Jaundice in newborns: symptoms and treatment

neonatal jaundice

Jaundice in newborns, also known as jaundice, occurs in 60% of cases and is quite normal. So you don’t have to worry about your baby, the illness is usually over quickly.

Causes of jaundice in newborns

The reason for your baby’s jaundice is quite easy to understand. So soon after birth, your baby’s liver is not yet able to metabolize a certain breakdown product of the red blood cells, the bilirubin. In order to be excreted by the kidneys, this substance must be converted from a water-insoluble to a water-soluble form. However, since your baby cannot do this yet, the concentration of bilirubin increases.

But other diseases can also lead to jaundice. Congenital anemia, blood group incompatibility with the mother’s blood, congenital hypofunction of the thyroid or hepatitis can trigger jaundice.

Symptoms of jaundice in newborns

The high concentration of bilirubin first turns the whites of your baby’s eyes yellow and then the skin. Your baby has no pain and no other symptoms.

Treat jaundice in newborns

Jaundice is routinely measured directly from bilirubin levels. Normally, treatment is not necessary at all, since the jaundice disappears after 10 days at the latest, when the liver has gotten used to its new function.

However, if the bilirubin level is too high, then treatment must be given. Your baby can then, for example, go under the phototherapy lamp. The UV rays convert the bilirubin into water-soluble photobilirubin so that it can then be excreted through the kidneys. If this therapy is not successful, your baby’s blood can still be exchanged for that of an adult. To do this, it simply gets a needle into the Babel vein.

Prevent jaundice in newborns

Newborn jaundice is a completely natural process that usually resolves without complications. Prevention is therefore neither necessary nor possible.