Toby (and anyone else who's interested):   My only experience with a thriving
baby with a high bilirubin is my first son.  I breastfed him for the first 48
hours, then ended up on Flagyl for 7 days because of an abscess in my
episiotomy/pudendal site (ouch!), and had to "pump & dump" until 24 hours
after I stopped the med.  (This was 11 1/2 years ago, & I didn't know enough
to lobby for an alternative med).  Fortunately, he went back to the breast
after that--NO nipple confusion here!--but he was a "touch" jaundiced when we
left the hospital @ 5 days old.  I kept saying, over the next few days/weeks,
that I thought he was getting yellower, but my friends & family kept
insisting "It's his Italian heritage (my husband is full-blooded Italian)".
 When we finally saw the ped. for a 1 month checkup, she IMMEDIATLEY greeted
me with, "That baby's jaundiced--why didn't you call me?"  After a panicky
trip to the hospital for a bili check, his results came back with a total
bili of 17.  However, because he was SO alert, had gained over a pound, and
the direct bili wasn't high,  the ped. said she felt it was "breastmilk jd".
 She said I could take him off breast for 2 days, & if the level dropped that
would confirm her diagnosis, but she felt personally he'd been away from the
breast a week already, & she didn't feel it was necessary to deprive him
again. (Before you all stand in awe of this "progressive" ped., she also told
me that if he nursed past 6 months, he'd still be nursing in
kindergarten!--We of course re-educated her by the time he weaned at 18
months!)  Anyway, I chose to follow her (& my) instincts & continue nursing.
 We did a bili check every 2-3 weeks, until it finally started dropping at
around 3 1/2 months.  It never went over 17.  Now, the big concern with
prolonged high bili levels is brain damage and developmental delays, right?
 Well, at age 11, he just tested into a gifted program with an ESTIMATED
(their standard scores didn't go high enough!) IQ of 194!!!  Of course, maybe
the "developmental delay" is the fact he still can't (won't) ride a
bicycle.....

Anyway, hope this anecdote is reassuring for you & your mom.   Don't have any
direct cites for this, but I believe 20 is the cut-off recommended for a
prolonged elevated bili.  Also, how soon after birth, and how severely the
baby's feeding and activity patterns are affected, is more important than
actual numbers.

In our case, the "hidden blessing" in all this, is it's much easier to tell
baby pictures of our two boys apart, since the second one wasn't jd.  We jsut
tell people that "the pumpkin kid" is our firstborn!

Happy WBW to all!

Carol