update on us

[adirondack]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to update our first week home. Aiko is still pretty jaundiced and she is under phototherapy. We don't have to go to the hospital for this but instead, the hospital sent us home with a bili-blanket. It;s a pretty hideous thing and we really can't cuddle with Aiko with it, which is very frustrating. Her ped. isn't really worried but he is also concerned that her levels aren't coming down. Ugh, I am a ball of mess right now. I don't want to compare kids but Emiko was so healthy when she was born that I can't help being discouraged.

Thanks for letting me ramble. I can't remember if any of our June babies had jaundice but if you have words of encouragement and/or advice, I sure can use it!

mari

[adirondack]

Oh another thing - the ped. thinks the jaundice might be related to breastfeeding so I have to stop b/fing for 24 hours before her next blood draw. I don';t know why but the idea of giving her formula is killing me. My horomones are def. wacky right now so any bad news is not sitting well with me. :(

[Spacers]

Please please please read this article!!! It's by Dr. Jack Newman, huge BFing expert and advocate. If Aiko is feeding well and growing well, there is NO REASON to stop BFing, and actually the best "cure" for breast milk jaundice is more frequent nursing. A couple of things to remember are that the phototherapy might be dehydrating her, which can increase the jaundice, and also since her birth was a scheduled cesarean, your milk might have not come in very quickly, which could also increase her jaundice levels. And the solution to both those things is.... more nursing! :p
http://www.bflrc.com/newman/breastfeeding/jaundice.htm

Also, did your doctor tell you what her bilirubin number is? Your doctor might be relying on old guidelines. The thinking now is that in otherwise well full-term babies bilirubins of 24-25 are acceptable.
http://www.mcg.edu/pediatrics/CCNotebook/chapter1/breastmilkjaundice.htm
:bighug:

[adirondack]

Thanks Stacey - those are the kind of articles that I have been surfing around for. Aiko's bilirbin levels have been at 16 give or take a tenth of a point here and there. The ped. called about half an hour ago (sensing my stress from the previous phone call) and is having me come in tomorrow for a 'weigh-in'. If Aiko's weight is up, he is going to have me keep nursing. I am pretty sure her weight is up - she feels like she has filled out in the last few days.

[MaryCat]

I don't have any advice about the jaundice but if your gut tells you to keep nursing then do it. The more the better. What a cute siggy pic!

[mizv]

Mari,

Same as Mary, I don't have any experience with jaundice, but I will be thinking about you during this trying time.

You have gorgeous girls......

[**Tiffany**]

Cole was my only one with jaundice. Thankfully he didnt have to have the billiblanket though. I had to take him back the day after we were released and at that time his levels had dropped some so they just checked his blood once more and we were done. They did however stress he was to eat very often (every 2-3 hrs round the clock), I bottle fed though, and that pooping and peeing were the best things to get rid of the high levels. I would think breast feeding would be good for that as I remember from Emma that she pooped way more than the bottle fed babes. GL! I hope she has gained!!

[isabellabambina]

Maya had jaundice and she was dehydrated and had a fever while in the hospital. She spent an extra night in the NICU.
Only advice is to get her outside in the morning sun, that's what we did in Singapore. Sun, no sunscreen, just a diaper for 10 minutes on each side.

Congrats! Love her name!

[Angie]

I have no advice but I must say your siggy pic is soooo cute!!

[connorsmum]

Sounds like Aikio has what is called physiological jaundice, which the paed is right, is completely related to breastfeeding. Jamie had jaundice for 10 weeks, it was contantly suggested by family/friends that I really should change to formula because I was doing it to him, but I was told that breastfeeding jaundice will do no harm. I did mean we were in hospital for days at a time every week for 10 weeks when his levels dropped enough to allow us to be discharged. His levels were only 1 point below the cutoff for hospitalization. I wish they had hospitalised him, they may have caught his other problems :roll:

[~~supermom~~]

Good Luck and keep BFing!!

