Patient's question:
My baby is 23 days old today, breastfeeding, with a forehead jaundice level of 12.7. He has been vomiting milk quite frequently. What level of jaundice in newborns requires treatment or medication? What is the threshold for jaundice levels that need treatment?Doctor's answer:
Physiological jaundice refers to transient jaundice caused solely by the characteristics of bilirubin metabolism. It appears 2 to 3 days after birth, peaks between 4 to 6 days, and resolves within 7 to 10 days. Premature infants have a longer duration, with only mild loss of appetite as the only clinical symptom. If jaundice appears within 24 hours after birth, with a daily increase in serum bilirubin exceeding 5 mg/dL or >0.5 mg/dL per hour; if it persists for a prolonged period (more than 2 weeks in full-term infants, more than 4 weeks in premature infants) without resolution, or if it deepens and worsens even after initially subsiding, or if it does not appear until 1 week to several weeks after birth, these are all signs of pathological jaundice.