Many months of pregnancy are behind us, anxiety of waiting is replaced by another - is the baby healthy, is everything okay with him. Newly mum is faced with the first test, when it turns out that the baby has a postpartum jelly. The more dangerous the jaundice in newborns, what consequences and what to do if the child has a protracted and does not last long - let's understand together.
Causes of postpartum icterus
Physiological jaundice in newborns is a transitional state in which the mucous membranes, skin and whites of the eyes acquire a yellow color, and the result of the biochemistry of the blood indicates a high level of bilirubin. Guilty in the occurrence of jaundice imperfection of bilirubin metabolism in newborns - the release of bilirubin blood in quantities greater than the immature children's body can produce with bile. Bilirubin is in the body of all and everyone, but in adults healthy people its presence does not affect the appearance, because its excess is successfully filtered out by the liver and is excreted from the body with the products of vital activity - bile, urine and feces.
Another thing newborn babies, who immediately after the birth of one type of hemoglobin (fetal) is changed to another, as a result of which many cells are destroyed. Hepatic enzymes are still immature, so they can not rid the body of the excess of bilirubin, and it is deposited in tissues, staining them in yellow. The intensity of yellowing reaches a maximum of 3-4 days, after which it gradually fades out within 1-2 weeks. The level of bilirubin in the blood gradually returns to normal. This is the physiological jaundice in newborns. Specific treatment, it does not require and the overall condition of the baby is not reflected in any way.
If after 1-2 weeks the level of bilirubin in a child does not decrease and the jaundice does not pass, then it is already a question of a protracted jaundice in newborns, which can last for several months.
Treatment of jaundice in newborns
When the level of bilirubin in the child's blood is very high, then phototherapy is used for treatment - irradiation with a special lamp. The essence of this method is based on the fact that exposure to ultraviolet light promotes the fastest decomposition and excretion of bilirubin from the body.
Also help to quickly say goodbye to the jaundice and breastfeeding - mother's milk stimulates the normal functioning of the digestive tract and prevents the back absorption of bilirubin from the intestine.
Norms of bilirubin for jaundice in newborns
To help you figure out whether the jaundice is lingering in newborns, or whether complications are involved, the norm of bilirubin will help:
- the norm of total bilirubin is 10-30 μmol / l;
- on day 2-3 the bilirubin is at the level:
- for 3-4 days the maximum increase in bilirubin 171 μmol / l;
- if the mother and child are not compatible with the rhesus or blood group, bilirubin can reach 340 μmol / l;
- the level of bilirubin above 340 μmol / l indicates a serious complication of the jelly - bilirubin encephalopathy (nuclear jaundice).
- for full-term children - 51-60 μmol / l;
- in preterm infants - 58-103 μmol / l;
Nuclear jaundice is a severe disease, in which the level of bilirubin is so great that it destroys the cells of the brain. Prerequisites for the development of nuclear jaundice may be the appearance of light ahead of time, birth trauma, intrauterine infection and hypoxia. The consequences of this complication of jaundice in newborns are very difficult - it is a variety of disorders of the nervous system, and developmental delay, and hearing loss.