Who has had to treat for jaundice?

mrsladd

Any words of advice or experience to share with the bilirubin blanket and/or bed?  Ours should be arriving in a few hours, and I'm really daunted by the whole thing.  Thanks.

jaimeers18

I never had to have the blanket or bed, we just were told to put him in the window under natural sunlight and had to have his levels monitored everyday until they started to come down...only for a week, thank goodness. It was not fun. ?Hopefully it will clear up quickly! ?Thinking of you! ?HUGS!

confused25

We had the blanket for awhile at home but also spent some time in the hospital under the "lights". Both were much harder for DH and I than him. He actaully liked the warmth but it was awkward for us. My suggestion is to set up a little area (close to an outlet) with everything you  (or who ever has the baby) will need. We weren't prepared for the whole being plugged in thing and not being able to really move around with the blanket. If you have any other questions, page me!

 Good luck - I'm sure you'll do great and the numbers will start to drop soon!

 

Crazycrustacean

We were told to nurse as often as possible & keep her in the direct sunlight (through a window) naked. The window filters the uv rays so she wouldn't get sunburned. We were also told to flip her over when/if she got hot. DD's never went above 12.8. At 14 they would've sent us back to the hosp.?

The sun makes the billirubin dissolve & be flushed out of the body & into the urine. Really works the same way as the billi blanket, just without the blanket. ?

confused25

I should add that DS's numbers got up to 25 (yeah that high) before we figured out the underlying problem....but he is a healthy baby now with no lingering problems!!

MelissaSue81

Crazycrustacean:

We were told to nurse as often as possible & keep her in the direct sunlight (through a window) naked. The window filters the uv rays so she wouldn't get sunburned. We were also told to flip her over when/if she got hot. DD's never went above 12.8. At 14 they would've sent us back to the hosp. 

The sun makes the billirubin dissolve & be flushed out of the body & into the urine. Really works the same way as the billi blanket, just without the blanket.  

this is what we did too. i replied to your post on SAL

 

GeminiKMP-C

I responded a little bit below, but I thought of something that might be helpful.  Lilly spent pretty much every sleeping moment swaddled with the bili blanket in her swaddle (lay the blanket down, then the bili blanket with the cord at the bottom, then the babe and swaddle up!) and then we'd put her in her papason so she could be out with us vs. in her PNP in the bedroom.  It also helped her differentiate between day and night bc during the day she was sitting up sleeping vs. lying in the PNP. (You won' be able to buckle DS in, but swaddled he probably won't move much anyway!)

We also took her off the light to feed her, against dr's orders.  We just needed that time without the light getting in the way of our bonding.  Her level was pretty high and it still came down within a reasonable amount of time despite taking her off for these little spurts of time.

My other advice is to figure out which phlebotomists are gentle and friendly and try to finagle your way into getting them for DS's b/w.  We had some grouchy women who we avoided bc they were so nasty with Lilly.  (She didn't bleed easily so they would get annoyed and tell her to quit screamin-- ummm, you've been squeezing and scraping her heal for 5 minutes, what do you expect?!)

Laustique

Ugh - jaundice sucks.  Sorry you guys have to deal with it. 

Willem had moderately elevated levels and had to be on the biliblanket at home.  It was so stressful for us.  I sobbed for a couple hours when the pedi called with his numbers, but the treatment was ultimately simple enough.  Except for the first night when we thought Willem had to be naked on the blanket, so we put him on it and cranked up the heat in our room.  The next day we learned that we could swaddle him on the thing.  Eh-hem...

Hang in there, mrsladd.  

daisy58

We didn't need the lights, but had to supplement with formula to push fluids, and have him in the sun!!