Hello all,

I always feel like I need to chime in on these jaundice discussions. :)

One very important thing to remember is that for some babies, the 
jaundice IS ddangerous -- bilirubin levels can become dangerously high 
in ABNORMAL jaundice, which is either caused by an ABO incompatibility 
(blood type different from mother) or a problem with the baby's liver.

My first child was given formula, much to my utter devastation.  She 
did go on to develop many, many food sensitivities.  However, I was 
lucky to have a pediatrician that encouraged me to pump and feed 
anything that came out of my breasts to my baby (my nipples were one 
flat, one inverted, my little girl was too sleepy to nurse from me at 
all with a bilirubin of 21.8 at 18 hours old).  Anna got all of my 
colostrum and was fed the balance of the feed in formula, until my 
milk came in and she was fed entirely with my milk.

When my son was born (at home), I already had some of my own milk 
frozen from a few months prior, as well as two donors lined up in case 
we had a similar problem.  We did, indeed, have a similar problem, but 
never needed the supplemental milk.  We were admitted at 36 hours old 
(much to my utter devastation!) with his bilirubin at 14.6.  He had 
been nursing well from the start so I know that was a factor in his 
better start.

Anyway -- I just wanted to stress the point that in some (rare) cases, 
PROTEIN is absolutely necessary for helping these babies bass the 
bilirubin.  If that protein can be gotten from human milk, that is of 
course the best way to go (and I often wonder why there isn't human 
milk available for this sort of thing at hospitals?) but if it is not 
possible to offer human milk, the risks of formula supplementation 
(again, I'm talking about the babies with sky-high bili levels early 
on, NOT normal janudice!) are smaller than the risks of kernicterus in 
these babies.

--Diana in NY (happy to discuss this with anyone who has questions, as 
I've done a ton of research on the matter :) )

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