Jaundice fact sheet

• Jaundice means yellowish discoloration of the skin and eyes
• It is caused by high levels of a substance called bilirubin in the blood
• It is a common condition in newborn babies:
o Almost two-thirds of healthy babies born at term (i.e. having completed 9 months of pregnancy) will experience some level of jaundice in the first 2 weeks of life
o premature babies are even more likely to develop jaundice than term babies: virtually all the babies born before the 7th month of pregnancy will have jaundice requiring treatment at some point.

• Jaundice is caused by a breakdown of red blood cells.
• Red blood cells are what give blood its red colour. The type of red blood cells used by babies when in the womb is different from the type that they need once they are born and start breathing air. Their bodies start producing the new type of red cells while destroying the one that they had been using before. It is this destruction of red cells that often times leads to a baby becoming jaundiced.

• That said, jaundice can also be a sign of serious diseases such as
o neonatal sepsis: a severe bloodborne infection
o isoimmune hemolytic disease: a reaction caused by the mother and baby having different blood groups
o G6PD deficiency: an inherited disease that makes the baby react to certain substances found in products like mentholatum, camphor and dusting powder
• Although jaundice in a newborn baby can be seen with the naked eye, this is NOT a reliable way of testing for jaundice
• If you suspect your baby is jaundiced, bring your baby at once to the hospital where a laboratory test will be done to determine if the baby is jaundiced, and what the level of the jaundice is
• What is done for the baby after that will depend on the lab result as well as several other factors

Some treatments that are commonly given to jaundiced babies include:
1. Phototherapy
2. Exchange blood transfusion (EBT): is done if the level of bilirubin is so high that the baby stands a risk of permanent brain damage or death. An EBT involves slowly removing the baby’s blood while at the same time replacing it with blood from someone who doesn’t have jaundice.
3. Nothing: for many babies the bilirubin in their blood does not reach the level where either phototherapy or EBT is required, even though they are jaundiced. For such babies there is no treatment needed, save to monitor the bilirubin levels at intervals. Bilirubin levels will usually fall back to normal over a period of 7-10 days.
Please note: giving multivitamin drops like Abidec®, giving glucose water and, exposing baby to sunlight are simply unhelpful and can actually harm the baby.

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