Jaundice: 8 weeks old baby

[Mirela Widera]

Hello moms, 

My baby boy had jaundice after birth (3-4th day) and looks still yellow (eyes, skin, face). Our pediatrician is not worried at all, she just said that it is normal for exclusively breastfed babies. I found it very superficial, had the impression she does not take this serious at all. I could hardly convince her to give us a paper for letting the urine checked for bilirubin, etc. The results of the urine are negative. 

Nevertheless, I am still a bit worried and would like to ask for a second opinion. Even if I have to pay privately for that. Since we have hungarian state health insurance, I did not consider to go to private clinics as Firstmed up to now - so I dont know the doctors and staff there. Therefore could you please recommend a good pediatrician who can make a detailed examination? (Firstmed, Medicover, Rozsakert? or any other clinic?). It would be good if they could make some blood tests in the same place. In case they have competent staff who can take blood from such a small baby ...

Did any of you have similar experiences in the past? (baby still yellow after 8 weeks or more ...?)

Thanks in advance for your recommendations. 

Regards,

Mirela.

[Dorothy]

Hi Mirela,

2 of my babies ended up with jaundice, my second being the worst. They treated him for 7days after he was born (bili light  and extra fluids) and his stats were better so they let us home. Unfortunately it got bad again at home as he wouldn't feed much and was sleeing all the time. We ended up at Madarasz children's hospital were he was given infusion for 2days. After that his stats were back to normal again. It did take several weeks for his color to get back to normal and I was worried the whole time that he still had it. With my last we spent 5days in the hosipal after she was born but in her case the bili light and beastfeeding non-stop helped. Her color also took weeks to normalise.
I have no experience with private clinics but as far as I know if the blood test shows normal levels then I won't worry. Another strong sign of jaundice is if the baby is sleepy all the time and rather sleeps instead of nursing...we basicly wouldn't wake my son up or keep him awake to nurse.
What the doctors told me both times was that my babies needed a lot of fluids...breastmilk to help "flush" the jaundice out. So we bf-ed alot.

Not sure this helps but I thought I'd share my experiences.

Dorothy

[olja zakic]

Hi Mirela,

My baby boy is 5 months old now, but had yellowish eye whites till he was about 12 weeks. I felt exactly the same way as you, and I got the same response from my pediatrician. I googled a lot, and I decided we would test his blood if his eyes don't get better till his next pediatrician visit. They did, but I think that if your baby generally feels well, eats a lot, doesn't sleep too much, is happy and eating normally, everything should be fine. If you want, test him for the peace of your mind. There is something called breastfeeding jaundice, google it if you breastfeed.

All the best to you and to your baby !

Olivera

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Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:06:16 +0100
Subject: [budapestmoms] Jaundice: 8 weeks old baby
From: mir...@gmail.com
To: budape...@googlegroups.com

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[Réka Morvay]

Hi Mirela,

Newborn physiological jaundice can stretch out for weeks, with no ill effects for the baby. It's called breastmilk jaundice. If your baby were suffering from hyperbilirubinemia, you would have additional symptoms as well - sleepiness, difficulty feeding due to sleepiness, few bowel movements due to not enough feeding, and brown urine.

If your baby is feeding well and wakes up for feedings and appears alert and not excessively sleepy, has at least 3 poopy diapers a day, clear urine, is gaining weight appropriately, AND you had a negative bilirubin urine test, I would also suggest that your baby's continuing jaundice is okay.

Here is more information about this:

http://www.nbci.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79:breastfeeding-and-jaundice&catid=5:information&Itemid=17

I just spoke with one of FirstMed's pediatricians, and she says we can do a bilirubin blood test here, but the evaluation is not done on site, it'll be sent out to a lab. If you want to come in, ask for an early morning appointment, and you'll get the results of the test the same day.

Let me know if I can help.

Réka

(wearing her IBCLC hat)

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[Umida Khusankhodjaeva]

Hi Mirela,

My son is 3 weeks now, and his face and eyes are still yellow too. I am worried too, but in my case my son was checked for blood test alreay three times, and it is difficult to see how they take blood from such a small creature. Last time at First Med they checked blood for bilirubin and some virus, but doctor said that the level of bilirubin is going slowly down but yet not in the norm. I do not know how long it will or should last. I am reading a lot now about that, and found literature saying that for breastfed babies yellowish colors can last upto 6 weeks. There is a suggestion to stop breastfeed for a day or too and give a formula instead. I have not tried it yet.

I plan to go next week again, to First Med, will see. 

