Patient's question:
Newborn's bilirubin level was 15.1 mg/dL on the eleventh day after birth. Oral medication was administered, and breastfeeding was stopped for six days. On the seventeenth day, the level dropped to 7.2 mg/dL. Now, at twenty-seven days, the skin has turned yellow again. Is this a serious issue? What should be done if the jaundice reappears after subsiding? Is this a serious problem and does it require treatment?Doctor's answer:
Neonatal jaundice refers to the condition during the neonatal period where abnormal bilirubin metabolism leads to elevated bilirubin levels in the blood, resulting in the yellowing of the skin, mucous membranes, and sclera. It is the most common clinical issue in newborns. This condition can be categorized into two major types: physiological and pathological. If jaundice occurs 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 an extended duration—two weeks for full-term infants and four weeks for preterm infants without improvement; if it deepens repeatedly after initial resolution or if it appears between one week and several weeks after birth—it is considered pathological jaundice. In such cases, blue light treatment is necessary to make the yellowing fade.