Jaundice & Breastfeeding
- Thread starter DodoTan
- Start date
allycat
Active Member
Dodo mummy, that was exactly what happened to my elder son. His jaundice level was so high that he was on the verge of blood transfusion. He too was sent to KK when I brought him to the polyclinic. He was on FM during his stay in KK as the doc and nurses wanted him to be on the light 24/7. He even had his milk under the light. I had very little milk then as I was too stressed up, didnt rest enough and didnt pump enough. I took a very long time to establish the milk after his discharge and in fact, he was on my breast almost 24 hours till he was about a mth old! His weight gain was slow but as he was producing enough wet diapers and poo, he was considered as ok.
Dont be dishearted and carry on with the latching and BFing. U can do it as many of us here have done. U have our support here
RamblingMummy
Member
Hi mummies,
I'm facing the same prob with my newborn too. She's on total breastfeeding and her jaundice level has gone quite high. On Tue, the jaundice level was 257, Wed- 254 (went down slightly). Tomorrow there'll be another check-up. Doc says if it hits 260, then have to send her to KKH. Kind of worried but trying to feed her with more breastmilk. I also face the prob of her sleeping when latching.
Hard to walk her up at times. Will try tickling her soles. Just a question, how about night feeds, do you all wake the little one up for night feed? If so, how often? My newborn can sleep through night feeds. But I wake her up every 3-4hours to feed hoping that it can bring down the jaundice level.
I'm facing the same prob with my newborn too. She's on total breastfeeding and her jaundice level has gone quite high. On Tue, the jaundice level was 257, Wed- 254 (went down slightly). Tomorrow there'll be another check-up. Doc says if it hits 260, then have to send her to KKH. Kind of worried but trying to feed her with more breastmilk. I also face the prob of her sleeping when latching.
Hard to walk her up at times. Will try tickling her soles. Just a question, how about night feeds, do you all wake the little one up for night feed? If so, how often? My newborn can sleep through night feeds. But I wake her up every 3-4hours to feed hoping that it can bring down the jaundice level.
allycat
Active Member
Wake her up for night feeding if she doesnt wakes up on her own. Set alarm if u must as u too will be tired and might not wake up automatically. Baby has to be well hydrated to bring the jaundice level down. Apart from feeding, I also sun bathed my son for 20 min (front and back) during the morning sun (I usually target around 8 - 9.30am else it'll be too hot).
meiteoh
Well-Known Member
I wake Eva up for her feeds in the early months. I only stopped when she was 5.5 months old. I have been told that I'm crazy for doing that coz she already started sleeping through at 2 months old but it's for good reasons. One is for her to put on the weight and second is for me to maintain my supply coz if I have to wake up and pump to maintain, I might as well latch her on - she's way better than my pump.
allycat
Active Member
wow meiteoh mummy, u really want to fatten your girl ya. i'm so happy that quan has not been waking up at 3 am for the past 2 daysI wake Eva up for her feeds in the early months. I only stopped when she was 5.5 months old. I have been told that I'm crazy for doing that coz she already started sleeping through at 2 months old but it's for good reasons. One is for her to put on the weight and second is for me to maintain my supply coz if I have to wake up and pump to maintain, I might as well latch her on - she's way better than my pump.
PreciousJer
New Member
Hi there,
Just to share my humble story. My girl had juandice too when she was just 3 days old. It shot up to quite high on day 5 and need to be hospitalized for 2 days. I am total breasting her and everyday, I will hang around in the hospital just to nurse her and also express during interval for her feeds at night.
The nurse told me that the babies that went through therapy tend to be thirsty hence, their intake during their stay is much more.
She was discharged on day 5 and told to come back in 2 weeks time. Unfortuntly, her juandice still did not subsides and require to come bac for check ups. If I'm not wrong her juandice only cleared when she was about 3mths plus.
For me, I faced alot of objection from my I laws, as they insisted that the jaundice is caused by breastmilk. They even bought a tin of fm to standby. I seek pd's and did a moe detailed blood test for my baby when she was 3 weeks old. The test showed that her liver was well and I continued bf till now
you can. Try taking supplement like ferguneek to boost your milk supply. It help greatly for me when I went back to work. Of cos, pls have more rest and fluids it really helps
Just to share my humble story. My girl had juandice too when she was just 3 days old. It shot up to quite high on day 5 and need to be hospitalized for 2 days. I am total breasting her and everyday, I will hang around in the hospital just to nurse her and also express during interval for her feeds at night.
The nurse told me that the babies that went through therapy tend to be thirsty hence, their intake during their stay is much more.
She was discharged on day 5 and told to come back in 2 weeks time. Unfortuntly, her juandice still did not subsides and require to come bac for check ups. If I'm not wrong her juandice only cleared when she was about 3mths plus.
