Breastmilk jaundice?

[cindelro]

My dd has been diagnosed with breastmilk jaundice. She had a pretty severe case and had to be hospitalized and put under the lights for a few days when she was only a few days old. But she is almost 5 weeks and still has a high count. I really worked hard at breastfeeding and don't want to stop, but am scared that my milk is hurting her. Can anyone help?

[chikiemama]

My daughter was really jaundiced after she was born. She wound up under two lights and laying on a blanket before she could come home. I was able to keep breastfeeding, but we had to supplement with formula and/or expressed breast milk. The need being to get them so hydrated that thay poop/pee alot. The more they do that, the more bilirubin they are getting rid of. For the first two or three weeks, instead of eating every 2-3 hours, we were feeding her every 1-2 hours.. just so that those numbers would go down, and she would be not yellow anymore.

[krpiel]

Although I've never heard of "breastmilk" jaundice, my 7.5 mo old had a slight case of jaundice when he was born. The whites of his eyes looked a little off colored and the doctor said it was normal and just to watch him. It disappeared after a couple of weeks, without requiring the use of any heating lamps. He told me to put him near a window where the sun could get to him for 10 minutes several times a day. Talk to a lactation consultant and if they seem to feel that your breastfeeding isn't harming your baby, then keep at it. It's the best thing for your baby. Call your hospital's birthing center and ask for the number for a lactation consultant. Some birthing center's have a nurse there that is a lactation consultant.

[rogue]

When my son had jaundice, it was recommended for me to substitute formula in once a day to get it out of his system. Apparently, there are enzymes in the breast milk that can keep it from leaving the body. After I started doing this, the jaundice level began dropping.

[Kerisweetpea]

my son was born with jaundice we had to bring the light blanket home and we had it for almost 3 weeks before his numbers started to go down, and they told me to stop breastfeeding him while we were trying to get his numbers down. i know i wanted to breastfeed him so i just pumped and dumped for those 3 weeks which was really hard to do! but when his numbers went down far enough we just started to breastfeed, it did take him a little while to get the hang of it but he got it