Question
The neonate had a bilirubin index of 15.1 mg/dl on the eleventh day after birth. After oral medication treatment and suspension of breastfeeding for six days, the bilirubin level dropped to 7.2 mg/dl on the seventeenth day. However, on the twenty-seventh day, yellowish skin marks recurred. Is this situation severe? How should neonatal jaundice recurrence be handled? Is further treatment necessary?
Answer
Neonatal jaundice is a common clinical phenomenon, primarily due to abnormal bilirubin metabolism during the neonatal period, leading to an elevated bilirubin level in the blood and subsequently causing yellowing of the skin, mucous membranes, and sclerae. This condition can be divided into physiological and pathological categories. If jaundice appears within 24 hours after birth, with a daily increase in serum bilirubin exceeding 5 mg/dL or 0.5 mg/dL per hour; if it persists for a longer duration, with full-term infants not showing improvement within two weeks and preterm infants not improving within four weeks, or if it recurs repeatedly