Jaundice

Emelia "Mia" has been keeping us hopping since she arrived on 1/24/08. I was curious if anyone else has dealt with jaundice and how long it lingered?

Mia was diagnosed with ABO Incompatability which causes Jaundice on the morning of day 3 with levels at 18. She spent 30 hrs. under the lights and it returned to 12 which is normal for that age. After 18 hrs out of the lights it jumped back up to 14.7 and she spent another 24 hours under the lights. We can home on Tuesday with normal levels of 12.8 but now 4 days later she is back up to 17.4. Because of her age 17 is not as severe as it was at day 3 but DH and I are baffled. She is eating 10x day (breast milk), pooping, peeing and is vigorous. How long does this last? We are going in for a repeat tomorrow and if they keep rising we are going to be readmitted to the PICU for light therapy. After having preemie twins this is not what I needed!

Does anyone have any experience with Jaundice?

Tracy

 

Both my premie twins had it. DS looked like he had it until he was 10 weeks old. I dont know how cold it is where you are at but I would suggest taking the baby outside for a bit. I know that helped my DS tremendously.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, my girls were on and off billi-light therapy for the first 3 or 4 weeks of life. They would be good for a few days, and then their levels would go back up and they would need them again, but my girls were very premature. I don't know how common it is with full term babies. Eventually they outgrew it and didn't need them anymore. I hope her levels come back good so she doesn't have to be admitted.

 

even after the levels drop, babies can stay yellow for a few months. hope they don't rise again. my first son was born at 35 wks and had to get readmitted for 3 days under the lights.

 

My babies were full term and DS had jaundice but the highest his levels got were 15 so he didn't need the lights. His levels were back to normal by the time he was 2 weeks old, but he stayed pretty yellow until he was about 6 weeks old. The pedi says that it can stick around longer in breastfed babies as well.

Good luck and congrats on the birth of your twins!

 

Cody was full term & he had jaundice. We never needed the lights, but he sure was yellow for a while. My Dr also said that because I was breast feeding he was more yellow.

 

My breastfed DD had jaundice so bad- even the lights were not helping. I can't remember the levels. She was about 3 months old (and REALLY yellow). So, I took the advice of our ped. and put her on forumula for a weekend, and that took care of it! I was really hesitant because she was having a hard time nursing. Also, I was afraid that she would like the bottle/ formula better than nursing :cray:, but that didn't happen! I know that a lot of breastfeeding advocates will advise you not to stop breastfeeding, but this is what worked for us. After the weekend, she went back to nursing like a pro. and the juandice improved. Also, I realized how lucky we were to breastfeed, as the formula was expensive, cleaning bottles was no fun, and the formula smelled really gross! Good luck!

 

Thank you all for your kind words and support! We had her retested this AM and while she is still yellow her numbers dropped a point :banana: So, she is in the clear and looks like her liver is kicking in!
For those of you who mentioned formula that was our next step along with a bili blanket. I was thinking it may be my milk but now no need.

Thanks again!
Tracy

 

one of my dd had a very slight case of it and we were told to keep her in the sun as much as possible. so we sat her in front of the window when we could and let her sleep basking in the sun.

you want hear something really sad? i was so sleep deprived for those first few days, i was putting the wrong baby in the sun. dh came home one day and asked "why is she in the sun." i said "i've been putting her there because the doc said to do that for the jaundice." he just laughed at me and said honey, that's the wrong baby. it's the other baby that has jaundice :lol: gotta love those first few whirlwind months.

 

Both of mine had it...Lucas was 21 and Jonas was 20. We didn't know until we took them back for follow up 5 days after we left the hospital so they were 7 days old. Did the bili lights for 4 days at home 24/7 and their numbers came down to 9 and 11 respectively. I also supplemented with formula after bfing (would give 1-2 oz of formula) and we put them in the pack n play in front our sliding glass doors in the sun. They looked yellow for the next few weeks though.

 

All my babies have been jaundiced to a certain extent. What really helped us was to put them lightly clothed in front of a sunny window for 5 minutes at a time 2-3 times a day. The sunlight is like a super powerful bililight.

 

Here is what WIKI says about ABO jaundice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemolytic_dis...e_newborn_(ABO)

My last three pregnancies resulted in babies with ABO issues. Contrary to what WIKI says, with each of my pregnancies the condition got worse. I insisted with the twins they be tested immediately and if they had B blood types (my is O) I wanted them under the lights right then and no waiting the 24 hours for a bili test. My girls were under the lights before they were 4 hours old and within 24 hours they still had bili levels close to 14. They were placed under 3 lights and stayed under the lights for 9 days when their levels finally dropped to 10. This round they also became anemic. Though their bili levels never became as exaggerated as their siblings, those levels stayed down because of the aggressive light therapy. But the break down of blood cells was far greater as my older two children never became anemic. Without me being pro-actice on the twins' behalves, they might have needed a transfusion.

Fortunately even with 1/5th of infants being born with these differences between mother and child, MOST babies do not develop the symptoms. Even when they do, it usually isn't severe. But it can be. Just do not let anyone tell you it was the typical newborn jaundice. Also be sure to stress that your child had this when born IF you ever have another child. Also, insist on early blood typing of your next child and a Coomb's test for you.

I am glad things turned out good and you got a positive diagnosis so you can be aware for next time

 

Glad things sound like they are working out. The twins were jaundiced and were under the lights for 24 and 36 hours.