More than half of all newborns develop some jaundice in their first week. In the great majority it appears around day two or three, stays mild, and fades on its own. The job of a parent is not to panic — it is to know the handful of signs that change the picture.
Bring the baby in the same day if
- the yellowing appears in the first 24 hours of life — this is never normal
- it spreads below the chest, to the stomach, palms or soles
- the baby is sleepy and difficult to wake, or feeding poorly
- there is a high-pitched cry, arching of the back, or stiffness
- the baby has fever, or is passing very few wet nappies
- the jaundice is still there after two weeks, or the stools are pale and chalky
How to look properly
Check in daylight near a window, not under a tube light, which hides yellow. Press gently on the skin of the forehead, then the chest, then the thigh, and look at the colour as the finger lifts. Jaundice spreads downward — the lower it has reached, the higher the level.
What treatment looks like
A blood test measures the bilirubin level, which is read against the baby's age in hours and weight. Most babies who need treatment need phototherapy — lying under a special blue light — and that is all. It is safe, painless, and usually finished in a day or two. Very high levels occasionally need an exchange transfusion, which is done in a neonatal intensive care unit.
What does not help
Sunlight through a window is not phototherapy and carries its own risks for a newborn. Stopping breastfeeding is almost never the answer — frequent feeding is what clears bilirubin, so feed eight to twelve times a day. Herbal and traditional remedies delay real treatment.
Our neonatal intensive care unit and paediatric consultants handle newborn jaundice, prematurity, low birth weight and newborn infection, with the laboratory in the same building so the bilirubin result comes back quickly.
