We just left the doc and then hospital because DS is still yellow. The pedi said it could be something called BM induced jaundice. An enzyme in BM promotes jaundice and could take a while to level out.
We just got home from the hospital where they took some blood to test billi and liver levels. Anyone else heard of this. Not sure what doc will suggest once we get results.
Re: BM induced jaundice?
My son had breast milk jaundice and within in his first 3 weeks of life we were in the hospital 3 times. The longest being for 5 days and 4 nights. His bili levels got as high as 24.5 before they came down. He had every blood test we could think of in order to rule out any blood or liver issues that could have been underlying problems. While we tried natural sunlight and making sure to supplement with extra pumped BM, what ultimately worked was switching him to formula only for about 2 weeks. While in most cases the jaundice will disappear over time, my son's bili levels were just too high to wait it out. From what I came to understand, the chemical composition of formula allows the bili to attach itself much easier than in BM. It therefore flushes out the system more effectively. After about 2 weeks of only formula feeding, I was given the green light to try breastfeeding him again. He latched on perfectly and within a months time, we were back to EBF. He is now a happy, healthy, and chubby almost 8 month old.
I know how stressful this all can be. Hang in there and know that these days, modern medicine is able to diagnose and treat this quickly and effectively. Only in the rare cases, such as my son's, is anything other than a simple bili blanket ever needed.