I hate to butt in with an imediate whine after being mia for so long but....wahhhhhh, I need some serious help with jaundice issues.

Anna is 2 weeks old today. At her highest, her jaundice was 19.7, which made the pediatrician very nervous. We started out with blood type incompatibility jaundice (I'm O-, she's O+) and now we seem to be working into a serious case of breastmilk jaundice.

Anna came home on the bili blanket, and remained on it till this Monday. Her Monday bili test was 14.1, and they said we could remove the blanket. Today's test was back up to 16.4!!!!!!!!!! I've been freaking out and crying.

The doctor said we have till Saturday to see a dramatic turn around or we'll need to take "more serious action". In this ped practice, more serious action is hospitalization and a complete weaning to formula.

Any suggestions for getting the bili out of her body when she only poops twice a day and there's NO sunshine in our town for the next few days.

~Leigh

This is just an idea and I have NO experience w/ juandice. With that being said, how about those grow light/natural light light bulbs that are "supposed" to mimic the sun? They make them to fit regular lamps and you could do one that shines on her. I think most big box stores and some gardening and home improvement stores carry them.

Leigh,

Are you sure it's breastmilk jaundice? It normally doesn't show up until after the first week and a half to two weeks of life?
Is it possibly Physiologic Jaundice?

Per Wise Woman Herbal for Childbearing Year;
Physiologic jaundice is the technical term for the normal jaundice of newborns, which usually appears one to five days after birth. Approximately 70% of all newborns show some physiologic jaundice.

This can be treated with nursing, nursing, and more nursing. (Sunlight too!)

Catnip tea is also recommended, you need to drink a minimum of 2 cups per day. Preferably more.

Have you tried giving her water?

I had it, and so did dh and most of his nephew's, and we were all given water.

So I naturally did the same with both Adriana and Lucas, and it cleared up quickly.

As for the sun, even if there is forecast, they can still get sun (I still haven't figured this out, but that's what the pedi's kept telling me.)
Lay her in your bed/her bed, under the window on and off throughout the day.


If you need to know what else this book says, pm me, and I will type it all out for you.


Hopefully Anna will get better soon!
Congratulations again!

nak, sorry

do you think giving her water would help her go poop more? they tell me that she needs to poop more often to get rid of the jaundice. she only goes 1 or 2 times per day, at most. she's absorbing almost everything in the breastmilk to gain weight, I think.

also, how much water can I give her before it becomes dangerous. I've heard water for newborns can cause kidney failure.

I only gave my kids 1/4oz 3-4 times per day (1 morning, 1 afternoon, etc)

I think because of her weight, etc.. I would only give 1/4oz 2 times a day... that should be enough.

I would definitely try that tea, I checked and it's ok to drink if it is breastmilk jaundice too, so it's safe either way.

Also, call the doc and tell him to give you the light back.

I do not reccomend water, it's not good for infants. I had a son w/jaundice and he was just a tiny bit shy of being admittied so he had it pretty bad. From our experience just nurse him and nurse him until he can take no more. My ped. told us that was the very best thing for him. I don't know what bm jaundice is so if that is way off for you please don't do it, but if you are unsure I would just nurse and nurse. Also I second the lights, they should be able to give you some to take home. My ds was born in January so there was very little light, but any little bit will do good, just place her bassinett or chair in front of a window, even if it's overcast I would still do it. BUt see if they will give you a light to take home or even maybe just if they will have you take her to the hospital for a few hours a day to go under the lights.

I hope she gets better soon. Keep us updated.

I don't want to contradict Jodi, but when my son had jaundice, the ped said NOT to give him water, only breastmilk. I could be wrong in your case, though, because it cleared up when he was a week to 10 days old and never had to be treated.

My daughter was not a very "poopie" baby (still isn't!), only went twice per day, so I know where you're coming from, but is it possible to wake her to nurse more often? Make sure she's getting plenty of hindmilk...don't switch breasts too often. My dd also didn't gain weight "on schedule" :rolleyes: and my LC advised me to switch breasts only every two to three hours. So if she ate 3 times between 8 and 10:30, it would all be on the left side, then from 10:30 to 1 all feedings on the right side. That should bring more hindmilk down and possibly make her poop more/flush the bili out of her system?

Before weaning her to formula, I would definitely get a second opinion...if the doctor's mentioned that that is the next step, maybe you could get an opinion NOW instead of waiting until Saturday? That does seem like a drastic step...how is formula going to help her more than breastmilk? (I am genuinely curious as to how that would help, I'm not being sarcastic.)

Oh, and my redhead got a sunburn the other day under full cloud cover, so they do apparently get exposed on cloudy days. :)

Michelle

Actually we had a ped recommend against it too. But after Adriana being really bad with it, and we were told to stop breastfeeding, we decided to try 'grandma's' cure.

My midwife actually told me to do it with Lucas.

I think it's one of those things that it just really makes a difference who the doctor is.

The reason the doctor might want her to stop breastfeeding is to verify it is truly breastmilk jaundice, if so, she *should* be told to alternate feedings and then within 48hrs Anna's levels should drop 5-10points... if it doesn't, she doesn't have bm jaundice.

Leigh,

Undress her to the waist and let her nurse, nap etc in front of a window, it doesn't HAVE to be sunny for it to work. Lillie had terrible jaundice too and this is what the home nurse told me to do, even though it was cloudy.

Wasn't Anna a preemie?????

Isabel,

She was 37 weeks. We managed to keep her in till that point. She was small, though, well under 6 pounds.

The primary cause of her original jaundice was RH factor incompatibility. That jaundice was thought to be abating, however, and now we seem to have started going up again due to what doctor thinks may be breastfeeding jaundice.

I personally think this is still the original rh jaundice, though, and that we discontinued treatment too soon.

~L

Sarah and Justin had rh jaundice....and both we were told to only give breastmilk. For Justin it took 10 days to see improvment. However we were told if it got worse we would need to consider hospitalization with bili lights, or ask our insurance about bili light rental.....but to ONLY nurse. That true breastmilk jaundice is pretty much non-existent today, very rare. I don't know how true all this is, but this was what we were told.

Good luck hon.....

If you do need to switch her over to formula, I'd keep pumping and do a trial on formula if *needed* and then re-intro breastmilk after a few weeks. JMO.

What a position you are in!!!

The baby needs to poop more... you know that. Basically, the bilirubin gets out of the body through poop... so when the baby isn't pooping enough, the bili gets reabsorbed into the system.

Have you tried massaging her tummy throughout the day? gently moving your fingers around her belly button clockwise a few times and them as you get to 3 o'clock moving your fingers straight down. This follows the natual path of the bowels and may help her go. You may also want ot think about gently 'tickling' her anus to make her go (with a qtip).

You may want to bring up to your doc that breastmilk has a natual laxative in it, whereas formula does not. Breastmilk is going to help her go much better than a formula would.

Some other ideas to get more in her so she will have to go - what about pumping and just putting it in a medicine dispenser and putting it in her mouth. Even if you get a couple more ounces through the day in her this way, it may be enough to build up enough in her tiny body to go #2.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Oh, what about checking with your local LLL group. LLL has professional liasons who can give you up to date information about what is the best way to deal with this. Good luck!