Baby Back in Hospital for Jaundice for Third Time- Anyone Else Experience This?

My son had high bili when he was born, my pediatrician recommended a formula with iron in it to help bring it down. His biliruben is now fine. What happens is that sometimes babies don't have enough iron to bind with the biliruben, so it makes it harder for them to get "rid" of the extra liver enzymes in the system.

Good luck - and don't let them convince you to stop breatfeeding!

HI,
I experienced something similar with my first daughter. She was sent home with borderline high Biliruben levels and we (and she) had the worst night of our lives. She cried all night long. We found out she was basically starving because of my breastmilk. I thought she was being fed too much and she had severe gas! We went in the next morning (scheduled biliruben check) and she had to be admitted immediately. I can't remeber the BR number, but it was scary high. She was under lights in the pediatric intensive care unit for 5-6 days. I do remember that her BR number got worse before it got better. In the hospital, I breast fed her but also supplemented her with formula/breastmilk mix. For some reason my milk never fully came in. I could only get a couple of ounces at a time and never felt engorged. I did both for 3 mos and then went to only formula. If you really want to breastfeed, I suggest to really work at it and pump and feed as much as possible. It may have just been me because I struggled with my second as well. I do kind of think it was mental, becuase I saw formula as a life saver. Best of luck to you and your little boy will be fine. Just embrace those lights and feed him til the cows come home!!!!!

My daughter had breastmilk jaundice @ her 1 week checkup. I was instructed by the pediatrician to stop breastfeeding until her levels were normal. They did return to normal after about 5 or so days. I pumped my milk while I couldn't nurse her so I wouldn't dry up & gave her the milk in a bottle at a later date.

Hi H.,

My daughter was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, causing alot of bruising to her face. Because of that, she immediately became jaundiced. I also had a hard time producing milk that was healthy enough for her, so I gave her formula too. I split it up to every other bottle, and waited until she was no longer jaundiced, to stick with only breast milk. She didn't mind not recieving the formula at all, so it worked out great. The iron in the formula, absolutely helped.

Instead of hospitalizing the baby, though, we had to rent a bili-light bed for 4 days. Unless she was being fed, she had to lay on that thing all of the 4 days, and nights. It was so hard not to cuddle with her, but we knew it was for the best. Of course, it didn't hurt to cuddle with her when she was being fed, since she always took so long. :o)

Her jaundice did last for a while, in intermittent levels, but I found that it was best controlled when I also gave her the formula. Try to open the curtains at home, and let the light in to touch the baby's skin. I know it's a little tough right now, with the cold weather, but any natural light really does help.

My daughter, now 2, still gets the occasional yellow skin. I just have to remember to give her her vitamins (with extra iron), and she goes right back to normal.

Good luck!

Mari

hi, i had my 2nd baby at 39 wks, and we were held in the hospital for bili levels that wouldn't come down despite the lights. he ended up having polycythemia (means high red blood cell count) so the cells were just breaking down as fast as the bili lights could help.
ended up fine, w/ iv fluids and good breastfeeding, but can be serious if not treated and monitored. might want to run this by your baby's doc's.
good luck
L.

Hi H.. You might want to seek another opinion. My youngest was jaundice for awhile and his pediatricain said it was quite normal for jaundice to take longer to go away in breastfed babies. He was never really concerned about it. He was tested twice in the hospital when I had him and had to go under the lights too but the dr gave him time for it to go away. I think he was between 4-6 weeks old when he finally started to look a normal color.

Did your baby get the hepatitis B shot at birth? This can cause a lot of jaundice issues - it's very taxing to the newborn's immune system and really is an unnecessary vaccine, especially at such a young age! Most babies aren't even at risk for Hep. B - I would reconsider getting more vaccines at this point as your baby is showing you that he has difficulty clearing the additional toxic ingredients from his system (his liver clearly isn't working well enough yet to give it additional work!).

Hello,

My son had breast milk jaundice and he is fine (he's now 19 months). It's unusual -- our pediatrician's office had had very few cases of this (if any?). Apparently it has to do with the mother's milk. Cole had to stay in the hospital a couple of extra days just after birth (under the lights, IVs, etc) but then we went home and didn't have to return. He was, however, still yellow at 2 months, so our pediatrician asked us to do what you're doing -- go off of breastmilk for 48 hrs and feed him only formula. Although it was hard to do at the time, it was good for several reasons. It confirmed that it was breastmilk jaundice which isn't dangerous; it helped Cole shed some of the bilirubin in his system so he became less yellow; and it allowed me to store up some breastmilk in the freezer which was really handy! It also helped him get used to having a bottle sometimes (which he'd been really finicky about). It was really helpful to have my husband do those bottle feedings; I don't think he would have taken them from me.

He went back to breastfeeding without a problem and his yellow coloring was completely gone at around 3 months. For the last month or so he only looked abnormal to someone who had a trained eye; he mostly looked a little more tan than he otherwise would.

In general I remember the MDs and nurses advising us that making sure the baby is eating well helps a lot. Best of luck to you!

Hi,
Sorry you are going through this. :-( I was devastated when my first was re-admitted for jaundice. Like someone else mentioned his didn't clear up until 8-10 weeks. He had almost weekly heel sticks until then to monitor that things weren't at a dangerous level. There are generally two types of jaundice and here are a couple of good links for you:
http://www.kellymom.com/newman/07jaundice.html

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/t029600.asp

Best of luck.

unfortunately i have not heard of anyone else going thru this. i would suggest that you get a second opinion from a new group of doctors. you can also go online and do some research on jaundice. good luck.

H.,

First congratulations on your new son.

I have not heard of breast milk jaundice however I do know you can put the baby in the window to get natural sunlight and that helps get rid of the jaundice. You could try sitting in a sunny window with your top off - I know it sounds funny but the sun might help if infact that is what this is.

The other thing to do - I would say do this first is to call the ladies of La Leche League - www.llli.org - in your area. Look up this website and go to that country, state and area you live in. In my area there are 3 women I can call and they have all been fabulous to deal with, in person or on the phone. These ladies will definately have an answer for you.

Good luck,
L. M

oh, ps I just remembered another mom I know was given a suit to put on her daughter at home so she could get the levels down. I don't remember everything about this it has been a lot of months now but you could ask about that as well. But either way I know letting the baby get sunlight - thru the window at this time of year is helpful in getting rid of the jaundice.