Only 1 out of my 3 kids are spared from having newborn / neonatal jaundice. Jaundice tends to be more common in breastfed babies and to last a bit longer. In most cases, it's harmless, but jaundice phobia on the part of parents often creates obstacles to successful breastfeeding. This is because most of the breastfed babies have lower milk intakes in the first few days after birth, because of infrequent or inefficient feeding compared to their formula feeding peers.
Princess had jaundice on the 2nd day, and the Prince had it on his 3rd day. The only difference is that with Princess, we are still in the hospital and since she had G6PD (another topic, another time), it’s expected. However with the Prince, since he’s spared from G6PD, we totally did not expect him to have jaundice. We are discharged from the hospital about 12 hours after delivery, though Prince’s feeding have yet established, the doctors & nurses reluctantly released us seeing that I’ve successfully breastfed Baby Princess till she’s 2.
We noticed Prince’s not feeding that well and prefer to sleep mopst of the time but we did not suspect anything until we noticed a yellow tinge to the white of his eyes. It’s difficult to detect the yellowness in him as he’s still very blotchy. We then brought him to the hospital for a blood test. By the time the test results are back, Prince’s whole body was yellowish and I really had a scare of my life.
I got admitted together with him for the phototherapy treatment so I could continue to breastfeed him. It was heartbreaking for me to ignore his crying when they put him under the light. I keep on breastfeeding him as breast milk acting as a laxative could help eliminate bilirubin from baby's body because bilirubin exits though baby’s stools. Prince was released after 2 days under the light.
Some basic information on Jaundice:
A common condition that turns a baby's rosy skin yellow, jaundice occurs in 60 percent of all babies, typically showing up two to three days after birth and lasting a week to ten days.
Most jaundiced infants do not need supplements of water, sugar water or formula
Jaundice sometimes makes babies sleepy therefore you may need to wake your baby for a feed.
Experts recommend this quick home test to check for jaundice. In a well-lit room, apply gentle pressure to your baby's nose or forehead; if there's a yellow tinge to the skin as the pressure is released, consult your paediatrician. This technique works best for fair-skinned children; if your baby has dark skin check for yellowness in the whites of the eyes or gums.
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