Dr. Gartner et al:

Having been the mom of three "pumpkins" - and I mean literally they were orange
for various periods of time, the oldest more so but all three had obvious
jaundice - who were exclusively breastfed and who now show no evidence (college
graduates) of brain damage - I repeatedly ask:

Are we not comparing the formula fed babies and the exclusively breastfed babies
and considering that the  low bilis of formula-fed babies are normal and the
slightly elevated (I don't mean those over 25) bilis of exclusively breastfed
babies as abnormal?

Reminds me again of the story of the teenager who told me she couldn't
breastfeed because her nipples didn't look like the Playtex nipples (most like
mother herself...).

I am not a physician nor a researcher, but see lots of exclusively breastfed
babies with yellow skin and if they are breastfeeding often, are alert, are
stooling more than twice a day, I don't send them to the pediatrician - just
recommend light exposure (sunlight here is very strong  and hot here - I
recommend putting in an area that gets well-lit with natural light as I have
seen some "coppertone babies" who have gotten far too much sunlight for their
new skin!) and monitoring closely of both number of stools and alertness.

Am I being naive?

Jeanette Panchula, BA-SW, RN, IBCLC, LLLL
Puerto Rico
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