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Original poster

2 week old baby and jaundice - advice please

22 replies

Mandymoo · 22/05/2006 19:44

DS is just over 2 weeks old and has had jaundice since he was 2/3 days old. His skin is looking a tad better but the whites of his eyes are still very yellow. Saw HV today who said he needs to go to local neonatal unit for blood tests to check his jaundice level. Has anyone any experience of this? Should jaundice be gone by now??

TIA X

OP posts:

Twiglett · 22/05/2006 19:44

feed lots and stick in daylight / sunlight for periods during the day

hoxtonchick · 22/05/2006 19:46

my ds had to have his bilirubin level checked at 6 weeks. it was a blood test at the hospital. not fun for him or me, but over quickly. once they'd established it wasn't over 100 they just sent us away. he was jaundiced for ages, about 10 weeks i think. are you breastfeeding? i think it can prolong jaundice in some cases. ds is now a very healthy 4 year old.

kiskidee · 22/05/2006 19:48

my dds jaundice took 4 wks to disappear. if baby is feeding well, i doubt admission will be necessary. at 8 days old their livers get efficient at removing the bilirubin from their system.

vnmum · 22/05/2006 19:51

hi, my ds had quite bad jaundice, his started the day after he was born. he had repeat blood tests to check his levels but with plenty of feeding in hospital they started to improve. when we got home i carried on with feeding often(im BF so was feeding every 1-2 hrs anyway) and putting him in daylight. His skin took over a month to clear and his whites of his eyes longer but as he was improving slowly i was told not to worry too much. if you are bf it can take longer as they can get something called bf jaundice so i was told by my midwife

popsycal · 22/05/2006 19:52

ds1 was inspecial care becuase of jaundice, His did not go completely until he was abotu 8 weeks.
How is ds feeding and sleeping?
IMO you need to get it checked but dont be alarmed.

DS1's bilirubin levels hit the roof so much so that he had lots of tests etc to find out what was wrong.

Nothing at all - he is a strapping almost 4 year old now.
Get him checked.
In the meantime feed by the window and keep an eye on his weeing.
The eye white being yellow suggests to me that you ought to get him checked out.
Try to feed every 2 hours day and night.....maybe unrealistic for you....
But I was obsessed when ds2 arrived having gone through it all with ds1

popsycal · 22/05/2006 19:53

breastfeeding does prolong it but please dont stop just because of this if you had planned to continue

ds1's levels were around 400 at first - so very high .

popsycal · 22/05/2006 19:54

also (sorry things are coming back to me) it clears from the feet up - so the face is the last to clear

Orlando · 22/05/2006 19:54

My dd had it pretty badly, and I had to take her back in to hospital when she was a week old because she hadn't woken up for a feed for about 6 or 7 hours (basically all day). When I went in they were pretty keen to give her a bottle the jaundice makes them sleepy, but fluid helps flush the liver out, or somesuch (that doesn't sound very scientific, does it?) I was adamant they weren't going to make me do that, so they got a breast pump (grudgingly) and let me express, and when she'd had 4oz or something we were allowed home. (Partly because they didn't have a bed for us it was 1 in the morning when we were discharged and I had to walk to the car on my own lugging the car seat-- not the best night of my life!)

I think if he's waking up for regular feeds there shouldn't be a problem, but if you are concerned go back to the neonatal unit. Are you breastfeeding? If so, you need to be prepared for the fact that you might be put under pressure to give a bottle...

drosophila · 22/05/2006 19:55

DD was dangerously jaundiced and had to stay in hosp for a week after she was born. What they did was feed feed feed. It's really important!!! It helps them flush it out. I was Bfeeding and had to mix feed to ensure she was getting enough. I also had to express so that they knew exactly how much she was getting. Don't worry about your supply dropping. DD is now 16mths and has been exclusively BFed since we got all clear.

They put her under special turbo lights that mimic daylight.

Put your baby in plenty of daylight even if cloudy. Keep your DS by the window with as much skin exposed as possible. In his nappy is best if your house is warm enough.

It is very very common so don't worry. DD had a rare thing brought on by her birth which is why they took it so seriously.

Original poster

Mandymoo · 22/05/2006 19:56

hoxtonchick - yes i am breastfeeding. He is also very sleepy which HV says is connected with the jaundice. He literally wakes up for a quick feed and then sleeps again - not that i'm complaining but obviuosly would like to know that all is ok!

Midwife said it should all be cleared within a week which is why i was starting to worry!

OP posts:

SoupDragon · 22/05/2006 19:56

DS2 had so called "breastfed jaundice". He was startlingly orange for at least 4 weeks before it started to fade. The key thing was that the yellowness was his only symptom. He was feeding well and alert.

hoxtonchick · 22/05/2006 19:59

carry on breastfeeding mandymoo! i bfed ds 'til he was 6 months so the jaundice didn't stop me.

Original poster

Mandymoo · 22/05/2006 20:00

DS is waking every 2-3 hours for feeds and his nappies are wet and his poos are very much of the radioactive variety!

