Patient's question:
Doctor, my baby developed jaundice again three days after birth, and now the baby is seven days old, but the jaundice has not subsided. The jaundice level is now above 16.3. I want to ask if it will resolve on its own. Additionally, I am asking if medication can be used to treat it. What are the possible causes of jaundice?Doctor's answer:
The causes of jaundice include normal red blood cell destruction after birth, hemolysis, aspiration, infection, scalp hematoma, hypothyroidism, and liver and biliary diseases, etc. For full-term infants, a bilirubin level of <221μmol/L (12.9mg/dL) is considered normal physiological jaundice, while for preterm infants, <256μmol/L is believed to be normal. High levels of jaundice require active treatment, with blue light therapy being essential. Oral medication for jaundice reduction is very slow, and the goal of active treatment is to prevent the occurrence of bilirubin encephalopathy.