The article "Jaundice: differential diagnosis, treatment" will help young mothers in time to identify and determine the nature of the disease and provide the child with the proper conditions for a speedy recovery.
Physiological jaundice is not a terrible "beast". It is observed in sometimes completely healthy newborns and is nothing more than a physiological transition from an intrauterine life to a new, outside mother's body. Physiological jaundice causes an increased level of bilirubin in the body of crumbs.
Bilirubin is a product of the breakdown of red blood cells. Red blood cells usually actively disintegrate immediately after the birth of a child, so the level of bilirubin (yellow pigment) increases in its blood. Bilirubin is released through the baby's liver, but given that it is still immature, and can not work at full strength, the withdrawal of bilirubin from the blood is extremely slow. Therefore, in children who suffer from physiological jaundice for a long time, there is a yellowing of the skin and sclera of the eye.
If the physiological jaundice did not appear on the 2-3 day of life, then, most likely, it already does not appear. Usually, physiological jaundice has a duration of two to three weeks. In this case, the general condition of the baby should not cause you concern - he eats and sleeps well, does not cry for no apparent reason. In this case, physiological jaundice does not require treatment.
Another matter - jaundice pathological. Symptoms of physiological and pathological jaundice are similar: yellowing of the skin and eye sclera, however in the second case the disease takes a longer time and is often accompanied by complications.
Pathological jaundice is also called "hemolytic disease of the newborn." Causes, due to which it arises, there may be several: for example, the incompatibility of the blood type of the baby and mom or the Rh rhesus conflicts. If the mother's blood group is the first, and the baby's second or third, you need to carefully monitor whether the child will show signs of jaundice.
In addition to the above factors, pathological jaundice in a baby can cause such reasons:
- getting into the womb of the mother of infections (such as hepatitis B, rubella or toxoplasmosis), which directly threaten the infection of the fetus;
- use of medicines by the mother (for example, oxytocin or strong antibiotics);
- premature birth;
- if there is more than one fruit in the womb;
- trauma at delivery;
- endocrine diseases of the mother (for example, diabetes mellitus).
What causes pathological jaundice in a newborn? It is Rh-antigen, which, when penetrated from the child's body (in the womb) into the blood with a negative rhesus of the mother, provokes the formation of special antibody cells. These cells are able to re-enter the blood of the child through the placenta (it does not matter whether it is in the womb or just was born). They also accelerate the process of destruction of red blood cells in the baby's blood.
In contrast to physiological jaundice, the signs of which can be detected on the 3-4 day after birth, the pathological jaundice manifests itself the day after the birth. The skin and sclera of the baby's eyes acquire a bright yellow hue. It happens that the urine of a sick child darkens, but the color of its color does not change.
If you find any sign of jaundice - donate blood to a child for analysis. Elevated levels of bilirubin will indicate the presence of this disease.
To launch pathological jaundice in no event it is impossible. After all, sometimes it is accompanied by a complication, which is expressed in a new disease - nuclear encephalopathy. This is the defeat of the central nervous system, which arises from an elevated level of bilirubin, a toxic and dangerous substance. In this case, the baby can become sluggish and indifferent, the sucking reflex practically disappears, he does not increase in weight (and sometimes he loses grams), sometimes the child may have convulsions.
However, if the child is provided with proper care and proper treatment, it is possible to avoid nuclear encephalopathy. In this case, pathological jaundice can pass without consequences, such as inhibition of development and abnormalities in the child.
If your baby is sick with pathological jaundice, you should first pay attention to his nutrition. If the disease occurs without any special complications, then you should not stop breastfeeding. If jaundice is very difficult - doctors strongly recommend that you replace mother's milk with a mixture or enter it as an addition to nutrition. If, however, a decision is made on temporary removal from the breast, the mother must express the milk so that it does not disappear and does not have to switch over to the formula completely.
If the disease is severe, the newborn is injected with glucose infusions (there are other drugs approved by the WHO) intravenously. These substances dilute the level of bilirubin and disinfect blood. It is very rare that jaundice is so severe that a child needs a blood transfusion.
Every mother should remember that her child's health is above all, and that even such a seemingly banal and insignificant disease as jaundice should be under the constant control of doctors.