Will see what the blood tests say tomorrow. Thanks for your replies - not quite so panicky now X

OP posts:

popsycal · 22/05/2006 20:00

mandymoo...
We were not even allowed out of hospital - there until ds1 was three weeks old. Had to go back daiy for the next week then monthly.

You may get pressurised to bottle feed but if you dont want to then stand your ground. DS1 was getting formula top ups in SCBU and I didnt really want that but felt I had to. If you are fine with bottle feeding then ignore me :)

Do get baby checked out. They may need to blast him with the lights (ds1 was under triple phototherapy for several days then double for weeks) but it may just be a case of keeping an eye on him.

This is a subject very close to my heart.....
Good luck and keep us updated

MumtoBen · 22/05/2006 22:14

My son had jaundice for about 6 weeks. He spent the first 10 days having phototherapy in hospital. His bloods were checked every few days to see if the levels were falling. Am surprised no one has checked them yet for you. After we came home (a few days later I think) a midwife checked them again - she came to the house and sent the bloods to the hospital.

I was breastfeeding, which can prolong it, as the other people say. Jaundiced babies can be sleepy and need a bit of encouragement to feed as they drop off to sleep. Try tickling his feet, behind the ear or blowing gently on his cheeks if he is only feeding for short periods.

Was also adviced when we got him home to keep him in the sunlight.

coppertop · 22/05/2006 22:20

Dd had jaundice for the first 3 weeks or so. It seems to be standard procedure here to do the blood tests if it hasn't gone by 2 weeks. Dd had to spend a day at the hospital when she was 10 days old but only because she had gone from feeding well to not feeding at all. Her test results were all within acceptable limits so she didn't need any extra treatment and I was actively encouraged to carry on breastfeeding her.

LIZS · 22/05/2006 22:21

We were sent back to hospital when ds was 6 days old - had only been out for a day or so. His test was just outside the level for treatment so we were let home again. Lots of feeding - waking to feed at least 2 to 3 hourly, stripping down to keep him awake longer, tickling, blowing on head etc - weeing to flush it out and exposure to bright daylight so sleep him by a window in as little clothing as possible. Took over 2 weeks to fade.

pegasus · 23/05/2006 13:23

Both of my boys were jaundiced. ds1's went away in a normal amount of time but ds2's stayed for ages so he had to have the blood and urine tests in hospital (-only there a couple of hours then home) - it was all fine so we just kept on breast feeding and eventually it went away. He didn't have any other symptoms - he was just bright yellow! I think one of the reasons it stayed was that there was no sunlight to put him in (-born in Jan!). Get the tests done and don't worry - I'm sure it will be fine.

Zira · 23/05/2006 21:01

Both my sons were born with jaundice, DS2 was worse. He was under the bililights for 2 days after I had him & then we came home & he was readmitted at 9 days to go back under the lights again for another 5 days. His billi went up to 25 so thats why he went back in again. I was breastfeeding but stopped for a week just to moniter exactly how much he was eating. They tested his billi every 12 hrs in the hospital & i carried on taking him to have blood drawn every otherday for a week afterwards.
He now is 6mths old & a very happy healthy baby :)

1Baby1Bump · 23/05/2006 22:57

ds was in hosp for first 2 weeks of his life under 2 lamps and lying naked on a 'billiblanket' so he was lit from both sides.
he had 3 hourly blood tests day and night and was black and blue from the needles. after a while he didnt even bother to cry.
i had to keep his eyes covered to protect them from the light with a stupid sleep mask thing that didnt stay on so i didnt sleep at all for the first week. the nurse came in one night to find me asleep, holding the mask on with my head resting on top of the lamp, stood up!
i tried to bf but they told me it kept him out of lights for too long so he was bottle fed in the end, my supply dried up.
eventually, after much probing, i found out he was at risk of brain damage and was going to be put on the blood transfusion list as the billirubin was not coming down quickly enough.
its an absolute nightmare! ds2 is due in sept and i am so worried he will have it too.
:(

Original poster

Mandymoo · 24/05/2006 12:31

Thank you all so much for your replies - ds had "jaundice level test" yesterday and it was slightly high at 180 so they took more bloods which i get the results from over the next few days. Trying to get blood out of the poor mite was horrendous - and he hardly slept a wink last night!

Have also got to collect wee sample from him and take to gp for testing.

Hopefully all will be well but thanks for taking the trouble to reply XX

OP posts:

popsycal · 24/05/2006 14:02

mandymoo - for whatits worth, we were let OUT of hospital when ds1 was 3 weeks old (but born 2 weeks early) when his sbr level dropped to about 200.....

Sounds like your ds's levels are slightly raised but sounds like they are keeping an eye n him

the blood tests are horrendous aren't they. ds1 had about 20 by the timethey were finsiedh with him....when we went back at 6 weeks fior a check up, he still had the marks on his feet:(

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