Jaundice is a common and usually harmless condition in newborn babies that causes yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes. The medical term for jaundice in babies is neonatal jaundice.
Other symptoms of newborn jaundice can include:
yellowing of the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
dark, yellow urine – a newborn baby's urine should be colourless
pale-coloured poo – it should be yellow or orange
The symptoms of newborn jaundice usually develop two to three days after the birth and tend to get better without treatment by the time the baby is about two weeks old.Jaundice is caused by the build-up of bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is a yellow substance produced when red blood cells are broken down.
Jaundice is common in newborn babies because babies have a high level of red blood cells in their blood, which are broken down and replaced frequently. The liver in newborn babies is also not fully developed, so it's less effective at removing the bilirubin from the blood.
By the time a baby is about two weeks old, their liver is more effective at processing bilirubin, so jaundice often corrects itself by this age without causing any harm.
In a small number of cases, jaundice can be the sign of an underlying health condition. This is often the case if jaundice develops shortly after birth (within the first 24 hours).Treating newborn jaundice
Most cases of jaundice in babies don't need treatment as the symptoms normally pass within 10 to 14 days, although symptoms can last longer in a minority of cases.
Treatment is usually only recommended if tests show a baby has very high levels of bilirubin in their blood because there's a small risk the bilirubin could pass into the brain and cause brain damage.
There are two main treatments that can be carried out in hospital to quickly reduce your baby's bilirubin levels. These are:
phototherapy – a special type of light shines on the skin, which alters the bilirubin into a form that can be more easily broken down by the liver
an exchange transfusion – a type of blood transfusion where small amounts of your baby's blood are removed and replaced with blood from a matching donor
Most babies respond well to treatment and can leave hospital after a few days.
Sources:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/jaundice-newborn/
