What to do with jaundice in premature infants
Release time : 06/07/2025 09:30:01
Premature infants have a higher likelihood of developing jaundice than term infants, and the severity of their jaundice is also greater. They generally have elevated bilirubin levels and are less likely to clear their jaundice. Parents can give their baby some sugar water, but it is important to seek out medical examination and treatment at a reputable hospital.
What to do for preterm infant jaundice? Preterm infant jaundice is divided into pathological jaundice and physiological jaundice. Physiological jaundice usually begins on the third day and lasts from 10 days to 15 days, while preterm infants may prolong this condition for up to a month.
If the child presents with jaundice within 24 hours after birth, or if the condition develops rapidly and persists for a long time, accompanied by anemia, unregulated body temperature, poor feeding, vomiting, or abnormal coloration of urine and stool, seek medical attention immediately.
Some may have subsided or reduced in intensity, only to reappear and worsen again, which is usually pathological jaundice.
Pathological jaundice is commonly caused by conditions such as premature infant hemolysis, premature infant infection, congenital bile duct anomalies, and premature infant hepatitis.
Physiological jaundice in babies can be alleviated by letting them drink white sugar water, or by giving them a sweet potato decoction. Additionally, they should be given exposure to morning sunlight.
Pathological jaundice requires the infant to be subjected to phototherapy.
In the event of jaundice, parents should not panic but remain calm in their approach to the baby's condition.
If you cannot make a determination, you should go to a formal hospital and have a medical doctor provide a diagnosis.
Premature infant jaundice is classified into two types: physiological jaundice and pathological jaundice.
As long as the baby is in good health, well-fed and well-rested without any other adverse symptoms, it is considered physiological jaundice. This type of jaundice in premature infants is a normal physiological phenomenon, and there's no need for concern; the jaundice will gradually subside.
If the baby's jaundice symptoms appear very early, and the baby's jaundice symptoms gradually worsen, it may be pathological jaundice. If pathological jaundice is not treated in time and develops into kernicterus, it will seriously affect the intellectual development of premature babies. Therefore, it is important to pay attention.
To determine the nature of neonatal jaundice in premature infants, it is essential to understand the symptoms associated with different types of neonatal jaundice. A condition characterized by skin discoloration in premature infants, commonly referred to as neonatal jaundice, occurs after birth.
The incidence of jaundice in premature infants is as high as 20% and the incidence of jaundice symptoms is as high as 80%.
The presence of jaundice can be used as a clue, with physiological jaundice being considered normal, while pathological jaundice indicates the presence of an illness in premature infants. Therefore, parents need to observe and distinguish between these two conditions.
If a premature infant exhibits light yellowing of the skin within one week after birth, with slightly yellowed white eyes and jaundice in urine without any indication of yellowing on the white nappy, the skin yellowing will disappear after one week. This is considered normal physiological phenomena and is referred to as "physiological jaundice" in medical terminology.
This phenomenon is common in preterm infants.
Physiological jaundice usually appears within 2-3 days postnatally, peaks between 4 and 5 days, and naturally subsides by 7-10 days.
Approximately 80% of premature infants may exhibit physiological jaundice, which appears between the third and fifth days postnatally and is more intense than that seen in full-term infants; it can persist for up to two to four weeks before subsiding.
This is not a disease, and therefore there is no need for treatment.
If the skin of a premature infant is golden yellow or even orange, or if jaundice spreads throughout the body, there will also be obvious yellow staining on the palms and soles of the feet.
Press the skin with your fingers for 2 seconds in the area where the skin is severely yellowed. After the fingers leave, the skin turns orange in the area where the fingers are pressed. If the baby has pathological jaundice.
When pathological jaundice occurs in premature infants, symptoms such as abnormal body temperature, poor appetite, vomiting, or lethargy, dullness, lack of interest in sucking milk, failure to eat milk, even groaning, screaming, and other signs may appear. Additionally, anemia may be present, along with pale stools or a white urine.
Moreover, if jaundice persists for more than two weeks after birth or recurs after subsiding, the baby should promptly undergo examination and treatment by a doctor.
The cause of jaundice in preterm infants is much more severe than that in full-term infants. The reason is as follows: 1) Preterm infants generally have higher bilirubin levels (possibly related to immature liver development).
2. In premature infants, jaundice tends to persist longer (often not fully subsiding until more than ten days later).
3. The causes of preterm birth are often the cause of preterm infant jaundice (such as congenital infection).
4. Preterm infants often suffer from preterm labor, sepsis, respiratory distress syndrome, intracranial hemorrhage, and other complications, which can exacerbate jaundice.
5. Premature infants are more prone to neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, which can easily lead to kernicterus.
How long does neonatal jaundice in preterm infants typically resolve? For "physiological jaundice," it typically appears within 2-3 days after birth, peaks around the 4th day, and generally resolves naturally within about 15 days (two weeks) following birth.
Therefore, premature infants with physiological jaundice do not require such concern. Parents should pay attention to proper care and help the baby through the "jaundice period."
The reasons for premature infant jaundice in infants differ, and the manifestations of premature infant jaundice vary among different babies.
Premature infants develop jaundice because there is an excess of a pigment in their blood called bilirubin.
Normally, the blood contains bilirubin, which is normally cleared from the blood by the liver and then excreted in the feces.
Before the baby was born, it was his mother's liver that cleaned up his bilirubin for him. After a baby is born, it takes a while for his liver to function normally.
Therefore, pigments in the baby's blood will accumulate, causing this yellow color to appear on the skin, which is called "premature infant jaundice".
There are a few exceptions. Premature jaundice in premature babies generally reaches its peak 5 to 7 days after birth and may take up to 2 months to gradually subside.
At first, the baby's face will start to turn yellow, then it will reach his neck and chest, and then expand downward.
In some special cases of premature infants with jaundice, the yellow color can spread all the way to the baby's toes.
For premature babies, these symptoms are normal conditions that can occur.
The normal value of jaundice in premature infants is medically taken as the normal value of jaundice in premature infants.
The normal value of jaundice in full-term premature infants is 12.9 mg/dl (mg/100 ml), which means that the bilirubin level in 100 ml of blood is lower than 12 mg is normal.
For jaundice in premature infants, the normal value is bilirubin below 15mg/dl.
The medical part covered in this article is for reading and reference only.
If you feel unwell, it is recommended to seek medical attention immediately, and the medical diagnosis and treatment will be subject to offline diagnosis.