Symptom
Yellow tinge to the skin and the whites of the eyes
Home care
Watch your newborn baby closely for signs of jaundice in the first week after the baby goes home from the hospital.
Inform the doctor if you suspect jaundice.
Precautions
- Many newborns develop a normal jaundice in the first week of life; however, jaundice that develops in the first 24 hours after birth is not normal.
- Consult the doctor immediately if your jaundiced baby is nursing poorly, seems excessively drowsy, or is fevered or irritable.
- If your baby develops jaundice, follow your doctor’s instructions exactly.
The liver transforms a substance known as bilirubin, released when old blood cells are replaced by new cells, into bile. The bile is then passed into the intestine. When damage to the liver prevents or slows down this process, bilirubin accumulates in the body and jaundice results.
Sixty percent of full-term infants and 80 percent of premature babies develop a normal jaundice during the first week of life. This occurs because of the rapid destruction of the excess number of red blood cells with which all healthy babies are born. The jaundice usually begins in the second or third day of life and disappears between the fifth and tenth day. With rare exceptions, this jaundice is harmless. Its major importance is the difficulty distinguishing it from abnormal jaundice.
The two most frequent causes of abnormal jaundice in the newborn are blood poisoning and erythroblastosis fetalis. Blood poisoning, a generalized infection caused by bacteria or viruses, causes jaundice in the newborn by destroying red blood cells and injuring the liver. Erythroblastosis fetalis is due to an incompatibility between the child’s blood and that of the mother. The mismatch may be in the Rh factor (for example, when the mother is Rh-negative but the infant is Rh-positive), in the ABO factors (when the mother’s blood is type Î but the baby’s is type A or B), or in rarer blood factors. Because of the incompatibility, the mother’s blood forms antibodies (protective substances that form to fight off disease or anything the body interprets as an attacking organism). These antibodies rapidly destroy the infant’s red blood cells.
Breast-fed newborns may also develop jaundice because a substance in the mother’s milk interferes with the proper function of the baby’s liver. This form of jaundice by itself usually is harmless. There are many other causes of jaundice in the newborn, including certain forms of anaeimia, hepatitis, and German measles, but jaundice due to these causes is rare.
Because either erythroblastosis fetalis or blood poisoning can be fatal to newborn babies if not treated immediately, a doctor’s diagnosis must be made promptly. Other forms of jaundice can also be serious if the bilirubin in the blood exceeds a safe level. If jaundice is suspected, a doctor must monitor the bilirubin level closely.
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