Jaundice due to these normal newborn conditions is called physiologic jaundice, and it typically appears on the second or third day of life. An underlying disorder may cause infant jaundice. In these cases, jaundice often appears much earlier or much later than does the more common form of infant jaundice.
Diseases or conditions that can cause jaundice include:. Major risk factors for jaundice, particularly severe jaundice that can cause complications, include:. High levels of bilirubin that cause severe jaundice can result in serious complications if not treated.
Bilirubin is toxic to cells of the brain. If a baby has severe jaundice, there's a risk of bilirubin passing into the brain, a condition called acute bilirubin encephalopathy. Prompt treatment may prevent significant lasting damage. Kernicterus is the syndrome that occurs if acute bilirubin encephalopathy causes permanent damage to the brain.
Kernicterus may result in:. The best preventive of infant jaundice is adequate feeding. Breast-fed infants should have eight to 12 feedings a day for the first several days of life.
Formula-fed infants usually should have 1 to 2 ounces about 30 to 60 milliliters of formula every two to three hours for the first week. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Overview Infant jaundice is yellow discoloration of a newborn baby's skin and eyes. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Wong RJ, et al.
Clinical manifestations of unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia in term and late preterm infants. Symptoms The first symptom is yellow appearance of the skin and the eyes. Causes The yellow appearance comes from the accumulation of a yellow pigment called bilirubin in the skin.
Risk Factors A variety of conditions or diseases may present with an increase of the amount of pigment bilirubin produced. Other conditions may be more serious: Increased production of bilirubin: In certain diseases, the red blood cells of the baby are destroyed at a faster rate than normal this is called hemolysis.
Babies also become anemic low number of red blood cells due to rapid destruction hemolysis. Birth trauma: When vacuum extractors or forceps are used to deliver the baby a very large bruise over the scalp or the head may occur. This very large bruise will be re-absorbed. The old blood from the bruise will break down to make more bilirubin, which needs to be cleared by the liver.
Some also may leak into the blood stream. Infection: Babies with infections may not be able to process bilirubin normally resulting in increased levels in the blood. This can occur with infection in the urine, blood, liver or other organs. This occurs in a condition called Crigler-Najjar syndrome. This is a very rare disease; the level of bilirubin increases very rapidly within hours. Immediate attention by a newborn specialist is then needed. The sugar of the milk lactose is broken down into 2 smaller sugars called glucose and galactose.
This is called galactosemia. This disease can present with jaundice in the newborn period and is associated with other severe symptoms such as lethargy, vomiting, irritability and possibly convulsions. Galactosemia is often detected by a blood test heel prick before discharge from the nursery as part of the mandatory state screening for newborn diseases.
Galactosemia is treated with strict dietary avoidance of galactose. This is not the same as being lactose intolerant and the two conditions should not be confused. If the result is high, your doctor will order a blood test that will measure the different types of Bilirubin pigments, which make up the total bilirubin: Unconjugated or indirect bilirubin : This pigment is increased mostly in infants with neonatal jaundice.
It is the bilirubin associated with normal destruction of older red blood cells. This is called physiologic jaundice. In some cases, the level of indirect bilirubin can go very high.
Then, a neonatal specialist or blood specialist may be called in to help care for the newborn. This is called acute encephalopathy inflammation of the brain. This very rare condition is called kernicterus. Because of that risk, the doctor will start testing early for the bilirubin level and repeat the test often to identify the trend and start treatment rapidly. Conjugated or Direct bilirubin : The previous pigment indirect or unconjugated bilirubin is packaged in the liver into a form ready for removal into the bile and the gallbladder.
This pigment is called conjugated packaged or direct bilirubin. For a variety of reasons, the liver cannot get rid of it, the direct bilirubin leaks back into the blood and also settles in the skin. The symptoms can be very different from those of normal neonatal jaundice. Preventing preeclampsia may be as simple as taking an aspirin.
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