For me, I faced alot of objection from my I laws, as they insisted that the jaundice is caused by breastmilk. They even bought a tin of fm to standby. I seek pd's and did a moe detailed blood test for my baby when she was 3 weeks old. The test showed that her liver was well and I continued bf till now
you can. Try taking supplement like ferguneek to boost your milk supply. It help greatly for me when I went back to work. Of cos, pls have more rest and fluids it really helps
cmeilim
Active Member
well done for persevering!Hi there,
Just to share my humble story. My girl had juandice too when she was just 3 days old. It shot up to quite high on day 5 and need to be hospitalized for 2 days. I am total breasting her and everyday, I will hang around in the hospital just to nurse her and also express during interval for her feeds at night.
The nurse told me that the babies that went through therapy tend to be thirsty hence, their intake during their stay is much more.
She was discharged on day 5 and told to come back in 2 weeks time. Unfortuntly, her juandice still did not subsides and require to come bac for check ups. If I'm not wrong her juandice only cleared when she was about 3mths plus.
For me, I faced alot of objection from my I laws, as they insisted that the jaundice is caused by breastmilk. They even bought a tin of fm to standby. I seek pediatrician's and did a moe detailed blood test for my baby when she was 3 weeks old. The test showed that her liver was well and I continued bf till now
you can. Try taking supplement like ferguneek to boost your milk supply. It help greatly for me when I went back to work. Of cos, pls have more rest and fluids it really helps
ancing_wub:
cmeilim
Active Member
hi edie,
welcome! we live in the same area!
er...who's your PD, if u dun mind me asking? pardon my ignorance but i hv never heard nor read abt how feeding newborns after bfg can help with jaundice. did u ask yr PD how water is supposed to help? can water help to wash out the biribilium??
actually my personal, non-professional view is that water may fill up your newborn's already very small tummy too much, such that it doesn't want to drink breastmilk as often as a newborn should (which is every 1.5h to 2h). At this early stage in your breastfeeding journey, what is critical absolutely is to increase and establish your milk supply, so u do want to nurse your baby as often as he/she is hungry. more demand = more milk supply. if yr baby keeps getting filled up drinking water, it may produce the wrong effect of lower demand for breastmilk which may lead to low supply eventually. i would think that if u nurse more often, it should help as well as 88% of breastmilk is made up of water.
Hi,
I was given the same advice but by my in-laws. They came knocking at my door at 8 am in the morning forcing me to give water to my boy when they found out that my boy was still jaundiced at one month old. But my pediatrician said don have to as long as i am total breastfeeding. And i didn't feed my boy any water until he started on solids. Just breastfeed on demand. Water would affect his appetite for milk. On the other hand, i was told to make sure i drink lots of water, stay hydrated, rest and eat well so that the milk is of good quality for baby.
As long as the jaundice is not due to any underlying medical condition it will get better. Just that total breastfed babies take longer time to flush out the bilirubin pigment. My pediatricain said it's because breastmilk is easily absorbed so the pigment often gets absorbed back into the body together with the breastmilk. Hence the longer time needed to be flushed out from the body.
Take care ya
I was given the same advice but by my in-laws. They came knocking at my door at 8 am in the morning forcing me to give water to my boy when they found out that my boy was still jaundiced at one month old. But my pediatrician said don have to as long as i am total breastfeeding. And i didn't feed my boy any water until he started on solids. Just breastfeed on demand. Water would affect his appetite for milk. On the other hand, i was told to make sure i drink lots of water, stay hydrated, rest and eat well so that the milk is of good quality for baby.
As long as the jaundice is not due to any underlying medical condition it will get better. Just that total breastfed babies take longer time to flush out the bilirubin pigment. My pediatricain said it's because breastmilk is easily absorbed so the pigment often gets absorbed back into the body together with the breastmilk. Hence the longer time needed to be flushed out from the body.
Take care ya
edie
New Member
Hello, my PD is Dr Ang Ai Tin from TMC. She mentioned that water can help flush out and she encouraged me to go on breastfeeding.
I somehow noticed her eyes become more yellow after feeds. I wonder is it because of any confinement food that I ate that causes it. My parent just told me not to consume any food that is cooked with wine. Don't know what is right and wrong.
edie
New Member
Hello.. thanks for the reply!
I tried feeding her water using syringe and it seems that the water will down to her windpipe instead and causing her to cough so had stopped doing that as well.
She peed a lot after I tried feeding her water, maybe it's the flushing out that PD mentioned.
Tried sunning her but weather is so bad. Was raining heavily just now, so scared that jaundice level will go out of control.