Jaundice

[Clysta]

Kylie no longer has it, but I've been reading a lot of posts from ladies who's babies have had it, and it seems that almost all supplemented with formula if they were breastfeeding to help clear it up faster. Does it actually do that? When she had it at the hospital, I was told to BF her more often and avoid formula, so now I'm confused. Or does it actually make a difference.  

[Ashelen]

LOL I never had either...when they first told me he had jaundice I was like well...that's odd...but ok, no biggie. and then they mentioned it had something to do with incompatible blood types and I was like wait...there's no Rh incompatibility for us..and they explained it had to do with the A/O combination and I was shocked...never heard of it...I was (to be honest) skeptical so I did a lot of googling and asking the nurses on the sly to make sure that the pediatrician knew what he was talking about because it was the hospital staff ped not my kids' normal ped.....but sure 'nuff...ABO incompatibility. so it was new for me too! lol

and yes Cassandra jaundice is caused by the liver, but alcoholism or "liver toxicity" jaundice are both very different from baby jaundice :).

[Flavoured]

Thanks for all the info ladies, it's soooo much more personal and interesting than doing google (although that helps a lot too)

[mamaofonetrying42]

The more babies eat the more they should poop, and that helps get it out of the body :)

[tiredbuthappy]

jaundice in an adult caused by alcoholism is different. It is caused by damage to the liver. Jaundice in a newborn is caused by bilirubin not being flushed out of the system.
I think it may also be more likely in preemies because they often don't stay awake for full feeds and don't take in as much. My first was premature but didn't get it. We had to supplement from the start with her because she was so tiny, so that may have helped. She was only 4 1/2 lbs when we took her home. As soon as I could pump enough, we got her off the formula. That only took a few days.
I had never heard of ABO incompatibility jaundice. Learn something new everyday :)

[Cassandrajane]

Because I know you can get Jaundice when you're older too?? Because my nan was an alcoholic and screwed up her liver,,,and the nurses said something about her having Jaundice? Or something..

So it basically depends on the Liver?

google time!

x

[Ashelen]

'scuse me, "their livers^" not "their lives" lol

[Ashelen]

Well yeah it can occur in preemies because their lives aren't producing enzymes at the level of a full-term baby.

and yes the more that a baby goes to the bathroom the faster the bili-rubin (the products of jaundice in the system) will pass, but sometimes it requires further treatment.

and no just because you have Rh incompatibility doesn't mean that Harry WILL have jaundice, but it's a possibility. it's very rare that the blood mixes, but sometimes antibodies can cross the placenta from what I understand and cause the incompatibility jaundices. From what I was told, this is the reason that Rh and ABO incompatibility jaundice appear much sooner than normal jaundice...because the process actually starts before birth by the antibodies crossing the placenta...so it "presents" faster, and the numbers get much higher more quickly.

It's a question to ask your Ob but "normal" (spontaneous, or "early") jaundice don't usually require much treatment...and are far more common than incompatibility jaundices. :)

[Cassandrajane]

Does that mean Harry can have Jauundice due to me being RH neg and John being Pos? althoughh I thought Jaundince was REALLY bad in premature, or occurs normally in premature babies?? Shows what I know??

I just lookeded on google, and got like LOADS of different answers, but they all say if the baby is going to the loo enough that should help soo it doesnt really matter??

But I actually NEVER thought of this...

x

[Ashelen]

A lot of different things can cause Jaundice...it can spontaneously occur, and it can occur from different blood-type issues..for instance, my son had it because he has A+ blood but I have O+ and somehow our blood mixed, and the antibodies in my blood attacked his red blood cells :(. It caused him to have what's caused ABO Incompatibility Jaundice...and his levels were dangerously high very soon after birth, which is how they noticed it immediately and were able to identify it. Rh incompatibility can cause it as well.

I was told that formula has a higher concentration of vitamin D and that increased with the higher fluid volume helps to flush bilirubin out of the system faster....Grey had to be on a home bili-blanket as you guys probably remember but his numbers came down very fast....I did have to supplement though. Several different doctors recommended it.

I think it depends on how high the numbers get, like another poster said, if they recommend extra steps for treatment. Grey's went dangerously high very fast and usually "normal" jaundice takes a few days to appear, but ABO requires immediate and strict treatment because it's one of the most severe forms of jaundice...so I didn't have an option. Milder cases of jaundice can be treated different ways...and since it took less than a week for your little one I'd say it probably went away as fast as you could normally expect, with or without formula. Grey's severe jaundice only took about a week and a half to clear up completely, but he was on a home treatment blanket.

[Flavoured]

This might sound stupid, but what causes jaundice in new born babies?

[julianovak]

It's a very common condition.. Don't worry girl.... The more she pee and poop the quicker it go away :)

[tiredbuthappy]

I think formula is only recommended if the baby's numbers are a certain level (I don't recall the number). It's not that the formula is better at clearing the jaundice than breastmilk- it's just a matter of getting more into the baby to help it clear out. In most women, breastmilk is sufficient. But if the baby has severe jaundice and the mom's milk is slow to come in, the doctor may push for it. There is controversy about this however, because supplementing that early can cause mom's milk to come in slower and possibly lead to breastfeeding failure because of bottle preference.
Don't feel guilty about jaundice lasting a bit. It's quite common, and has no lasting impacts as long as it didn't get out of hand. I was ordered to supplement by the doctors while in the hospital but was told to always nurse first. It only lasted 24 hours. She was under the lights for 24 hours and only allowed out for me to feed her. The LC taught us how to finger feed, and she would get either what i managed to pump or an ounce of formula. I did some reading after and wondered if supplementing had really been necessary, so I asked my neighbor who was a LC. She said that with her levels, it was considered protocol.

[smjmekg]

Hmm. That is a really good question. I wonder if the formula supplementing makes it go away faster...

[Clysta]

I dunno. I've just seen a lot say they supplement with formula to clear it up faster or because the baby had/has jaundice and I didn't know if it helped get it gone sooner. She had it really bad and it kept rising over around 3-5 days after birth, and if formula might have gotten rid of it sooner then that would have been good.

[smjmekg]

I thought it was just them eating a lot and getting it out of their systems...I didn't think it mattered BF or formula...