Newborn Jaundice

[quantumleap]

DS was born in the wee hours of Dec. 19. He had a shoulder dystocia, and had some decent facial swelling and bruising, so I expected some jaundice. I'd say the jaundice started after the first 24 hours. I think! Things seem to have peaked on day 5, but aren't really resolving (day 7 today). I made a bunch of phone calls today, and it turns out our only option if we want him seen is to go to the ER at the main hospital here. I'm just not sure if we're desperate enough to do that (expose a one week old baby to heaps of nasty germs). He's got yellow eyes, a yellowish tinge to the inside of his mouth (that's new today), his skin is yellow and stays that way when I do the capillary refill thing on his extremities, etc, etc. He doesn't have a fever, and is nursing well.

What do I do!?

[mmmmochi]

Hello, my son had severe newborn jaundice at 5 days. We were ambulanced to hospital after the midwife came out to see us. He too seemed well, but with the yellow tinge to his eyes and inside his mouth, and pretty  a much orange complexion, he had high billirubin levels. He really needed a spell under the lights and monitoring. He did need a few days in hospital, but did very well. If the jaundice is not treated it can cause long term damage.

Please please take your darling baby to the emergency room, they will get him sorted out really quickly and he will be on the mend. If he isnt improving after seven days and has the strong yellow tinge to his eyes he might well also need a spell under the lights. Dont waste any time!

I would say watch him carefully if he does need to go under the lights, as those little baby sunglasses they  give them to protect their eyes are no match for a baby.

When we went in, they did a blood test to test his billirubin levels and put him under the bili lights. It was not nice, but it was only for a few days.

Let us know how you get on!

very best wishes

mochi