Jaundice

[Nowtsure]

2 weeks old was ear tested for jaundice on Monday and it was at 185. It's only gone down by 2 to 183 following another test today.

Is there anything we should be doing (apart from the usual keep feeding)?
Baby is still very sleepy, although feeds loads (they've added 600g to birth weight).

I'm worried that the mid wives are not taking it serious enough. The midwife mentioned that the levels should be under 10, yet at 185 they are not doing anything.

If there is sunshine where you are tomorrow sit in the window in it with baby - this is what I was made to do in hospital when I had my first and jaundice was an issue. Don’t know the science but remember the lady whose bed I was seated next to was miffed by my enforced presence😆

Well to avoid hospital you need your baby to see sunlight. Get them beside a window hopefully one that has a radiator beside it too and obviously a such skin on show as possible.

The feeding is a great sign though!

Are you breastfeeding? Jaundice can go on for ages if so but it's not hugely alarming - we had to go to the extended jaundice clinic at 6 weeks but no long term effects. Just a suntanned looking baby for a while!

Loads of sunlight and natural light, crib by the window, if your home is warm enough also strip them down to their nappy as well as pp says expose as much skin as you can. Lots and lots of feeding - sounds like that side of things is going well. If you are worried ask the midwife at what point would they look at phototherapy - DS ended up needing it I think he had 24 hours under the lights and was fine after that. He was about 6 days old but we hadn’t been discharged at that point so a bit less stressful I guess. No long term effects.

I think that the numbers you quote are confusing you. They measure jaundice using two scales (imagine Celsius and Fahrenheit) and you have said IT needs to be under 10 but is 185. Either way your baby is way under the treatment threshold and the fact the levels are dropping is good news. Try to put the baby near or in daylight as much as your can and im sure the midwife will carry on monitoring.

They measure jaundice in an odd way. I think the midwife was probably trying to say it needs to be 10 ‘somethings’ below the treatment level. And treatment level is way below the danger level.

if he’s putting on weight then his hydration levels and blood volume will be increasing, jaundice is a blood ratio so the levels will therefore continue to decrease as he grows. They would be worrying if he wasn’t putting on weight, but it shouldn’t increase if he is. If you’re breastfeeding that also actively breaks down the bilirubin, but weight loss is generally more so you’re more likely to get jaundice.

That should say 100, not 10.

I'll put baby to sunshine during the day, fingers crossed we get some round here.

I am mixed feeding at the moment, although its mostly breastfeeding and topping up with formula if needed. Think I'll increase the formula for now so hopefully it flushes out the bilirubin quickly.

Thanks all.

I'm in hospital as I type, coming home today with my baby hes jaundice too, I'm breastfeeding midwife says put him in front of the window.

Just updating for anyone else is in a similar situation, baby had a blood test which came back normal so we were discharged. Baby is now few months old and doing fine.