Neonatal jaundice in newborns: causes, symptoms and treatment

The birth of crumbs is a great joy forparents. However, sometimes, especially when it comes to the first-born, it can be overshadowed by changes in the color of the skin and mucous membranes of the baby. The phenomenon, known as neonatal jaundice, occurs quite often, so those who should soon have a baby, it is worth learning about it more.

Causes

The appearance of jaundice in newborns is absolutelyfine. This phenomenon is observed if the content of bilirubin exceeds the norm in blood of the crumbs due to the decays of erythrocytes. It should be understood that, in addition to own blood cells, the newborn's body also has to process the residual erythrocytes of the mother. Thus, the load becomes significant, and eventually accumulates excess bilirubin, which leads to yellowing of the eye sclera and skin of the baby. In this case, the child does not have other pathologies, he is considered healthy, and he does not need treatment.

Physiological form

Обычно изменения во внешности ребенка наблюдаются on the 2nd-5th day after his birth and disappear at the 2nd week of life. At the same time, it is possible to contribute to the early disappearance of the symptoms of the physiological jaundice, if you apply the baby to the breast more often. This will speed up the allocation of the original feces - meconium, with which excess bilirubin is removed from the body. In addition, it is recommended to walk with the baby more often outdoors.

Physiological neonatal jaundice of the newborn: reasons

As already mentioned, the natural color of the skin and mucous membranes is usually restored to the 10-14th day of life. Otherwise, neonatal jaundice is diagnosed. Its reason may be:

• prematurity of the child;
• bilirubin hyperproduction;
• enzymatic immaturity of liver cells;
• decreased ability of blood serum to bind bilirubin.
• pathological neonatal jaundice (protracted).

The disease can be congenital and acquired.

In the first case, neonatal jaundice can be a consequence:

• Erythrocyte membrane pathology. This disease sometimes appears in the neonatal period. Over time, the spleen and liver increase, and anemia develops later.
• Deficiency of erythrocyte enzymes. In this case, jaundice occurs on the second day of life. One of the signs is a darkening of the urine.
• Defect in the synthesis and structure of hemoglobin and heme. Appears on 4-6 months of life of the baby.

Acquired pathological neonatal jaundice can be of three types:

• hemolytic disease of the newborn, which is the result of the immunological conflict of fetal blood with the mother's blood;
• hemorrhage into the internal organs, or cephalohematoma, with the resorption of which enters the blood products of decomposition of hemoglobin;
• a number of other reasons, such as increasingthe content of erythrocytes in the blood of a child, the syndrome that develops when a child enters the digestive tract during the delivery of blood, the presence of a mother's disease of an immunopathological nature, drug hemolysis,

Treatment

As with the physiological jaundice, babiesIt is recommended to breastfeed more often and take it out to fresh air. In addition, if a child has neonatal jaundice, then phototherapy is used. It consists in irradiating the crumb with a photo lamp. Under its rays in his body there is an accelerated decomposition of bilirubin, and then it is excreted from the body with urine and feces.

The procedure is as follows:

• the child is completely stripped (in the case of a boy, a bandage is applied to the genitals) and placed in a special box for newborns;
• eyes closed with an opaque elastic mask;
• irradiation is carried out for at least 2-3 hours, interrupted for feeding;
• from time to time, the child is turned over so that the photocams have access to all skin areas.

In especially serious cases, when the levelbilirubin is critically high, the session is carried out continuously. At the same time every hour take blood for analysis. The procedure is terminated only when studies show a satisfactory bilirubin result.

Contraindications to the continuation of phototherapy is redness of the skin. However, such phenomena are extremely rare.

OZPK

Treatment of neonatal jaundice in serious cases can be performed by the operation of a replacement blood transfusion. Indications for the use of this method are:

• unsatisfactory results of laboratory studies of the level of bilirubin in cord blood at the time of birth and its constant increase even against the background of phototherapy and others;
• proven mother sensitization and signs of severe hemolytic disease of the newborn in her child;
• the appearance of symptoms of bilirubin intoxication in crumbs.

Blood components for transfusionstrictly individual for a particular baby and taking into account the type of incompatibility of the blood of the mother and the child. In addition, OZPK perform only after successful tests for compatibility by means of a catheter installed in the umbilical vein. At the same time, you should be aware that even with properly selected material for surgery and strict adherence to sterility, various complications are not excluded. For example, there may be air embolism, heart failure, infection, thrombosis, anaphylactic shock, etc. As a rule, they appear during the first 3 hours after OZPK, so all this time the medical staff must strictly monitor the condition of the baby.

Other methods

Treatment can also be made withthe use of medication and infusion therapy. In the first case, appointed “Zixorin”, agar-agar, “Carbolen” and “Cholestyramine”, which contribute to the release of intestinal bilirubin. Bile preparations are also prescribed. As for infusion therapy, it is carried out with solutions of sodium chloride and glucose, and with a reduced level of protein, an albumin solution is used.

Prevention

Neonatal jaundice, the causes of which are described above, is not likely to occur or its symptoms will disappear faster if the following measures are taken.

• immediately after birth, crumbs attach to the breast;
• undress the baby and leave lying on the diaper naked until half an hour;
• breastfeed on demand;
• from the first days to walk with the child in the fresh air;
• feed the baby from each breast for at least 7-10 minutes;
• if the baby refuses to suck, then breast milk should be decanted and given with a spoon.

Now you know what neonatal jaundice is.The symptoms of various forms of this disease are described above, therefore, having noticed their signs, you can immediately show the baby to the doctor and not lose valuable time.