Jaundice @ Demam Kuning (newborn)

What is Jaundice? @ Apa itu Demam Kuning?

Not many parents have knowledge about this... even me as a mother also have no idea of what is Jaundice until my child were told having jaundice.. I usually hear the name of jaundice @ demam kuning. But do not know what is it @ ignored about it. We as new parents will be panic when people around always saying that how dangerous the jaundice is to our child and she or he could die. But we were never been told how to prevent or how to took care of our child if were infected.

Here I would share my experience with other mothers & parents out there who are concern about their child.

In a normal newborns, jaundice refers to the yellow color of the skin and whites of the eyes caused by excess bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is produced by the normal breakdown of red blood cells. (Demam kuning adalah disebabkan oleh proses pemecahan sel darah merah di dalam badan yang menghasilkan bilirubin)

Normally, bilirubin passes through the liver and is excreted as bile through the intestines. Jaundice occurs when bilirubin builds up faster than a newborn's liver can break it down and pass it from the body. Reasons for this include:

• Newborns make more bilirubin than adults do since they have more turnover of red blood cells.
• A newborn baby's still-developing liver may not yet be able to remove adequate bilirubin from the blood.
• Too large an amount of bilirubin is reabsorbed from the intestines before the baby gets rid of it in the stool.

High levels of bilirubin — usually above 25 mg — can cause deafness, cerebral palsy, or other forms of brain damage in some babies. In less common cases, jaundice may indicate the presence of another condition, such as an infection or a thyroid problem. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all infants should be examined for jaundice within a few days of birth.

Types of Jaundice

The most common types of jaundice are:

Physiological (normal) jaundice: occurring in most newborns, this mild jaundice is due to the immaturity of the baby's liver, which leads to a slow processing of bilirubin. It generally appears at 2 to 4 days of age and disappears by 1 to 2 weeks of age.

Jaundice of prematurity: occurs frequently in premature babies since they are even less ready to excrete bilirubin effectively. Jaundice in premature babies needs to be treated at a lower bilirubin level than in full term babies in order to avoid complications.

Breastfeeding jaundice: jaundice can occur when a breastfeeding baby is not getting enough breast milk because of difficulty with breastfeeding or because the mother's milk isn’t in yet. This is not caused by a problem with the breast milk itself, but by the baby not getting enough to drink.

ok.. that's all for now... kita continue next time... :)