What is the neonatal jaundice index?

Every newborn will have jaundice after birth. Neonatal jaundice can easily affect the child's face yellow, and if you are not careful, it may cause the child's jaundice to not subside. If the jaundice index is too high, it is likely to cause the child's skin to cause serious skin diseases, organ failure and other symptoms. So how to identify the neonatal jaundice index?

Most newborns may experience yellowing of the skin within a week after birth.

This is mainly due to the characteristics of bilirubin metabolism in newborns. If the degree of jaundice is mild, it is physiological jaundice. Parents don't need to be overly nervous. Physiological jaundice usually begins to appear in the newborn 2-3 days after birth, is the yellowest 4-6 days after birth, and gradually subsides after 7-10 days.

How can parents judge the degree of neonatal jaundice at home? We can observe the degree of yellowing of the newborn's skin under natural light. If only the face is yellow, it is mild yellowing; press the skin of the trunk with your fingers and then lift it up to observe the yellowing of the skin. The yellowing of the skin on the trunk is moderate yellowing; use the same method to observe the limbs and the palms and soles of the feet. If yellowing also occurs, it is severe yellowing and you should go to the hospital for examination and treatment in time.

Physiological jaundice in newborns can disappear on its own, but pathological jaundice is a group of diseases caused by many reasons and must be discovered and treated as early as possible. The common causes of jaundice are: hemolytic jaundice, infectious jaundice, obstructive jaundice, breast milk jaundice, etc. Newborns with severe jaundice should be alert to the occurrence of kernicterus, especially immature infants. The younger the age, the higher the incidence rate. Generally, symptoms such as lethargy, drowsiness, weak sucking, decreased muscle tone, vomiting, and refusal to eat may appear within 12-48 hours after the onset of severe jaundice. If treated in time, they can recover completely.

In the above article, we learned about the neonatal jaundice index. Since the symptoms of each newborn are different, the child's jaundice will quickly subside within about 7 days. However, if the jaundice does not subside in some children, they should go to the hospital for timely examination.