What is Breast Milk Jaundice?
Breast milk jaundice is a type of newborn jaundice which is associated with breastfeeding. It is characterised by a raised level of unconjugated bilirubin (also called the indirect bilirubin) in blood. It develops after the first 4 to 7 days, lasts for about 3 to 12 weeks and has no other identifiable cause. The cause of breast milk jaundice is not found but is supposed to be due to following reasons, • presence of pregnane 3 -beta 20- alpha diol and free fatty acids in breast milk that interferes with normal metabolism of bilirubin. • the delay in appearance of normal gut bacteria in baby’s gut, due to ingestion of breast milk- which interferes with excretion of bilirubin. Breast milk jaundice is important because • the presence of jaundice beyond 2 weeks in term babies and 3 weeks in premature babies, should alert the doctor to look for and rule out other causes of jaundice by examining the baby, testing for a split bilirubin test and if necessary performing other tests. • when other
