If your newborn baby’s face or eyes have taken on a yellowish tint, do not be alarmed. Your baby may be suffering from jaundice, a mild medical condition that affects about 50 per cent of full term babies in the first week of life and about 80 per cent of premature babies.

When will you find out?

Most new-borns have some yellowing of the skin or commonly known as jaundice when they are 2 to 4 days old. This is because the liver, which removes bilirubin from the baby’s body, is not ready to do this job yet. Generally this is not a problem and will go away within 2 weeks.

What are the SYMPTOMS?

The skin of the baby will have a tinge of yellow, subsequently the conjunctiva (whites) of the eyes too. A quick check is by pressing one finger on baby’s forehead and if the skin is jaundiced, it will appear yellow when you lift up your fingers pressure from the skin. Typically, the hospital will check for jaundice signs too before the baby goes home after birth.

Symptoms of infant jaundice can also include :

  • Drowsiness
  • Pale Stools: breastfed babies should have greenish-yellow stools while those of bottle fed babies should have a greenish-mustard colour
  • Poor sucking/feeding
  • Dark urine: a newborn’s urine should be colourless

How to treat Jaundice

To determine whether treatment is needed, it depends on the baby’s bilirubin level, how fast the level has been rising and is the baby born premature.

If yes to the above, the baby will need treatment.

As used in hospitals as a preferred method of treatment, phototherapy treatment is recommended as an effective way to help break down the bilirubin in the skin. Main purpose of phototherapy is to reduce the bilirubin level until the liver is ready to process the bilirubin and take over the job.

Advantages of phototherapy at home:

  • Allowing the mommy to continue breastfeeding without having the hassle of delivering breast milk to the hospital.
  • Ability to continue to bond with the baby
  • Rent jaundice meter from us & mommy can monitor the jaundice level at home and get a doctor’s confirmation later.

Other treatment options:

  • Exchange blood transfusion – the baby’s blood is repeatedly withdrawn and then replaced (exchanged) with donor blood. This procedure will only be considered if phototherapy does not work.
  • Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) – the new born  may have a transfusion of immunoglobulin; this is a protein in the blood that lowers the levels of antibodies from the mother, which are attacking the infant’s red blood cells.

Contact information to rent equipment for phototherapy:

Cradle n Care Pte Ltd
www.cradlencare.com
Email: admin@cradlencare.com
Tel: (65) 9721 2015

Copyright © 2017 Cradle n Care Pte Ltd, all rights reserved.

This article is published in TinyBabies Singapore Oct 2017