Yellow baby: causes, symptoms, and ways to prevent it

Many cases of newborns develop jaundice, a condition in which the skin and parts of the eye turn white to yellowish a few days after birth. In fact, yellow babies occur in half of births.

Jaundice in premature babies will occur earlier and last longer than term babies.

Causes of yellow baby
Jaundice in newborns is very common. This condition occurs when the level of yellow pigment called bilirubin in the body is too high.

Bilirubin is a brownish yellow pigment that is produced naturally by the body when red blood cells are destroyed during the regeneration process. In children and adults, the liver treats bilirubin, which then enters the intestinal tract.

In neonates, the liver is not mature enough to remove bilirubin from the body. The result is accumulation and levels high enough to look yellow on the skin and eyes of a newborn baby.

High-risk babies suffering from jaundice are:

Premature babies (babies born before 37 weeks gestation).
Infants who do not consume enough milk or formula, because they have difficulty breastfeeding or because breast milk has not come out.
A baby whose blood type is not the same as its mother. Various types of maternal blood can produce antibodies that can destroy the baby's red blood cells and cause a sudden increase in bilirubin levels.

Other causes of jaundice in newborns include:

Bruising at birth or other internal bleeding
Liver disorders
infection
Enzyme deficiency
Erythrocyte abnormalities in infants

Symptoms of jaundice in newborns

The first sign of jaundice in babies is yellowing of the skin and eyes. Yellowing starts in 2 to 4 days after birth and starts on the face before it spreads throughout the body. Bilirubin levels usually peak between 3 and 7 days after birth.

If a baby's finger is pressed lightly, causing the surrounding skin area to turn yellow, it might be a sign of jaundice.

Contact your doctor if the baby has the following symptoms:

The yellow on the skin seems to elongate or become more intense.
Babies have a fever of more than 100 ° F (38 ° C).
The baby's skin is getting yellow.
Babies don't want to suckle, look weak or lethargic and cry high.

How do you diagnose a yellow baby?
It is important to regularly check for newborns because bilirubin levels peak between 3 and 7 days after birth. Light yellow indicates that the baby has jaundice, but additional tests are needed to diagnose the severity of the jaundice.

Infants who experience jaundice in the first 24 hours must measure their bilirubin levels with a skin test or blood test.

The doctor can perform additional tests such as a complete blood count (CBC), blood type, and an incompatibility of the Rh (Rh) factor to determine the severity of jaundice in infants. Other tests can also be done to check the amount of damage caused by red blood cells.

In many cases, newborn jaundice disappears on its own when the baby's heart develops and the baby begins to drink breast milk or formula, which helps bilirubin pass through the body. . This disease usually lasts 2 to 3 weeks.

If the baby is yellow for more than 3 weeks, seek medical help immediately. High levels of bilirubin can cause your baby to become deaf, cerebral palsy, and other forms of brain damage.

How to take care of a yellow baby?
Mild jaundice in infants usually goes away by itself once the heart is fully developed. Give breast milk or formula milk (often 8 to 12 times a day) to help the baby eliminate bilirubin from the body.

Severe jaundice requires different treatments such as phototherapy. Phototherapy is a treatment that uses very effective light to break down bilirubin in the baby's body.

During light therapy, the baby will be placed in a special bed under the blue light of the spectrum using only diapers and special glasses, as well as optical fiber blankets for the crib. In the case of a very serious yellow baby, a transfusion is needed for the baby to receive blood from the donor.

Blood transfusion is done to replace damaged baby's blood with healthy red blood cells. In addition, blood transfusions are also done to increase the number of red blood cells in infants and reduce bilirubin levels.

How to prevent yellow baby?
Until now, there was no sure way to prevent the appearance of a yellow baby. During pregnancy, you can do a blood test. After the birth of the baby, it is also necessary to do a blood test to determine whether the blood types of the mother and baby are incompatible, which can cause the baby to turn yellow.

The following ways can prevent jaundice from worsening:

Make sure your milk is nutritious enough. Give the baby fluids 8 to 12 times a day for the first few days so that he does not become dehydrated and billirubin can disappear.
If your milk does not come out, give him 30 to 60 ml of baby milk powder every 2-3 hours during the first week. Premature babies or small babies need formula milk in smaller quantities. See your doctor if the baby is not getting enough milk and too much formula.
Monitor carefully the first five days of your baby's life to see the symptoms of jaundice.

If the baby has severe jaundice, contact your doctor immediately to help you overcome it.