How to tell if your baby has jaundice

First, you need to pay attention to whether the baby has jaundice. You can put the baby in a bright place and observe the baby's skin and whites of the eyes. If they are yellower than the previous day or yellower than other babies, they may have jaundice. Observe different parts of the body at the same time. If only the face is yellow, it means that the jaundice is not very serious; if the yellowing extends to the abdomen or below, the jaundice may have reached the level that requires phototherapy.

1. Physiological jaundice

Usually, the skin of a newborn baby is a little yellow, which can be seen with the naked eye 2 days after birth. The yellowing reaches its peak at 3-5 days and will mostly disappear at 7-10 days. At this time, the jaundice index (serum bilirubin value) is generally within the normal range of no more than 15 mg/dL.

2. Pathological jaundice

There are many causes of pathological jaundice. The criteria for full-term and premature babies are different. If the mother finds the following conditions, she should send the baby to the hospital for observation:

(1) When jaundice is detected in a newborn within 24 hours of birth, it is called “early-onset jaundice”.

(2) The jaundice index rises too high all of a sudden, increasing by more than 5 mg/dL a day. This is a common symptom of hemolytic jaundice (the blood types of the mother and baby are incompatible).

(3) The jaundice index is too high, reaching 15 mg/dL.

(4) It lasts too long. Physiological jaundice generally lasts for 7-10 days. If it lasts for more than 2 weeks, you should pay attention.

1. Light therapy

It is a simple and effective method to reduce serum unconjugated bilirubin. At present, the most commonly used method in China is blue light irradiation. The newborn lies in a phototherapy box, with both eyes protected with black eye masks to avoid damaging the retina, the perineum and anus covered with diapers, and the rest exposed. Use single-sided or double-sided light irradiation for 2 to 48 hours (generally not more than 4 days), continuous or intermittent irradiation can be used, and treatment can be stopped when bilirubin drops below 7 mg/dL.

2. Exchange blood therapy

Exchange transfusion can effectively reduce bilirubin, replace sensitized red blood cells and alleviate anemia. However, exchange transfusion requires certain conditions and may also produce some adverse reactions, so the indications should be strictly followed and it is generally used when phototherapy fails.

3. Medication

Use drugs to reduce the production of bilirubin, accelerate the clearance of bilirubin or inhibit the enterohepatic circulation of bilirubin, including supplying albumin, correcting metabolic acidosis, liver enzyme inducers (such as phenobarbital), and intravenous immunoglobulin.

4. Supportive treatment

The main thing is to actively prevent and treat hypoxia, hypercapnia, cold injury, hunger, infection, and hyperosmotic drug infusion, prevent temporary opening of the blood-brain barrier, and prevent the occurrence of bilirubin encephalopathy.