Infant jaundice is a yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes of a newborn baby. Infant jaundice occurs because a baby’s blood contains an excess of bilirubin, the yellow pigment from red blood cells.
Infant jaundice is a common condition, especially in infants born at 38 weeks gestation (preterm) and in some who are breastfed. Infant jaundice usually occurs because a baby’s liver isn’t mature enough to get rid of bilirubin into the bloodstream. In some children, an underlying disease may cause jaundice.
Most babies born between 35 weeks of gestation and full term do not need treatment for jaundice. Rarely, an unusually high level of bilirubin in the blood puts a newborn at risk of brain damage, especially with certain risk factors for severe jaundice.
Symptoms
Yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes, the main sign of infant jaundice, usually appears between the second and fourth day after birth.
To check for infant jaundice, gently press on your baby’s forehead or nose. If the skin looks yellow where you squeeze, your baby likely has mild jaundice. If your baby does not have jaundice, the skin color should be slightly lighter than its natural color for a moment.
Check your child in good lighting, preferably in natural daylight.
The following signs or symptoms may indicate severe jaundice or complications from hyperbilirubinemia. Call your doctor if:
The baby’s skin is turning yellow
The child’s skin in the abdomen, arms or legs becomes more yellow
Yellow the whites of your child’s eyes more often
If your child appears lethargic, tired, or has difficulty waking up
If he is not gaining any weight or having difficulty feeding him
– If he cries out loud
If he has any other signs or symptoms that worry you
Infants excrete more bilirubin than adults because of the greater production and faster breakdown of red blood cells in the first few days of an infant’s life. Normally, the liver filters bilirubin from the bloodstream and excretes it into the intestinal tract. The liver of an immature infant often can’t remove bilirubin quickly enough, leading to an increase in bilirubin. The occurrence of jaundice due to these normal conditions of the infant is called physiological jaundice (ie, normal and unsatisfactory), and it always appears on the second or third day after birth.
Other reasons
Jaundice in infants can result from an underlying disorder. In these cases, jaundice often appears much earlier or later than the most common jaundice in infants. Diseases and medical conditions that cause jaundice include:
Internal bleeding (hemorrhage)
An infection in the baby’s blood (sepsis)
Another bacterial or viral infection
Incompatibility between the mother’s blood and the baby’s blood
Liver dysfunction
Biliary atresia, a disease in which a child’s bile ducts become blocked or scarred
Deficiency of enzymes
An imbalance in the child’s red blood cells, which leads to their rapid breakdown.