Prolonged Jaundice anyone?

[stepmum]

Hi, wondering if anyone can help, my little angel Oliver was born 27 days ago @ 32 weeks and 6 days, was in labour for 3 days as the nurses thought my contractions on the monitor was baby being too active and they were in my back not belly so stomach wasn't tensing up, I was eventually whipped in for a section on account of him being breech.

Anyways he was in scbu for 16 days and has been home 11 days, when he was born he was tube fed for a few days and had oxygen for 10 minutes, he had jaundice that went away and came back a day after he was in a hot cot, then it went away again.

Apart from those slight issues he was fine. Since leaving the hospital he is feeding well, peeing and pooing like nobody's business and is also alert but the hv is sending us back the hospital tomorrow for prolonged jaundice.

Im a first time mum so have a few questions if anyone can help.

1. Did anyone else's babies have prolonged jaundice, if so what happened? I so hope he isn't kept in.

2. Is 120mls a lot for a prem baby to be taking? He would take more too, which the hv said to let him have. I'm just not sure what a healthy amount is, I don't want to deny him or overfeed him. He weighed 4lb 13oz at birth and is now 5lb 12oz almost 4 weeks later.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[summer rain]

Jaundice is very very common in prem babies and it is quite common for it to last 3 weeks+ in prem babies as well but they do need to check to see that there isn't any underlying causes. There is a form of jaundice called 'breastmilk' jaundice but it can occasionally affect formula fed babies as well, it is totally harmless but tends to be persistent and can manifest at quite high levels up to a good few weeks old. 120ml sounds fine for a 4 week old, sometimes you will find that smaller babies be they premature or full term will eat more and gain weight more quickly than larger babies xx

 

[stepmum]

Thanks for replying, I hope when we go to the hospital tomorrow they tell us that it's an ok level and it will go on it's own, my niece and friends baby had it for between 4 weeks and 6 weeks and they were both full term so it seems a short time in comparison , I'm clutching at those straws at the moment.

As for the feeding, he wouldn't settle just an hour ago after his bottle so I have had to give him another 30mls, but I'm glad I'm not overfeeding him.

 

[summer rain]

Yes all my sons were jaundiced for between 3 and 16 weeks, and they were full term. Such prolonged jaundice is less common in term babies but it can be very common in prem babies. xx

 

[stepmum]

Well back from the hospital today and thankfully Oliver's jaundice has long gone, apparently the colour of his skin is just his colouring, well he never got that from his milk bottle mummy, but his dad can look quite golden.

On a separate note, again as a first time mum..imagine my amusement when they told me how we needed to get a urine sample from him, strip him and catch lol, luckily my little monkey can pee on cue, we only have to wipe across his belly just above his pee pee with a baby wipe and he's good to go.

 

[summer rain]

Glad to know all is ok, wish my LO would pee on cue when we had to take a urine sample from him he did two big poos on the plastic cover and didn't wee for 2 hours! xx