On both occasions that I attended lectures by Jack Newman, once in Israel as 
a guest of La Leche and again in Glasgow where he addressed the NCT Annual 
conference, he actually said that jaundice in the first three days was a 
normal physiological condition - provided of course that it does not reach 
severely elevated levels.  He said there should not be any rush to treat it 
and healthy full-term babies should just be breastfed as much as possible so 
that the colostrum would flush out the meconium.
That man talks such sense!!!
Wendy Blumfield
NCT ANT Tutor/BFC
Israel Childbirth Education Centre


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jaye Simpson, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 5:48 PM
Subject: Bilirubin and jaundice


> Actually formula does seem to pull bilirubin out of the body much faster.
> In some cases this is a good thing - not in others.
>
>
>
> Can't give you the references but I distinctly remember a conference where
> this was discussed in detail.  Bilirubin is actually an antioxidant - this
> is a good thing.  This may be why breastmilk doesn't pull it out so fast 
> or
> allows the rise.  Even when baby is nursing well, they have a rise in
> bilirubin and then it falls because the baby is stooling.  Around day 5+ 
> or
> so is when breastmilk jaundice would set in - but we aren't talking about
> day 5 right now.  :-)
>
>
>
> Antioxidants are a good thing for us - so we don't WANT the bilirubin to 
> be
> pulled out too fast - that would rob baby of the positive antioxidant 
> effect
> of bilirubin they are supposed to get.
>
>
>
> However, when BF is not going well and baby is not getting enough milk of
> course the bili levels can get too high which can be dangerous.  And we 
> have
> some babies who, tho they are BF well, their bili levels get way too high
> for other reasons.  In this case, the use of ABM could be helpful in 
> pulling
> out the bilirubin before it causes any harm to baby.  Not that I am a fan 
> of
> using ABM - I'd much rather use more breastmilk first.  But I have seen
> cases where even that did not reduce the levels well enough and using a 
> bit
> of ABM did the trick and put baby back in the safety range.
>
>
>
> Sadly, too many will jump to ABM as a first resort with the mistaken 
> belief
> that any jaundice is a bad thing - when actually it is a normal thing.  I
> wish I could remember who did this research and gave this info.If someone
> else can place their finger on that bit of info that would be quite 
> helpful.
> Also, if someone can find the info that shows I am way off base here 
> please
> let me know!  :-)
>
>
>
> Warmly,
>
> Jaye
>
>
>
> Jaye Simpson, IBCLC, CIIM
>
> Breastfeeding Network
>
> Sacramento, CA
>
> www.breastfeedingnetwork.net
>
>
>
>
>             ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: 
> set lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet 
> welcome
> 

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome