Pregnancy and Childbirth|Useful articles on pregnancy and childbirth

Jaundice is a effect of buildup in the blood of the bilirubin, a yellowish pigment that gets from the breakdown of old erythrocytes. It is normal for the erythrocytes to break down, although the bilirubin formed does not generally cause jaundice since the liver will metabolize them and then eliminate them in the bowel.

However, the newborn infant will often get jaundiced on the first few days due to the liver enzyme that metabolizes the bilirubin seemly relatively immature. Therefore, newborn infant will have more red blood cells than adults, and thus more will break down at any given time.

There’s a condition that’s normally referred to as breast milk jaundice, although nobody knows what really causes it. In order to diagnose this, the infant should be at least a week old. The infant should be well gaining with breast feeding alone too, having good bowel movements Read the rest of this entry »