Jaundice .......

[ishereal]

What do I do about it?

How soon did/do you bathe your lo after birth?

[Datura]

First thing to do with jaundice is get them some sunlight. Head outside or at least have them by a sunny window. Check with your midwife as well, but it's what you can do while you're waiting.

I bathed the boy immediately, it was kind of playtime. He was/is a major waterbaby right from the start. It's a nice tactile thing, too.

[*Aimee*]

Make sure your baby is eating a lot. Every two hours. And having a lot of poopy and pee diapers. My son just got out of the hospital because his jaundice levels were very high and he'd become dehydrated

[Organicavocado]

You can sit with him by a window (non direct sunlight) if its just mild, Klaus was on bili lights but we got rid of the tail end of it by sitting in the window.

He got his first bath the day after we came home from the NICU but he was already almost 2 weeks old so I guess I'm not the best person to ask about that LOL

[Ironica]

In addition to sunlight, nurse nurse nurse. Jaundice is the body not being able to process dead cells out of the blood fast enough... getting as much fluid through him as possible will help speed that up.

As for bathing... depends on the cord stump. You can wipe them down whenever, but for actually immersing them, you're supposed to wait until the stump dries up and falls out.

[Datura]

Our mw said to bathe as normal, so we did. It got wet but then it dried along with everything else. We just made sure that it got lots of air when it dried. It fell off in record time, about 3 days. I think part of it was due to the kete fiber she used instead of the standard plastic clip, it wasn't as irritating. We didn't use alcohol or anything, either.

[GardenStream]

My 1st DS was born in Germany, so a lot of things were done differently. He was slightly jaundiced for about 3 or 4 months after birth. I was told to nurse him as much as possible and to get him outside daily for a little sunshine and fresh air (DS was born in June).

I had a c-section, so I couldn't get up to bathe DS for about 4 or 5 days. He had been wiped down with dry towels, but the nurses waited for me to be able to bathe him myself. I did immerse him and the cord stump did get wet. We just made sure it was clean and dry before dressing him again. I think it took the cord about 2 weeks to fall off. I was told that he had a really thick cord and that's why it took so long.

[counterGOPI]

nurse and sunlight. dont let them pressure you into giving formula. they tried that on me with dd. she had pretty bad jaundice. then i talked to LLL here and found out jaundice is norma land actually a good thing.

[ishereal]

Thank You so much!!!! Milk started coming in yesterday and he has been nursing non stop !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LisaKathleen515]

i didn't see this mentioned so i wanted to make sure you knew about biliblankets. if the bilirubin level gets high they'll probably want to readmit the baby. many providers tell you about bili blankets but some don't. the blanket (which is really more of a machine) can be rented and brought to your home. this is much more condusive to a good nursing relationship than a lamp in the hospital.

[treehuggermama]

Nurse as much as your LO wants to as that is one of the best ways to treat jaundice. As for the bath I was always told to wait until the cord stump fell off before immersing babe but I found they always got a little gunky in their adorable folds before that.

[ishereal]

Thanks Mommas!!!!!!!!!!

[krizzanne]

Just so you know, the bilirubin is not altogether a horrible thing, here are 2 tidbits I have stored in my computer from when dc#1 had to be under the bili-lights:

Bilirubin also has the ability to function as an antioxidant in the brain. According to Dr. Sylvain Dore of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, "When women breastfeed, the babies have higher levels of bilirubin and are healthier. Babies with higher bilirubin levels are more disease-resistant. Bilirubin also protects against retinopathy in premature babies."

and

There is a research that has concluded that a slight elevation in bilirubin may actually be helpful in preventing bacterial infections in newborns

Don't let any health care professional tell you to give him formula/water to help get rid of bili...that's old medical treatment.

[ishereal]

Why did someone tell me that jaundice was more common in breast feed babies?

[jsnv]

Originally Posted by krizzanne

Just so you know, the bilirubin is not altogether a horrible thing, here are 2 tidbits I have stored in my computer from when dc#1 had to be under the bili-lights:

Bilirubin also has the ability to function as an antioxidant in the brain. According to Dr. Sylvain Dore of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, "When women breastfeed, the babies have higher levels of bilirubin and are healthier. Babies with higher bilirubin levels are more disease-resistant. Bilirubin also protects against retinopathy in premature babies."

and

There is a research that has concluded that a slight elevation in bilirubin may actually be helpful in preventing bacterial infections in newborns

Don't let any health care professional tell you to give him formula/water to help get rid of bili...that's old medical treatment.

This totally confirms what I thought all along...if more breastfeed babies get it then formula feed there is probably a good reason for it. I didn't think there was some sort of design flaw.