Jaundice

[SuburbanHippie]

YDD is almost 4 weeks old and I still think she looks jaundiced.  The whites of her eyes are still yellowish and I can tell by pressing on her skin on her nose that there are still yellow undertones.  I wasn't that concerned about it because she still nurses a lot, but now I'm starting to second guess myself.  She's been very tired for the past 3 days.  She's basically sleeping or nursing all the time.  Her periods of wakefulness are short, like less than an hour and then she's back to sleep (of course she does have a longer 2 hour stretch between 2-4 am).  I was chalking it up to a growth spurt because I know those hit at 3 weeks, but I'm not sure anymore.  She had a brief visit with a naturopath at 2 weeks, but we mostly talked.  There wasn't much of an exam.  I'm starting to think I should call a ped instead to get a second opinion. 

I'm dreading it a little because she already had several foot pricks to take blood for jaundice the two days after we left the hospital.  Her original level was 12.1 (with the light gauge and the blood draw).  Her second check was 9 with the light gauge and 11.x (can't remember exactly) with the blood draw.  The ped on call said it was fine and that was that.  She is definitely less jaundiced now than she was then, but I'm still concerned. 

Would you call another doctor for a second opinion?  I'm dreading the "OMG!  You don't vaccinate!  Your baby is going to die!" speech that peds give around here.  We have another appointment with the naturopath in 7 days for YDS.  Should I just wait until then to ask him?  Ugh.  I hate this feeling of not knowing what to do...

[MarineWife]

i'm not one to take my kids to docs unless something is very wrong. i think if you are that concerned, you should take her. those bilirubin levels are relatively low. i think i read that it's not considered a serious problem unless it's above 25. but, i do think physiologic jaundice should be cleared up by the end of week 2. if jaundice shows up later, it could be breastfeeding jaundice.

[greenmama66]

All 6 of mine had jaundice (all born at home so i didn't have the hospital uv light option) and all i ever did was expose them to sunlight. But there are different types of jaundice.

[lovelylisa]

I probably would call the Ped to get a second opinion, just to see. They may not give you the vaccination speech since (at least around here) they don't start that until 2 months old

[sarafi]

Mama, you get to be worried if you want to be--but don't let fake fears of what doctors may or may not think get in the way!! With some doctor or nurses I just say "we don't vaccinate for religious reasons", with others I go into the whole "I plan to wait until after two and do a limited vaccination  schedule"  discussion. That is only with doctors I trust and need to deal with, if I have a problem I will pull the religious card--and that is in no way the reason for me--with no qualms.

When I was in the hospital with this last baby one nurse had an absolute fit about how I had to sign a notarized waiver to not have the gunk put in her eyes--yeah that was not the truth. The next day they came with shots and said she had to have them before we left, I refused and they tried to guilt me with the fact that they had already prepared the shots---not my problem, they didn't ask ahead of time. These are our kids, we really do have the right to refuse medical treatment if we want to we just need the courage to do so.

If you have a pediatrician currently, ask if you can send a picture. I sent a picture of my baby's umbilical cord nastiness the other day, and her doctor was so pleased to be able to diagnose a "no problem" over the internet instead of coming in on the weekend to check it out. I was pretty sure she had gangrene ( and this is my fourth)Technology is our friend sometimes, so maybe you could shoot a picture and a description and feel better about it?

[SuburbanHippie]

Thanks, mommas!  I decided to just keep sunning her and I'm going to wait until DS's appointment next week to see what the naturopath thinks.  I'm not as worried now as she seems to be looking more pink.  I think I freaked because I could see the jaundice in her mouth the day I wrote the original post.  I've been pretty worked up and with nothing else to do all day but google... yeah, you can imagine what goes on in my head.  lol.  I took some pics of her and she doesn't really look jaundiced in the eyes in the pictures.  So I guess I was probably worked up for nothing.  *sigh*  Thanks again everyone for the reassurance.