Why do my babies get jaundiced??

[Boo44]

DS1 was ebf for 4 weeks. During that time he developed jaundice (on day 2) that meant we had to stay in hospital with him on the bilibed for 48hrs. He remained really yellow when we went home. I hated having any pictures taken of him, his eyes were bright yellow! I was encouraged to keep bf and I did at that point. He lost 9% body weight by day 5 so we escaped readmission. Eventually I switched to formula feeding and it wasn't until then that he went a normal colour

This time DS2 is now 4 days old. Just like his big brother he seems to latch fine. He didn't get jaundice in hospital and we were allowed home day 2 (I had an emergency c section under general anaesthetic). Since we've been home I'd say he's behaving perfectly normally, he is sleepier in the day but still feeds, latches fine as far as I can tell, and then feeds much more in the night. I've been happy with how he is and how our feeding is going. But then yesterday day 3 I noticed a definite yellow tinge and today he's most definitely jaundiced.

I don't think my milk is fully in yet so I know that might be why. But it seems he's a good feeder so why is he jaundiced? Even if he's not getting much waiting for my milk to come in, every baby goes through that and most don't get jaundiced?

Am dreading his first weight tomorrow now

 

[missbabes]

DS was jaundice to the point that he needed phototherapy, we had to stay in hospital for day longer than expected for him to be treated.

Breastfeeding is a common cause for jaundice, but ironically it also helps clear it up once milk comes fully in.

If you're rhesus negative and baby is positive then it can cause jaundice.

DS was an attempted delivery by ventouse which attributes to it as well.

So in our case DS was destined to have it. It cleared up fully by 4 weeks even while continuing to have breast milk.

The following comes from the NHS website to help

"Jaundice is one of the most common conditions that can affect newborn babies. It is estimated that 6 out of every 10 babies will develop jaundice (this rises to 8 out of 10 babies born prematurely.).

Although only around 1 in 20 babies has levels of bilirubin in their blood that are high enough to need treatment.

For reasons that are unclear breastfeeding a baby increases the risk of them developing jaundice which can often persist for a month or longer. It is estimated that 1 out of 10 breastfed babies will still have jaundice when they are one month old.

(Though in most cases the benefits of breastfeeding far outweigh any risks associated with jaundice)"

 

[summer rain]

Some babies and this includes a small percentage of FF babies, can remain jaundiced up to 4 months. In some cases switching to FF appears to clear it up but it could be that the jaundice was going anyway and would have done so if BFing continued. There is also something called bilirubin rebound, some babies who receive phototherapy and/or additional fluids or formula in an attempt to flush out the jaundice their bilirubin levels rapidly rebound or increase after treatment is stopped, sometimes to higher levels than prior to treatment. Two of mine have had phototherapy and this happened with my second youngest they took him out from the phototherapy after less than 12 hours because of this risk and sure enough it happened though his levels went low enough for him to be discharged. He ended up going back to being as yellow as before treatment if not worse and he was significantly jaundiced for 7 weeks. In OH's and my family there is some unidentified gene that causes severe jaundice and even EFF from birth babies are still as badly affected, in some cases it is made worse when the mother is o+ and baby is another blood group but with myself and OH we are both O+. My youngest was the least jaundiced though the jaundice persisted in his face until he was nearly two months all the midwives etc said it was such a slight tinge it was nothing of concern he fed the same as all my other boys and actually had slightly less weight gain so clearly with him it was just whatever gene it was didn't affect him xx

ETA: breastmilk jaundice that occurs at 4 days old or later is harmless even at relatively high levels and is not to do with poor intake. Some scientists believe that the bilirubin may even have a protective function in this form of jaundice

 

[dan-o]

Both mine had jaundice. Its strange it gets blamed on bfing because my first had a tongue tie and latch issues, but his went quickly, yet my second who fed like a champ from the start took 4 weeks for it to go! If this baby sticks I will be expecting more of the same lol!
I read somewhere that ABO incompatibility can cause this. Not 100% sure what that is but I am O and DH is AB..

 

[summer rain]

Yep it can be ABO incompatibility it happens when the mother is O and baby is her OH's different blood group. This does tend to cause very severe jaundice and prolonged stays in hospital so not regular jaundice. With my eldest they thought it must be ABO incompatibility as his jaundice was very, very severe but nope he was O+ and later on we found all our kids are O+ because both myself and OH are xx

 

[dan-o]

Well in my case I'm O+ and DH is AB+ so my children can only be A+ or B+ which I think can cause the abo thing. Need further googling!

 

[Rachel_C]

I think mostly it's about perception. You say "I switched to formula feeding and it wasn't until then that he went a normal colour" but that's not really normal... it IS normal for breastfed (i.e. 'normal') babies to be jaundiced. Not all babies will be jaundiced but it's normal if they are. It's even believed that neonatal jaundice can have a protective effect for the baby. I think with the popularity of formula, people have just forgotten what a normal baby is like!

 

[Boo44]

I really want to just continue breast feeding. I'm really really hoping my milk comes in soon

 

[Rachel_C]

Just keep feeding, make sure to feed frequently even if he's not waking. Both of my LOs were jaundiced, the first due to ABO incompatibility and the second just as a normal part of being a baby, so I know it's stressful but try not to worry too much. The more you worry, the less likely you are to relax and give LO a good feed I made sure to feed every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night until the jaundice started looking a bit better. It's also a good idea to let LO get some sunlight - make the room nice and warm and sit him on a blanket in a bouncer or on the floor in front of a big window Go out for a walk with his face and hands out, if it's not too cold!

As long as LO is feeding and weeing/pooing normally, you don't need to worry. It will pass in its own time.

 

[summer rain]

Another thing is in some countries, mainly due to genetic reasons, a far higher percentage of babies are significantly jaundiced and a far higher percentage need phototherapy or further observation. Consequently in those countries moderate jaundice is seen as normal and harmless and you'll find doctors originating from those countries have this attitude as well. It's in countries where jaundice, particularly moderate and prolonged jaundice is rarer that there is a lot of panic and worrying that it must be liver disease or something when this is extremely unusual xx

 

[dan-o]

Your milk should be in very very soon! Hang in there, he'll be getting lots of lovely colostrum in the meantime!