How to deal with breast milk jaundice and how long it will take to go away

Many new mothers see some small spots on the face and body of their newborn babies. Inexperienced parents are very worried about what that is. In fact, that is neonatal jaundice. Newborn babies will have it to some extent, so parents don’t need to worry. The editor will teach you a few tips on how to deal with jaundice.

1. When breastfeeding is stopped, mothers must insist on using a breast pump to suck out breast milk to ensure the secretion of breast milk. I think that during the week of stopping breastfeeding, I did nothing else but make milk powder, feed milk powder, and suck breast milk.

2. When you stop breastfeeding your baby, don't choose too expensive milk powder for your baby. Because too expensive milk powder means that the quality of the milk powder is better, and the ingredients of good quality milk powder on the market are very close to breast milk. Eating milk powder close to breast milk will not be very effective in reducing jaundice.

3. The father and mother should work together to help the baby through this difficult time. When breastfeeding is stopped, the mother needs to use a breast pump to suck milk at night, so it is best to let the father do the feeding.

4. If bilirubin is reduced, it means that the cause of jaundice may be breast milk. At this time, the baby does not need any treatment. Parents can drink as usual. Do not stop breastfeeding for fear of jaundice. Babies with more severe jaundice symptoms can be treated with liver protection, enzyme inducers and other drugs.

5. The prognosis of breast milk jaundice is good. Jaundice will disappear after stopping breastfeeding. So far, there has been no report of bilirubin encephalopathy caused by it. In order to reduce the occurrence of this disease, breastfeeding mothers should be encouraged to start breastfeeding early, feed small amounts of milk multiple times, increase the frequency of bowel movements, reduce the intestinal absorption of bilirubin, and reduce the incidence of jaundice. In addition, children should be given supportive therapies such as keeping warm, increasing calories, and preventing infection to prevent worsening jaundice.

The cause of breast milk jaundice is still not completely clear. It is now divided into early-onset and late-onset types according to the time of occurrence. The former occurs at a similar time to physiological jaundice, and is believed to be mainly related to improper breastfeeding and insufficient intake; late-onset is mostly believed to be related to increased enterohepatic circulation of neonatal bilirubin metabolism, which often occurs 1 to 2 weeks after birth and can last up to 8 to 12 weeks. It is generally believed that the content of glucuronidase in the small intestine of newborns is high (confirmed by testing) and has high activity. This enzyme, which is mainly derived from breast milk, can catalyze the conversion of conjugated bilirubin into unconjugated bilirubin. This process takes place in the small intestine of newborns. In addition, the intestinal peristalsis of children is relatively slow, so a large amount of bilirubin that should be excreted is dissociated into unconjugated bilirubin by this enzyme, and absorption increases, that is, breast milk jaundice occurs.

Usually about 1 month.

1. Whether it is early-onset or late-onset breast milk jaundice, neonatal jaundice will gradually subside 3-5 days after stopping breastfeeding; if breastfeeding is resumed, neonatal jaundice will reappear. Neonatal breast milk jaundice lasts longer than normal physiological jaundice, and some can last up to 1-2 months.

2. Breast milk jaundice, the degree of jaundice is higher than physiological jaundice, and the duration of jaundice is longer, sometimes lasting for three months. Three days after stopping breastfeeding, the jaundice decreases significantly. But it is worth noting that to diagnose breast milk jaundice, pathological jaundice must be ruled out first. It does not have much impact on the baby.

Nowadays, many mothers are very aware of breastfeeding and are unwilling to interrupt breastfeeding. This is a very good thing, and doctors will not easily advise mothers to stop breastfeeding. For babies with clear diagnosis of breast milk jaundice, no special treatment is needed and breastfeeding can continue. Doctors will advise mothers to feed in small amounts and multiple times, and monitor the baby's jaundice changes and blood bilirubin levels. However, if the baby's jaundice is more serious and the serum bilirubin exceeds 15 mg/dL (256.5 μmol/L), the doctor will ask the mother to suspend breastfeeding for 72 hours and feed formula milk instead. When bilirubin drops to 50% of the original level, breastfeeding can be resumed. After resuming breastfeeding, the baby's serum bilirubin level may increase slightly and then gradually decrease. During the suspension of breastfeeding, the mother should use a breast pump to suck out the milk to ensure that the milk secretion does not decrease. When the baby's bilirubin drops to a level that can continue to breastfeed, breastfeeding can be resumed immediately.