Jaundice, anyone?

lancyjo

My little sweetheart has jaundice. They've had her on the bili blanket and under the bili lights since yesterday evening. (taking her out for me to feed her, of course) We're supposed to get an update on her levels shortly. I just hate it that she has jaundice. It makes me feel like a bad mommy, and I'm miserable without her in the room. (my poor hubs is torn between missing her and comforting me) We're supposed to go home today, but I'm worried that we won't be able to. (the doctor did say she didn't have it bad.) Am I alone? Or have you experienced jaundice with your baby(ies)? What happened, how was it treated, did you have to take home a bili blanket?

kristin172429

Our little guy had jaundice and it was pretty stressful, but everything turned out just fine. He was on the "medium risk" line on whatever chart they follow. His levels were around 11 when he was about 36 hours. They went up to 14 the next morning and then stayed there. As they get older, they can tolerate the higher number better, so it actually ended up lowering his risk. For treatment, they didn't end up having to put him under the lights. He just had to eat and eat and eat to flush his system. We ended up having to supplement with some formula in the hospital. And he had to poop and pee because that helps get the bili out of their system...neither of which did he really want to do right away. They kept him an extra 12 hours in the hospital and then we had to go to doctor's appointments every two days for his first week. We didn't have to take home a blanket, but they did have us strip him to his diaper, turn up the heat in the house, and place him in a sunny window for a few hours each day. He is all cleared up now and thriving. All the yellow color is gone and he is gaining and growing like he is supposed to. And you are not a bad mommy! Jaundice is actually very common. I'm sorry you she has to be out of the room. That must be hard. Just remember that you will all be home together soon and then you can stare at her beautiful little face as much as you want!

lbsunde

My little girl had jaundice too.  Her skin number was 11.4 but her blood work was 7, so we were able to go home, but like the pp said, she had to eat very often so that she would poop and pee to flush it out of her system.  At her 1 week check up she was completely fine. 

 

 

Lena122

DS had it and I bawled when they put him under the phototherapy. Thankfully he was able to stay in our room with us though. He was in there for about 18 hours before it was time for me to be discharged and thankfully his levels had dropped so he was able to come with us. We also had to feed him often and he was fine at his 1 week appt.

Shawnee11507

My LO was borderline. They said they would send him to the NICU under the lights if his levels were 13 or more at first and he tested at a 12, so he didn't need treatment. They told me to just put him by the window in non-direct sunlight. At his 1st appt. (2 days after release from the hospital, 5 days after birth) he was still a little yellow so they send us to the hospital for bloodwork, said he had to be under 20 now or he would have to go back in the hospital. They didn't tell me the # but said he was under 20 and we could go home. At his two week check-up, they said it was cleared up. They never told me anything about feeding him more often but he's made plenty of dirty diapers since he was born!

eewhite5

Our little girl had it also. We had to go back into the hospital when she was 4 days old. I was really stressed out and beside myself bacuse I feltnlike i was my fault. But it really is nothing you did at all so don't blame yourself! They tild us over 60% of babies have it in some form. Madison's level was 27.9 when she went into the hospital which is really high. She had to get down to 11 and hold at that level with no lights before we could go. We also had to have her teste for the next 3 days to make sure we didn't need the blanket at home. We were there 4 days and I was able to stay but SO could not. That was hard to be there alone with her dealing with it all. I was able to take her out to feed her on one side only, then I would pump. It was very stressful at the time but it is all behind us now and seems like so long ago. It will all work out for you and your LO will be good to go. Good luck and hang in there!!

eewhite5

Geez, sorry for all the typos in my post. I am on my phone and I am no good at typing on it!

songstress503

Evie was diagnosed with jaundice on wednesday.  We thought we were going home, but instead she was going to the NICU. You are so right, it is the worst feeling ever.  I cried all morning.  She was able to come out after 24 hours, and we were sent home.  However now we have a lingering prefeence for the bottle due to the NICU feeds.

It all related back to the fact that my milk production was slowed due to being put under for my section. None of the nurses believed/understood me when i said she was not getting enough.  She lost 12% and became jaundice because she was undernourished.  I cannot really blame anyone in particular but the whole situation makes me very angry and sad.

You are not abad mom in anyway. You are a good mom in a bad situation.  It will get better.

miranda040

We came home with a bili blanket. We had to take my daughter back to the hospital every day for testing until we got the all clear from the pediatrician. I also had to switch to formula due to severe dehydration and the fact that my daughter lost a large percentage of her body weight in such a short period of time. Once we switched completely to formula things got better much quicker. I was very disappointed about switching from breast milk to formula, but after seeing the improvement that was made I know it was the right decision for our family.

jennlin

yes we had jaundice-- 24 hours under the intensive phototherapy at the hospital, and then 48 hours of home therapy which included a bed lamp and a blanket. it was so sad to hear her cry but know that i wasn't making enough milk and also that i couldn't hold her and comfort her.  

Kriz_b

My son was jaundice and under the lights for almost 48 hrs. I tried so hard not to cry when I came back from the shower and found he had been put under the lights. Thankfully he got to stay in our room. Obviously he wasn't too upset about it.

marissaw5

My baby girl was in the NICU for a week. Her levels weren't extremely high but they figured they'd get it while they could since she was already hooked up to everything else anyway. They just put the little pad in touching her back wrapped up in a swaddle wrap. Her levels tested normal as of today, but she just came out of the NICU yesterday. Just get LO to eat as much as possible. This in turn makes them poop as much as much as possible, which gets it out of their system. My little girl had a major pooping incident in the hospital-like more poop than I knew a baby could hold that shot across the room and all over DH ha ha! But that night her bili went from 11 to 9 overnight- just from that poop.

tommysmumma

we found out an hour before our discharge that DS had it, he was .3 points over what it was supposed to be for us to go home, so they put him on the blanket and under triple lights for a whole day, then when they tested him that evening it had gone up another .3 points, we had to stay over night. in the morning it had gone down enough for us to go home, but the next day when we went to his pedi appt she had him go get a biliruben done because he still looked yellow, sure enough it went up again so we had to get a bili blanket for home, he was on it for two whole days (it sucks bfing when your child is attached to a cord -_-) and we had to go to the lab every day for 4 days to get bilirubens done, which also sucked. but after being on the blanket it went down enough to not be on it and he's not yellow anymore, he's 16 days old today. 

 

but i know how it feels. when they told me he had to get photo-therapy i lost  it. my SO stayed at home that night because of us moving and no one to watch the dog, i called him at 5 am hysterical. i didn't know anything about jaundice, and thought that i did something wrong. SO and i ended up in a huge fight when he arrived at the hospital and i almost stopped bfing because SO thought he wasn't eating enough to flush it out of his system. long story short, it sucked, we got over it, and it will be okay. just make sure LO is eating a pooping, (and keep them on the blanket at all times) i had a very hard time dealing with it, but it will go away just keep your chin up.

HattieLove

DD was readmitted for jaundice at five days old, right after her first doctor's appointment. They kept her under the lights for about 24 hours, but she got to be in our room in the hospital which was great. It was tough in general but I know it wasn't so bad and she actually seemed to enjoy being under the warm lights, she hardly fussed at all. 

mac&chip

Audrey had jaundice as well. She was able to come to my hospital room on the bili bed though. I had a c-section/was sick, so we stayed at the hospital for 5 days. Once we were discharged, we actually went home with a bili bed. Thankfully, she only needed it an additional 24 hours and then her levels were good and the bed was picked up.