Newborn babies with jaundice must learn to distinguish between serious and minor

Many new mothers often ask me in the group, “My baby looks a little yellow, could it be jaundice? My baby has been baked blue light, how do I care for it. There are also new sisters who have just entered the sister-in-law industry and encounter jaundiced babies who do not know how to properly understand jaundice and how to care for them. Today I will talk about the symptoms of jaundice, the causes of jaundice, how to treat it and how to care for it in four ways.

The symptoms of jaundice are yellowing of the baby’s face and sclera, which is the white part of the eye. Some sisters have said, “There is no jaundice meter at home, how can I tell if my baby is yellow? First, compare your mother’s hand with your baby’s face to see if your baby’s face is more yellow than your mother’s hand. Second, press on the baby’s forehead or face skin then lift your finger and observe whether the color of the fingerprint is white or yellow. Third, the most obvious point is to see if the whites of the eyes are turning yellow.

Newborn jaundice is divided into physiological jaundice, breast milk jaundice and pathological jaundice.

The symptoms of physiological jaundice are that on the second or third day after birth, the facial skin and sclera begin to yellow, slowly spreading to the chest and back. It is most severe on the fifth and sixth day. Then it slowly subsides, basically within a week.

The symptoms of breast milk jaundice appear about a week after birth, when the baby’s face and sclera become yellow, but the baby is in good spirits and the jaundice lasts longer, from 3 weeks to 3 months, or even half a year in some cases.

Symptoms of pathological jaundice occur within 24 hours after birth, or appear later and last longer, with jaundice getting better and coming back, and the skin turning yellow to a significantly greater degree. The baby has an abnormal temperature, vomits and cries. The color of the stool becomes increasingly white.

Physiological, breast-feeding, and pathological jaundice occur at different times: physiological on the second or third day, breast-feeding in about a week, and pathological within 24 hours or later. Not early or late. Another point is to distinguish the mental state of the baby. In physiological and breastfeeding cases, the baby’s mental state is good and does not affect eating or drinking. In pathological jaundice, the baby’s mental state is not good. The body temperature is also not normal. This is the most serious and must be treated promptly.

The above is the symptoms of jaundice, and the following is the cause of the occurrence.

The cause of jaundice is something called “bilirubin”. So, how does bilirubin come about?

The womb where the baby was born is a low-oxygen environment compared to the outside environment, so the fetus will increase the number of red blood cells to increase the amount of oxygen carried by the blood to meet the normal demand for oxygen; after the baby is born, there is enough oxygen in the air and a large number of red blood cells in the body become redundant, these red blood cells continue to decline and rupture, which will produce a lot of bilirubin, these excess substances have to be discharged, but the internal organs of the newborn baby But the internal organs of newborns are not yet sound, so they can’t get rid of the bilirubin all at once. The color of bilirubin is orange. When a large amount of bilirubin accumulates in the body, the skin becomes yellow. This is how jaundice occurs.

What should I do if my baby develops jaundice?

For physiological jaundice, don’t worry. Let your baby nurse more, have more bowel movements and get more sunlight, and it will return to normal in a week or so.

For breastfeeding jaundice, suspend breastfeeding for 48 hours if the bilirubin value exceeds 15 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) and give the baby formula. In order not to interfere with milk production and to prevent milk gain, the mother should suck out the milk in time. The bilirubin value of the baby will drop significantly after stopping breastfeeding. This is because breast milk has its own immunity that cannot be replaced by any formula. When the bilirubin value drops after 48 hours of breastfeeding cessation, we will give the baby breast milk again, with small and frequent meals. Gently rub your baby’s tummy clockwise for half an hour after eating to promote excretion. Get more sunlight. Pay attention to keeping warm. Although breast milk jaundice lasts for a long time, the bilirubin is not a threat to the baby within a certain value. Parents should not worry and should not give up breastfeeding their baby.

Pathological jaundice is the most serious and should be treated promptly. Pathological jaundice appears either early or late. The early ones are within 24 hours, and in such cases, it is usually hemolysis, where the baby and mother do not have the same blood type. Those that appear later, after a week, and those that recur, are usually internal problems. For example, hepatitis in newborns. The doctor will treat it according to the situation. We just cooperate with the doctor’s treatment.

Here’s how to take care of your baby. We have to do the following four things when caring for your baby.

First, observe your baby’s skin color every day. Jaundice in newborns starts on the face and can be severe enough to spread to the body and extremities. If you find jaundice in the trunk of the body, you can observe again; if the skin below the knee also appears jaundiced, then it is serious, you should take your baby to the hospital to check the bilirubin value.

Second: At home, you should give your baby touch care: you should not be too hungry or too full when doing touch, preferably one hour after your baby has eaten. Through gentle stimulation of the skin and senses, it can promote the digestion and absorption of food, stimulate gastrointestinal motility, promote the excretion of meconium, and reduce the bilirubin value. Do not take too long, 10 to 15 minutes each time. 2 times a day.

Third: give your baby a bath. Water temperature has the role of expanding skin capillaries, promoting blood circulation and enhancing the metabolism of the whole body of the newborn. When we give the baby a bath, pay attention to the umbilical cord not to catch water. Bathing can promote newborn appetite and intestinal motility, conducive to the discharge of fetal stool.

Fourth: give your baby sunshine every day. Because the blue light in the sunlight can accelerate the decomposition of bilirubin, thereby reducing the symptoms of jaundice.

Finally, let’s summarize the symptoms of jaundice: yellowing of the face and sclera. The cause is too much bilirubin in the body. The treatment depends on the severity of the disease. For physiological cases, we should drink more and drain more, for breast-feeding cases, we should have a small number of meals, and for pathological cases, we should treat them promptly. Care should do four things: First, we should pay attention to observation, early detection. The second to do touch. The third should be diligent bathing. The fourth to sunshine.