[adirondack]

Kerry - I do remember when Jamie had jaundice. Did he do light therapy too? What were his numbers? Everyone that I talk to (ped., nurses, blood tech.) tells me that her numbers are low and that I don't have to worry. Quite frankly, I am so tired of hearing that! If her numbers aren't so bad, why do we have to keep coming back to get her heal pricked?!?!

I have been laying with her on the couch where this is filtered sunlight (great place for a nap!). She is moving a lot of bowels and going pee a lot so I am taking that as a good sign. Thanks for your words of encouragement - I really need it!

mari

[3Men&aLittleLady]

All of my kids were jaundiced, all at different levels. Christian was by far the worst. I had a nurse in my home daily until his levels went down. They were constantly doing heel pricks, my poor little guy didn't have his wounds heel before the stabbed it again. I decided that it was healthiest for my to discontinue BF (I had never done it before and was having a difficult tiem with it anyway) and fed him formula, that way I knew he was in fact eating! After that it quickly started going away. The more bowel movements they can have the better. If she is getting plenty of milk, then keep doing what you are doing. She will be fine. When she is not in that bili blanket, take off all the clothes and possibly the diaper if she had a recent BM, place on a steady surface by the window (sunniest one) with you by her and a towel or blanket underneath and let her sleep there. That helps a ton better then the blanket is natural sunlight.

Good Luck! She is a doll!

[connorsmum]

Hang on Mari, I will just get out Jamie's medical file (or should that be filing cabinet?!)


Right, on 7/7/04 (15 days old) Jamie's level was 317. On the graph it says "bilirubin in micromols/L" not sure if that is much help as they may measure different here, but just noticed that the split conjungated (???) level was 14. On August 9th, just short of 7 weeks old, his level was 12 (total bilirubin 166). As you can see, it took a long time to come down, but did eventually. We never had a biliblanket or had to do phototherapy, but we were recommended to keep him in a sunny window, take him in the sunshine etc. Looking pack on his pics now, he had stunning yellow eyes!

I would definately recommend to keep breastfeeding if it is going well and that is what you want to do because otherwise you might look back and regret that you felt you were forced to stop when you didn't want to. If she is having plenty of wet and dirty diaper, it sounds like it is going really well! If the paed isn't worried, please try not to worry. Easier said than done I know, you are talking to an expert worrier!

However, I think they must be more on top of things over there, we don't really have biliblankets and I am impressed that they are pricking Aiko's heel, Jamie had to have his blood drawn from the back of his hand with no magic numbing cream :(. Mind you I am a wimp, I cried when they pricked Connor's heel!

[Katiebare]

Caden had jaundice and we also had to use the billiblanket. I know how hard it is to see your little one in that awful contraption!! Just when you want to be cuddling and loving on your new little one. I just had to keep reminding myself at least he was at home with me and not stuck at the hospital getting treatment. Sending you big hugs!!!!! How much longer does she have?

[Finzmom4]

Caleb also had to do the biliblanket for several days. I didn't stop nursing though, and wouldn't have even if they had told me to. Luckily my docs never asked me to stop bf'ing and just said since he was bf'ing it would take it a bit longer to go away. We were also lucky that they check bili levels with a thing that they just placed on his forehead (kind of like the thermometers they can take temps with). No awful heel pricks. I remember those from Kayleigh. All my kiddos had jaundice. Caleb's was the worst though.

Really hope the jaundice goes away quickly!!

[adirondack]

No more biliblanket! :woohoo:

Her levels were checked again on Sunday and they were down to 11.3. We followed drs. advice and did formula for a day...I was feeling a little insecure about it all but I got over 20oz. pumped and saved (which is great since I start working next weekend!)

Going back to b/fing was no problem - in fact, I think she was relieved as much as I was.

On top of all this, she is sleeping much better - I suspected something and I think I was right - the biliblanket kept her up at night.

mari

[userbecky7]

I'm glad the jaundice is resolving. Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond sooner.