Jan B writes:

>Cindy referred us to an article on the web called Management of
>Hyperbilirubinemia in the healthy Full-term infant.  I downloaded it, and was
>piqued by a statement -- maybe someone here can help me out with this...
>
>"Breast-milk jaundice refers to prolonged jaundice that extends into the
>third and fourth weeks of life and even up to 12 weeks.  Breast-milk jaundice
>occurs in almost TWO THIRDS (that's 66% folks) of all breast fed infants;
>levels range from the most minimal elevations (over 1.5 mg/dl) to more than
>17 mg/dl."
>
>There is no reference for that statement.
>
>Neifert, in Clinics in Perinatology, June, 1999 makes almost the same sort of
>statement.  She says, "Originally thought to be a rare disorder, it is now
>recognized that most of normal, breastfed infants have elevated bilirubin
>concentrations during the third week of life."  She references an article she
>wrote in Clinics in Perinatology, June 1998 which I haven't been able to get
>my hands on yet.


Yes, this puzzled me, too, Jan. Not sure whether they are referring to the
breastmilk jaundice sometimes mentioned as resulting from a substance
(hormone??? speaking from memory here only) that causes jaundice over a
period of weeks and which is usually just monitored until it goes away by
itself (at least that's the usual treatment here), and which is supposed to
be rare (in 20 years I have only come across 2 mothers and babies with
it)...or what do they mean??? Anyway, it seems odd to call something
'prolonged' if it occurs in 2/3 of healthy term babies, as that is surely
more likely to be not prolonged but within the normal range.

Also, I withdrew some of the Brownie points I awarded the authors when I
saw breastfeeding being numbered and timed, so as to avoid sore
nipples....hmmmmm.

However , much of it was pretty ok, so maybe I'm being harsh : )

heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html