Jaundice

Jaundice is a common condition in newborns in which the skin and the white of the eyes appear to be yellow in color. This is known to be caused by high or excess bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is produced by the normal breakdown of red blood cells.

Normally, bilirubin passes through the liver and is excreted as bile through the intestines. Jaundice occurs when bilirubin builds up faster than a newborn's liver can break it down and pass it from the body. Reasons for this include:

• Newborns make more bilirubin than adults do since they have more turnover of red blood cells.
• A newborn baby's still-developing liver may not yet be able to remove adequate bilirubin from the blood.
• Too large an amount of bilirubin is reabsorbed from the intestines before the baby gets rid of it in the stool.

My baby had jaundice too and it took about nearly 2months before his jaundice completely disappeared. I got worried at most times thinking his jaundice must be prolonging too much. Good thing the nurse who comes by our place every week since my baby was born closely checked his jaundice condition. We were so happy to finally see baby's clear white eyes and that took away all the worries that I had. Part of the reason why his jaundice stayed longer was due to the cold weather here forbidding me to take my baby out to get some sun which is a good treatment for jaundice. I just continued breastfeeding baby knowing that can really help with his jaundice.

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