Question
My child was born a week ago, and yesterday when my grandmother was holding him to bask in the sun, I noticed that he seemed a bit yellow. I’ve heard that neonatal jaundice is normal, but I’m still worried. How should neonatal jaundice be treated?
Answer
Under normal circumstances, newborns start to show signs of jaundice again within 2-3 days after birth, with the condition being most pronounced on the 4th to 5th day and naturally fading away between 7-14 days. Generally, this is due to the unique bilirubin metabolism characteristics of newborns, causing unconjugated bilirubin to accumulate in the serum and resulting in the recurrence of jaundice. Pathological jaundice refers to cases where jaundice recurs too early, is too severe, takes too long to fade, recurs after fading, or becomes more severe over time. The serum bilirubin concentration is typically below 205.2 in such cases, with jaundice persisting for less than 2 weeks and preterm infants for less than 4 weeks.