breastfeeding jaundice?

March 20, 2001

Hi everyone,

I hope some of you out there may be able to help with this new problem of mine.

I have an 8 day old baby girl (my first) who has been exclusively breastfed from

birth. Today at her 1 week physical, she still had a slightly elevated

bilirubin level, and

was looking a little jaundiced. Her doctor said we'd recheck her bili level in

a few days, and if it was rising, then it was possible she had something called

" breastfeeding jaundice " caused by an incompatibility of my milk in her system.

She and I have

the same blood types, so there is no Rh or ABO incompatibility. The doctor

told me not to stress, because chances are, her levels will go down, and we

wont' have to worry about it, plus breastfeeding jaundice is very rare. But I

am worried, because the

doctor said that if that is what she has, the treatment is to take her off

breastmilk for a day or two, and supplement with formula. My husband and I

REALLY do not ever want her to have formula, even soy formula, and really

believe that breastmilk is the

best thing for any baby, and do not understand how my milk could be making her

sick. In my La Leche League book, it says that this is not true that breast

milk doesnt' " agree " with certain babies, and that I should contine to

breastfeed her, more

frequently, and if that doesn't work and she still has high levels, phototherapy

is the way to go.

I was hoping some of you for whom breastfeeding exclusively is equally important

might have some insight into or experience with this.

Thank you,

Leena

March 20, 2001

Hi Leena,

I'm not sure if this helps, but from my experience, my daughter and I had

incompatible Rh levels but that didn't affect our breastfeeding experience.

She did have high billrium levels (not HIGH HIGH but high))and was jaundiced

the first 3 weeks of her life outside the womb. They put her under the

phototherapy lights while we were in the hospital (for 1 week!) but I stayed

with her the whole time and breastfed her exculsively. The drs said I had to

give her vitamin D supplements for the first year and I did.

I've never heard of breastfed jaundice... I'd get another opinion on that

one... as, from what I understand at 8 days old, its perfectly normal for

some babies to still be a bit jaundiced. I NEVER gave my daughter formula

and as a matter of fact she never even took to the bottle. I'm still

breastfeeding her - she's 13 months old and everyone says she looks like the

healthiest baby on the planet *grin*

Jenna

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March 20, 2001

Hello!

Here's my two cents.

My youngest (now 2) had jaundice from breastfeeding. His levels went pretty

high and the doctors told me the same exact thing they told you. A friend

of mine recommend taking as much clothes as possible off the baby

(considering your weather) and bringing the baby in the sunlight. The

sunlight somehow does the same thing the phototherapy light would. That is

what helped my little boy. When I went back for his recheck he was still

slightly jaundiced but the levels were headed down. Next recheck they were

normal. One doctor told me it is because your body makes just the right

amount of milk for your baby and they don't get and the extra fluid that

bottle fed babies get. I was told it was fairly common for breast fed

babies to get this. I bottle fed two of my children and breast fed two and

I must say the breast milk fed babies had NO feeding problems but the other

two had a host of feeding problems until they were old enough to be weaned.

You are right to be wary of the formula. One of my children had this

problem and I did try the formula method. I ended up losing my milk and he

ended up with a terrible reflux problem that was not there while I breast

fed.

I hope my experience helps you some. Don't give up!

Many Blessings,

Renee