Question
Female, 35 years old, my child was just born and diagnosed with neonatal jaundice. Please ask: How is jaundice treated when bilirubin levels are high?
Answer
Generally, the bilirubin levels measured by transcutaneous testing should be below 10 (values may vary slightly due to differences in instruments). If blood is tested for serum bilirubin, the normal range is typically below 205 umol/L (12 mg/dL). For a 30-day-old infant, the normal total bilirubin level is usually between 1.7 to 17.1 umol/L (0.1 to 1.0 mg/dL). Direct bilirubin is typically between 0 to 6.8 umol/L (0 to 0.4 mg/dL), while indirect bilirubin is between 1.7 to 10.2 umol/L (0.1 to 0.6 mg/dL). Urinalysis is necessary to determine the true bilirubin level. Because transcutaneous bilirubin measurement can be affected by the child’s skin color and the thickness of their fat, it is generally used to dynamically observe changes in jaundice or to roughly assess the severity of jaundice.