby so not much sun; I was told to make sure she fed enough, not entirely sure why, I was too in the trenches to research it. They did say if it didn't go she'd be admitted for light therapy, but it went just in time.

The jaundice really has to be severe for there to be the risk of brain damage. This really sounds like perfectly normal mild neonatal jaundice. This will not have harmed your baby.

My son had prolonged jaundice (over 2 months). He was really orange, and the midwives said sunlight and breastfeeding but it was a 30 degree heatwave, so sunbathing wasn’t possible. He had 2 round of phototherapy and on day 5 was still looking pretty yellow. The health visitor sent us to a and e for blood testing but even as yellow as he was, it was fine.

Alternatively, my daughter had mild yellow jaundice for about 2 weeks that wasn’t tested and completely cleared up untreated.

if your worried its lovely weather at the mo, take them for lots of walks. The sunshine will sort them out. But it usually sorts it self out quickly

My daughter now 20 developed jaundice on day 4-6 after birth and was put on the lamp beds and tube fed via her nose in neonatal unit for a week with issues also with her kidney function. Everything turned out fine once the jaundice was sorted.

Nope we weren't tested. It was quite clear he had it though

With jaundice, you can call your midwife and go in to get tested still. I personally would. My child wasn’t visibly very yellow, but had really severe jaundice when tested and ended up back in hospital for a few days.

Kernicterus was the main concern for brain damage, when the levels of bilirubin get so high that there will be extreme lethargy, spasms, seizures etc. So lethargy in itself isn’t probably a big concern for brain damage.

But it’s one of those things where you don’t know. In London you can drop in to the children’s A&E for a jaundice test (in my area anyway)

@january1244 thanks for replying. Was your baby gaining weight/ waking for feeds at the time they had it? You can request a test here but the yellowing of her eyes and skin has now gone so I don’t think there’d be any need to get tested now as it has so obviously reduced. She’s being weighed on Monday so will ask them about it again then. I’m just really hoping if it was severe, they would have noticed when they saw her at 5 days as I think that was probably when it was the most obvious. Just feel like I should have asked/ insisted for a test at this time to rule anything serious out in my head (have a tendency to over think!)!!

@Totoro1234yes gaining weight and feeding well. His levels were so high he should have had kernicterus, but they really emphasised that the brain damage is caused by the kernicterus and that would have been obvious - the seizures, stiff limbs etc. So if the jaundice has gone and your baby didn’t have kernicterus it should be okay.

I had two babies, both had jaundice. First one, jaundice kicked in after 3-4 days which is totally normal and very common. Midwife was not concerned, told me it’s more common for breast-fed babies.

Second baby BORN jaundiced and anaemic due to blue-baby syndrome. We had anticipated this as I had been induced at 38 weeks due to antibodies found in my 34 week blood test.

I was told that a baby’s liver takes a couple of days post-birth to start working, which is why jaundice at post 3/4 days is totally fine. At birth it’s dangerous as the liver has yet to start functioning, which can lead to major organ damage as the bilirubin is not being broken down. My “blue” baby is now 22, at uni and 100% fine.

@crossstitchingnana thanks so much for taking the time to respond! Do you remember if it was tested with your first? I’m worried my baby had it and because it wasn’t tested it could have been severe without us knowing about it.

@Totoro1234 congrats in new baby.
those new born days are a minefield aren’t they - sleep deprived / hormonal and primed to protect your baby. I would say if the jaundice you can see has mcuh improved then it’s very likely that the bilirubin levels hve also come down too.

it’s usually highly uncommon for a baby to have such high levels of bilirubin that there is a possibility of brain damage without any visible features although I appreciate @january1244 reports this. The only caveat is that I thjnk in general health care professionals find it more difficult to notice/ not trained as well in jaundice in darker skinned babies

I think you’re doing all the right things. Keep the appointment on Monday and if you’re still worried about it you can request a test there. Although if everything is much better they may well refuse. It does seem silly that there is no standardised approach as to when a child is tested - very subjective depending on concerned each individual midwife is about the yellowness.

Lots of careful 'sun baths'. Stripp baby down to nappy and let them catch some sun. Of course don't overdo it and m be mindful of sunburn or a chill. We did this for dc2 inside infant of a window that let it lots of lovely sun light. If in doubt please always let the GP know.

@Theboymolefoxandhorsethe NICU consultants said there would be very clear signs of kernicterus though that would cause long term issues. The very high bilirubin in itself didn’t cause any long term issues. A lot of babies need treatment for severe jaundice but very very few in the UK get kernicterus