I don't know what to do..help please!!

[homeschoolingmama]

I had my daughter on Monday.
Reagan Ridge Kate
They checked her for jaundice because she was a bit yellow. It was a bit high. They said to come back the next day so they could test again. It went up a bit again. That was today. They want me to come back on Sunday to test AGAIN!! She said she thinks she is fine but to be on the safe side. They have to pinch her heel over and over again for 10 min while she screams. She is alert and eating every 2 hrs. Trust me..she is getting a lot of milk. My milk just came in a couple of nights ago and now she is pooping a lot. Do you think it would be OK for me to skip the next jaundice test?? I don't want her to have to go through that again but I also don't want her to be sick and not do the right thing. Do you think it is safe to not go and do the tests again??

[HeatherB]

Breastmilk is wonderful for jaundice, as is sunlight. Try to get her in the sun (even through a window) with her skin exposed as much as possible. That will surely help!

[Marlet]

DD1 got jaundice pretty bad. We spent two days sitting on the porch nursing int he sun. There was a noticeable difference after the first day (the whites of her eyes were starting to get yellowish it was so bad...she was slow to start nursing period) and after the second no sign of it.

DD2 had a slight amount of it...only a light yellow tinge to her skin. Due to weather we couldn't do the sun route so we just nursed and nursed and nursed. It took a bit longer for it to get out of her system but it did. I noticed a change in color once her bm went from meconium to normal bf baby poop.

Just keep nursing! My sister and I were talking about jaundice the other day....seems every baby gets some amount of it but the way everyone talks about it you'd think that wasn't the case.

[bekkers]

Did they tell you what her levels actually were? B/c if you can find out you can decide based on that info. Sometimes health care professionals tend to over intervene and may want to "just keep checking" even if the levels are not within problematic boundaries. I can't really say what you should do, if it were me and my baby I would see how I felt the baby was doing and nurse a lot with baby naked and in sunlight, and if I were concerned about knowing the levels I would look for a doctor or midwife who would not use heel sticks as th eonly indicator, for example, use an icterometer.
http://www.cascadedopplers.com/Produ...productid=0179
and go from there.
Good luck, and congrats on the new babe!

[Margot Adler]

i sat in full sun every morning and eve with ds in a dipe for a couple of minutes and breastfed a lot and his jaundice went away. if you see a marked improvement (esp. in the eyes) call your ped. or ob and let them know, maybe they will tell you that you don't need to come in.
just be careful of afternoon sun/ and staying out too long, their skin is so thin and sensitive...

[jerawo]

Jaundice usually peaks on day 5, which would be Friday. If you want another test done, then I would do it on Friday or not bother at all.

My son had bad jaundice which made nursing hard because he was so sleepy (which made his jaundice stay around longer). Just keep nursing and exposing him to sunlight through a window or in small doses outside and it will get better. Frankly, I think jaundice is a normal, natural process for some babies and it doesn't worry me too much .

[DecemberSun]

They went crazy over my DD's jaundice and it was only in the 7 range, where 15 is too high. There was no need to go crazy for that low of a number, but because I had an UC they thought they had to scare me or something. Just keep up with the sun and breastmilk, and lots of it.

I know the test is torture but I don't know if I'd skip it only because they might do something horrid like call the authorities or something. I wouldn't put it past them...