What to do if your baby has jaundice

Jaundice is the most common symptom among newborns. Its most obvious symptom is that the newborn's skin will turn yellow. It will also affect the baby's digestive ability, which is what parents worry about the most. Usually jaundice will fade away on its own in a short period of time. If a one-month-old baby still has jaundice, parents must pay great attention to it and must provide timely treatment and adjustments. Let's learn about what to do if a one-month-old baby has jaundice.

What to do if your baby has jaundice

Jaundice, also known as yellow bile or jaundice in common parlance, is a symptom of yellowing of the skin, mucous membranes, and sclera of the eye caused by increased bilirubin concentration in the human blood.

Neonatal pathological jaundice:

(1) Jaundice appears early, within 24 hours after birth; (2) Severe jaundice, with a golden yellow color or jaundice all over the body, with obvious jaundice on the palms and soles, or serum bilirubin greater than 12-15 mg/dL; (3) Persistent jaundice, with jaundice persisting or even worsening 2-3 weeks after birth, or worsening after being alleviated; (4) Accompanied by anemia or lighter stool color; (5) Patients with abnormal body temperature, poor appetite, vomiting, etc.

Pathological jaundice should be taken seriously because it is often a manifestation of disease and the cause should be sought. In addition, when the concentration of unconjugated bilirubin reaches a certain level, it will pass through the blood-brain barrier to damage brain cells (often called kernicterus), causing death or sequelae such as cerebral palsy and intellectual disability. Therefore, if you suspect your child has pathological jaundice, you should seek medical attention immediately.

Several common types of neonatal pathological jaundice:

1) Hemolytic jaundice: The most common cause of hemolytic jaundice is ABO hemolysis, which is caused by the incompatibility of the blood types of the mother and the fetus. The most common case is when the mother's blood type is 0 and the fetus's blood type is A or B, and the jaundice caused is more severe. Other cases include when the mother's blood type is A and the fetus's blood type is B or AB; the mother's blood type is B and the fetus's blood type is A or AB, which are less common and the jaundice caused is milder. As a result, some parents will be very nervous and worry that their children will suffer from ABO hemolytic disease. In fact, one thing we need to point out is that not all newborns with ABO blood type incompatibility will suffer from hemolytic disease. The incidence of ABO incompatibility hemolytic disease in newborns was reported to be 11.9%. Neonatal hemolytic jaundice is characterized by the onset of jaundice within 24 hours after birth and its gradual worsening.

2) Infectious jaundice: Infectious jaundice is jaundice caused by damage to liver cell function due to viral infection or bacterial infection. Viral infections are mostly intrauterine infections, with cytomegalovirus and hepatitis B virus infections being the most common. Other infections including rubella virus, Epstein-Barr virus, toxoplasmosis, etc. are relatively rare. The most common bacterial infection is septicemia jaundice. The characteristic of jaundice is that physiological jaundice persists or persistent jaundice reappears after physiological jaundice disappears.

3) Obstructive jaundice: Obstructive jaundice is mostly caused by congenital bile duct malformations, with congenital biliary atresia being the most common. The characteristic of jaundice is that jaundice appears 1-2 weeks or 3-4 weeks after birth and gradually deepens. At the same time, the color of the stool gradually changes to light yellow or even white clay.

4) Breast milk jaundice: This is a special type of pathological jaundice. In a small number of breastfed newborns, the degree of jaundice exceeds normal physiological jaundice, and the reason is not very clear. The characteristics of jaundice are: after the peak of physiological jaundice, the jaundice continues to worsen, and the bilirubin can reach 10-30 mg/dl. If breastfeeding continues, the jaundice will continue at a high level for a period of time before slowly decreasing. If breastfeeding is stopped for 48 hours, the bilirubin will drop significantly by 50%. If breastfeeding resumes, the bilirubin will rise again.

Regardless of the cause, pathological jaundice can cause "kernicterus" in severe cases, which has a poor prognosis. In addition to causing damage to the nervous system, severe cases can cause death. Therefore, the focus of neonatal pathological jaundice should be on prevention, such as preventing toxoplasmosis and rubella virus infection during pregnancy, especially preventing viral infection in the early pregnancy; preventing the occurrence of sepsis after birth; and vaccinating newborns with hepatitis B vaccine at birth. Parents should closely observe changes in their children's jaundice. If any signs of pathological jaundice are found, they should be sent to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time.

Children are the focus of every family. What every parent hates most is that their children have health problems. The above is an introduction to what to do if a one-month-old baby has jaundice. After understanding it, parents who encounter this symptom must take their children to a regular hospital for treatment in time. Usually the doctor will give the most suitable treatment method according to the child's condition.