Good luck,

Umida

[Kim Core]

My last baby was a bit jaundice and the dr recommended me to use formula for awhile. My baby seemed otherwise healthy (eating well and pooping/peeing) so instead I followed my midwifes recommendation which was more sunlight.  I let my baby sleep often near a window and the yellow soon disappeared.  Just my 2 cents.  Worrying about a new baby can be awful and you as the mom always knows best so do as you think right.  Sunlight is something that can't hurt to try ;)

Sent from my iPad

[Mirela Widera]

Thanks a lot, Réka!!!

Great article! I liked it.

I went with Bori's recommendation and let it checked yesterday morning at Kutvölgyi kinlik. They checked the bilirubin in the blood and the values are normal. We will make another check in 3-4 weeks if the jaundice is not going away until then ...

Except the poopy diapers, he is fulfilling most of the "conditions" you wrote below. He has huge difficulties in passing stool and gas, he tuns read and presses A LOT but nothing comes out - and therefore his sleep is not quiet at all. He wakes up each 15-20mins, presses, lifts up his knees, his face turns red. We tried to massage his belly, toes, gave him tea, infacol, colief, gripe water (not at the same time ;-)) - nothing really helped up to now. Yesterday he cried from 18 to 22.30 - it was really extreme. We tried everything, even putting him in water, carrying around, wrapping him, undressing, massaging ... hair dryer ... nothing worked. However all examinations are ok - I guess it's the "typical colic behavior" of new born babies. (P.S. pregnant ladies: don't freak out! Not all babies are the same :-) )

[Bibi Ebel]

My 5 cents:
 
Two our of my three children were jaundiced and here`s what I learnt:  their head, face, eyes may still look yellowish weeks after jaundice is not at a bad level  because : (drum roll):  jaundice starts from the head and spreads down the body.  That is why paediatricians check if the jaundice is below the waist level - that`s when babies may get treatment.
 
Secondly, re colic behaviour.   It may be genetic, as sometimes we are simply predisposed to colic, but  there are remedies you can try  - as I am sure you are well aware (since you have tried most of them): camomile, fennel, gripe water (I made my own out of dill seeds), and mom`s diet.  Surprisngly, even small things can be huge irritants for newborns at this stage.  With  my first child I was requested to be on a very healthy, strict diet for several weeks to eliminate irritants (for a different reason, but I was told the same logic applies to colic).  Even things like small amount of cooked garlic can cause discomfort - go figure.  I am sure Reka would be able to give more professional advice regarding this issue.  It is a very frustrating thing for a parent, and it takes a lot of energy and effort, so I wish  you patience and calmness. And good luck!
 
Bibi

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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:42:42 +0100
Subject: Re: [budapestmoms] Jaundice: 8 weeks old baby
From: mir...@gmail.com
To: budape...@googlegroups.com

[patti...@gmail.com]

Hi Mirela,

I can really understand what you are going through, we had the same experience about the colic baby.

Probably you tried everything, just a couple of things that might be helpful, as my son after a start like this turned out to have milk allergy.

I would say typical signs.

Give yourself at least 2 weeks try for not having anything with milk,milk powder, etc in it. Even bread can have milk in it. It takes time for the symptoms to reduce.
Do not give up on gripewater,that is a lifesaver. But do give it several times a day, before of after each feeding.
If you belive ine homeopathy, also can try chamomille ch 30, and there is a mixture,that helped us a lot.

Also buy in the pharmacy small tube, which you can use for the baby to help him letting the gases out. Like if you use a baby tharmometer in the babies bottom, this helps the baby to poo. I do not know how describe it nicely, but this very soft kind of tube helps a lot letting out the poo.

My son drank a lot of water along with breastfeeding, and also after that, he never confused the bottle of water with breastfeeding,wanted both.

I know it is a nightmare, I will never forget that time of my life.

If you want to speak to someone ,you can contact me, and discuss .

Only carrying around helped, a so cold "kenguru" would have been a great help for me, we only bought one,when he was bigger....

Good luck,
Patricia

Mirela Widera <mir...@gmail.com> írta:

[Wenhardt Ágnes]

Yes, we also used the tube but just in case of emergency. In Hungarian it is called szélcső. (szelcso without accents) You can buy it in any pharmacies but use it very carefully. It can help for a while but not for long time because the problem is not in the rectum but in the tummie. Also I was told to massage sofly the babies tummie and if I can feel the air bubble stucked in try to massage it away because it may presses something inside. Always massage clockwise.
As I wrote you privately, I can just totally feel what you feel. It was one of the hardest period in my life too. Do not give up it will be better and better!

Feel free to ask or write if you have questions,
Agi

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Elküldve: 2013. február 14. 15:4

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