breastmilk jaundice

Hi,

I have a 4 week old girl and about at 4 days old she became jaundiced. I took her to the doctors at 2 weeks and he said it'll go away. At 4 weeks old, I took her to another doc where they did blood tests and found that her levels of bilirubin where a little high but nothing to be alarmed about.. I have to take her back in 2 weeks..... the doc told me it (jaundice) had to do with my breastmilk and the way she digests it??? Has anyone else experienced this????

Chey
boy 5, girl 2 and baby 4 weeks

Hi Chey,

I had the same thing happen with my two boys. It seemed like they had jaundice for ages, but it does go away. Apparently it's quite common and they tend to stay a bit yellow for longer when you breastfeed - so it's not just your breast milk - it's breast milk in general.

I would get my sons outside when it was sunny and sit them on my lap under the patio. They weren't in direct sunlight (of course) but were still getting a bit of sunlight indirectly - apparently this helps to get rid of the jaundice faster.

Don't worry your not alone, it happens to a lot of people and it's generally nothing to stress about. (apart from having little yellow bubs wink )

Hi,
My DD had jaundice from day 3, she had to be on the bili bed for a while during our time in hospital and she had it for about 4-6 weeks.

The jaundice will take longer top flush out if you are breastfeeding but it wont make the SBR (the blood test) levels any higher by doing so, they will just come down slower.
My DD also had reflux so she moved to thickened formula at 2 weeks, so hers went fairly quickly.

Indirect sunlight is good and making sure they are feeding every 4 hours minimum ( 100mls per feed ,not sure how long for breastfeeding).

I was very upset when she had jaundice thinking I was some way responsible. This was even worse because I really wanted to breastfeed but I couldn't keep her awake long enough to latch on properly and when I did get her on she would throw up the feed because of the reflux so I would be upset again thinking if she didn't eat enough she wouldn't get better. I felt very alone during this so message us whenever you need support. The jaundice will go away but you dont feel like it while its happening to you.

Min