May 2011 Moms

Jaundice

So day 3 of our DS's life he was diagnosed with jaundice, which I know is normal. He was discharged from the hospital and we had to go back the next day to get blood work to see if it got better or worse. His levels went from an 11 to a 17 overnight and he was put on the billiblanket at home. After 5 days, his levels were back to normal and he was taken off the blanket. I was breast feeding and my doctor had me start pumping and supplement with formula to ensure he was eating enough.

Today, he looks yellowish again to me.  I am still exclusively pumping and giving just breast milk, no formula, since I was producing a lot. Do any of you have any experience with jaundice? Can it come back? Does breast milk affect it? I am ready to quit with the breast milk all together, I feel like he's not getting the right nutrition and it's all my fault. Any help is greatly appreciated, I am waiting on a call back from the pediatrician. 

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Re: Jaundice

  • My pedi said that breastfed babies can have some jaundice for months. 
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  • Do NOT quit breastfeeding. It is the best nutrition, and you can not make bad milk.

    From babycenter:

    Some babies develop something called "breast-milk jaundice" during their first few weeks. It's usually diagnosed at around 7 to 11 days of age. Although your baby may be nursing well and gaining weight normally, something in the breast milk interferes with his liver's ability to process bilirubin. This often happens along with physiologic jaundice, and it can go on for several weeks or even months. It's pretty common in exclusively breastfed babies, though, and is generally considered harmless. If your baby's bilirubin levels get too high, your practitioner may recommend that you stop nursing for a day or two to bring them down. (You can use a breast pump to maintain your milk supply during this time, and once the bilirubin is down, you can begin breastfeeding again.)
  • The yellowish color stays around for awhile! Their levels peak at day 4, so it sounds to me like a 17 is the highest it will be, I wouldn't be too worried. 

    I exclusively BF DD and she never drank a drop of formula and had similar levels to your baby. She also had issues with having regular bowel movements. And she did just fine. 

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  • my lo was jaundice until 2 weeks ago he is a breast fed baby. lo level was 18. so it will take awhile to get out of his system. also there were days it looked like it was getting better than the next looked worse hang in there
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  • It takes a while for the yellow to go away, especially in the eyes. I think it was well into the third week before LO had clear white eyes. Do not stress, your breastmilk does not affect jaundice. Just feed him often (but dont overfeed) so he will poop all the jaundice out.
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