"Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]> # The researchers concluded that not all breastfeeding infants become jaundiced, just those with breastfeeding problems. Bertini G, ... # That's interesting... My second is now 16 weeks old, and he still has a sligtly yellowish tint. I am not asking for personal help, just writing our story, but of course, if you have any ideas what might had been the "problem", I'd be most interested in hearing your theories :) . At age of 1,5 days his bilirubin was 155 (forehead yellow) and at age of 2 days it was 182 (or 186?) (chest yellow). At age of 3 days, bili was not checked, since the pedi thought it wasn't necessary. (Well, IMNHO, checking bili at age of 1 and 2 days wasn't necessary either...but I am not the doctor.) He was born at 39+5 weeks. He was 3705 g and 50 cm, apgars 9-9-9 (colour). Easy, fast and drugfree delivery, pushing phase 2 minutes on a birthing stool. At age of 1 day he was 3532 g (- 4,6 %), and at age of 3 days he was above his birthweight (I don't have the actual numbers but it was above the bw). At 8 days he was 3980 g. His height has been / is on the mid-curve (50th perc.) and at the relative height-weight curve he is above mid-curve. So, he is growing ok, developing ok, healthy and alert, and is exclusively breastfed. Didn't get any supplements at the hospital either. He was on my chest until the first (spontaneous) breastfeeding was at 1 h 20 min, suckled for about 30 min, and swallowed nicely. During the first 24 h he suckled about 10 times, and during the next 24 h about 20 times, and continued that (ab. 20 x day) for the first month or so. About 5 - 15 min each time. First meconium when 2 hours old, and first yellow poop when 2.75 days old, and pees and poops abundant also later on. Breastfeeding management is ok, I dare to say ;) , he ate what he ate, and just didn't swallow a drop more even if I tried to express directly into his mouth (just to see if he would take ;)). He has been feeding on demand since the very beginning, and has not been sleepy. No problems with sore nipples, and latch ok. I had problems with OALD and excessive milk production, just like with my first one, so by his 7th day I was breastfeeding him 12 h on one side and 12 h on the other side. Tried first 4/4 h, 6/6 h and 8/8 h schedules, but they didn't help with the OALD and his belly aches (plus foamy stools). When he has seemed hungry, a bit cranky suckling at the "empty" breast, I have sometimes offered him the fuller breast, but mostly he won't take it. I am pumping twice a day (since day 3), just before changing sides, total +/- 500 ml a day (it goes to the milk bank). One lowish (2.3) blood sugar at 1,5 days (ab. 2 h after previous breastfeeding and ab. 30 min of crying naked on a doctor's table), others after that ok. At 1,5 days his potassium was ok, and at 2 days his small blood picture was ok (no signs of infection; and probably no ABO-incompatibility, they would have said, I guess, and wouldn't the bili have been much higher then). Hb was 208 at age of 2 days. I knew (heard and felt) he had been getting abundantly milk, and I had been making a few weight tests, that would have made ab. +300 ml on the _second_ day. The tint has been fading away all the time, steadily but slowly. His palms and foot soles have been pink all the time, not yellow, so the bili probably didn't climb that high, but the colour is fading quite quite slowly. He didn't receive phototherapy, and he has also gotten a lot of sunlight. His eye whites look normal (bluish white) when he looks straight, but when he turns his eyes, there is still tiny bit yellow, and his face, trunk and bottom are sligthly yellowish. To me he looks almost white now, but when I put him next to a "normally" pale baby, or compare his hands/arms to his face/chest, you could still see a hint of yellow there. However, he is a lot less yellow now than a month ago. He had a doctor's check-up about a month ago. She didn't see any reason why a healthy, alert, well-growing baby should be sent to another bilitest. Catherine W G's post made me feel puzzled... Sanna-Mari, mom to Rasmus 3,5 yo & Miro 3,5 mo a mom-to-mom bf group leader Finland, Scandinavia PS. I case you are wondering why all these tests: We left home from the hospital when Miro was 8 hours old, and agreed to come for check-ups every day until the final discharge check-up when he was 3 days old. They are not used to moms leaving this early, "Another case some ten years ago", I was told, so my guess is they wanted to take a lot of tests simply to safeguard themselves :( . If we had stayed in the hospital for three days like others, pedi would have checked Miro only once instead of four times, and they wouldn't have done _any_ of these blood samples :( . *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] 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