Yellow babies, imagine you walk in postnates, NICU or Neonates triage and you encounter a yellow baby or rather a mother complains of her baby being yellow. How would you react? What would be the next action you gonna take?
A liver condition that causes yellowing of a newborn baby's skin and eyes.
Neonatal jaundice is common in preterm babies. The cause is often an immature liver. Infection, medication or blood disorders may cause more serious cases.
This late-onset jaundice may develop in up to one third of healthy breastfed infants. 1 Total serum bilirubin levels vary from 12 to 20 mg per dL (340 μ mol per L) and are nonpathologic.
What causes jaundice?
The yellow color of newborn jaundice is caused by high levels of a substance called bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin mostly comes from the breakdown of red blood cells. It gets processed in the liver to make it easier for the body to get rid of through the urine and stool.
What are the symptoms of Neonatal Jaundice?
Your baby's skin becomes more yellow. The skin on your baby's the abdomen, arms or legs looks yellow. The whites of your baby's eyes look yellow. Your baby seems listless or sick or is difficult to awaken.
Risk factors of Neonatal Jaundice
- Premature birth. A baby born before 38 weeks of gestation may not be able to process bilirubin as quickly as full-term babies do.
- Significant bruising during birth.
- Blood type.
- Breast-feeding.
Types os neonatal jaundice
Pathophysiology.
Jaundice results from high levels of bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is the normal breakdown product from the catabolism of haem, and thus is formed from the destruction of red blood cells. Under normal circumstances, bilirubin undergoes conjugation within the liver, making it water-soluble.
Management
Treatments to lower the level of bilirubin in your baby's blood may include:
- Enhanced nutrition. To prevent weight loss, more-frequent feeding or supplementation to ensure that your baby receives adequate nutrition.
- Light therapy (phototherapy).
Pathologic jaundice
The most serious type of jaundice. It occurs within 24 hours after birth, and is characterized by a rapid rise in a baby's bilirubin level. The most likely cause is blood incompatibility or liver disease. Prompt medical attention is necessary, and blood transfusions may be required.
Management
If bilirubin levels necessitate it, treatment for jaundice involves phototherapy and/or exchange transfusion of blood. In cases of pathological jaundice the underlying cause must also be treated. Parental involvement is important to minimise the trauma of having a sick baby and its effect on bonding.
Phothotherapy
Phototherapy is a medical treatment in which natural or artificial light is used to improve a health condition. Treatment could involve fluorescent light bulbs, halogen lights, sunlight, or light emitting diodes (LEDs). Phototherapy is also known as light therapy and heliotherapy.
Phototherapy is treatment with a special type of light (not sunlight). It's sometimes used to treat newborn jaundice by lowering the bilirubin levels in your baby's blood through a process called photo-oxidation. Photo-oxidation adds oxygen to the bilirubin so it dissolves easily in water.
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