Jaundice problems???

[jaydensmum]

Hi everyone, as you all probably know by now i had my little girl last friday. On sunday she started to get jaundice signs (yellow skin). My son had jaundice when he was born and so i wasnt too concerned about it. Then 2 days ago they tested her jaundice levels and they were a bit on the high side. The nurse told me to just keep feeding her frequently and keep her in as much natural light as possible. So i did that and to me she seemed to have been getting better cause she became more alert and was actually waking for her feeds which she was not doing before. Then today she tested again and its got higher!! :eek: She told me that the levels are just under the dangerous levels for going under the lamps. They are coming back tomorrow to test her again and if it hasnt gone down or has got worse then we have to take her back to hospital. :( I cant understand why they dont put her under the lamps now before it gets to that point. I dont want to wait and see her get so sick before they'll do something. Did any of you have your bubs get jaundice that bad that they had to go under the lamps? When did they do something about it, when they were sick? I would love to hear your story about what happened to you and your bub when they had jaundice.
Im really sorry for the long thread, im just really concerned thats all. :(

jaydensmum

[sopolicha]

The whites of my son's eyes were yellow and they still didn't think he needed the lights. I fed him every two hours and put him in the direct sunlight. That was all they could offer me. It faded pretty quick.

Just keep feeding her and put her in the sun. At least it is easier to do in the Wintertime.

[tyler's mum]

tyler had jaundice when she was born they only had her under the lamp for a few hours, it didnt go away for about 3 weeks or so later,, her eyes were also yellow they took longer to go white then her skin well her skin is olive

im sure if they were worry they would have her under the lamps, maybe go to another hosp if your still worry they are doin the best thing for her:confused:

CONGRATES ON UR LITTLE GIRL:hugs:

[Frazzled]

Elliot's jaundice developed at three days and progressively got worse but they tested him twice and let him go home. I was told the same about the sunlight. We did all that and breastfed on demand but he remained jaundice till 13 weeks. This is what they call 'breastfeeding jaundice' - they still are not clear on the actual causes but for some reason b/feeding can prolong it. Which sort of makes the advice abotu constant feeding a little hypocritical - but my doc told me that apparently this 'flushes' the liver. We had to have several blood tests to rule out a liver disorder but even thought his levels (bilibriun) were quite high for a long time - they continually dropped a bit each week which kept them happy.

Once apon a time they used to make you stop feeding for a week cause this got rid of it but then this causes big problems with feeding and supply so now they tell you to just keep at it. Don;t worry as long as they are monitoring her levels and are happy then it is ok. Our paed told us that some babies get so jaundice that the soles of their feet and their palms go orange - thats when its something to worry about! Ask them the levels and from memory i think that if they are under 200 then it is manageable.

Good luck and dont worry xxx

[melbryan]

My DS 1 had bad jaundice and the hospital wouldn't let him go home he stayed under the lamps for 48hrs then they sent me home. I came back in the next few days to hospy to get him some blood tests done ( this cost us all of the money we got from the government when we had him). His eyes were still really yellow and like the last post I feel it was breastfeeding jaundice. I was told to do the sunlight and the extra feeds too but nothing helped. I stopped breast feeding at 6 weeks because I coudn't produce enough milk and had to give him a bottle as well and the jaundice went. If it happens this time round I will stop the breastfeeding also. I don't want to but was told I have the hromone in my milk that increases jaundice.

[xkwzit]

There are two types of jaundice, one that disappears within days the other takes 4 - 6 weeks.

DD1 had the long term one, she was quite orange when born and was blood tested, but didn't need to go under lamps. It tended to make her sleepy, and it was stressed to me that the best thing I could do was to make sure she was BF regularly, even if I had to wake her every 4 hours. The feeding definately does help, providing the extra fluids that the baby needs to flush the (whatever it is) from their systems.

I would not stop BF just to get rid of jaundice faster. It will go away on its own and the benefits of BF far outweigh any potential problem with jaundice that can't be managed in other ways.

Cheers

[melbryan]

I am not telling you to stop breast feeding but telling you, you need to find out what jaundice the baby has before you do anything. Jaundice is dangerous at very high levels and can cause brain damage so there are lots of factors to take into consideration here. Flushing of Breast milk didn't work for me he just stayed yellow so what do you do????
Why make your baby sick if there is a reason it is happening. IMO anyway????? I agree BF is the best way to feed a baby but if it causing the baby stress and the mother than there has to be other options available.

[Peaceangels]

My DS2 had prolonged jaundice that he developed on day 3 or 4. It was the day before we were due to go home, so they put him under the lamps, then tested and it had dropped, so we went home, but he had to be tested every day for the next week.
To me the lamps were nothing, it was the blood test's he had to have that were painful. Anyway as it turned out after 3 days at home we were sent back to hospital (this time in the children's ward - me on a foldup bed in his room) where he was under the lamps for 48hours.
They look so cute sunbaking with their little glasses / eye patch.
I was also told that b/f would help, but his jaundice didn't disappear until he was about 4-5weeks old.
Don't worry about it Jaydensmum, just as long as they moniter her level's and that it stays at a safe level, then she will be fine (I think they call it their billiruben [sp?] levels)

[jessgray]

my ds1 spent 8 days under the lamps when he was a newborn. his jaundice was able to be seen not long after birth but the nurses kept telling me it was normal. then the jaundice was diagnosed when he developed a infection and required treatment in the SCN.

at one stage the Dr who was treating ds talked to me about the possibilty of ds needing a blood transfusion but thankfully this didnt happen, his levels dropped overnight.

for me it was a bit wierd seeing ds under the lights coz he looked to big to be there, he was the only full term bub in the scn at the time.along with all the daily blood tests for jaundice, ds endured 4 failed tests for menigitist (sp?). i think the 4 failed tests were worse then the blood tests :(

[angelickaren]

hi jacinta also had jaundice i notice on sunday morning she had slight yellow in the eyes but midwive said its ok later that night we had her test and screening and weighing and she was yellow on the skin so next day peds dr came and saw her and he wanted to test and he did and she was high and she went under the lights i was upset as i wanted to go home that day but i had to stay and b/f her now mind you her health was the most important but i really wanted to go home so we stayed in the next day she had her test again and was under the high line so we went home and she is now ok so i guess if you need to go back to hospital is only because her levels are too high and can be bad for her i hope her levels have droped just feed her as must as possiable and my peds dr said uv rays from the sun do nothing if there levels are too high so goodluck and keep us posted