What are the causes of jaundice in a newborn ?
A – A newborn can have 2 types of jaundice (1) Physiological jaundice. (2) Pathological jaundice. Physiological jaundice : This occurs on the 2nd or 3rd day from birth and starts diminishing when the baby is a week or 10 days old. The reason for this to occur is due to the liver being immature to deal with the excessive billirubin formed because of the normal breakdown of the oxygen carrying red blood cells. In the premature infants it is likely to be more severe. While physiological jaundice usually does not require any treatment, but more severe cases are treated effectively with phototherapy under an ultraviolet lamp often called a bili light. Pathological jaundice : This is extremely uncommon and is present at birth and develops rapidly during the 1st day of life. It indicates haemolytic disease caused by blood group incompatibility (as when the baby has a different Rh factor from the mother). The other causes of pathological jaundice are obstruction in the liver, blood or liver di
