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Breast milk jaundice - Overview

Alternative Names

Hyperbilirubinemia

Definition of Breast milk jaundice:

Jaundice is a condition that causes the skin and parts of the eyes to turn a yellow color.

Breast milk jaundice is long-term jaundice in an otherwise healthy, breast-fed baby. It develops after the first week of life and continues up to the sixth week of life.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Bilirubin is a yellow pigment that is created as the body gets rid of old red blood cells. The liver helps break down bilirubin so that it can be removed from the body in the stool.

If jaundice occurs or lasts past the first week of life in an otherwise healthy and thriving breast-fed infant, the condition may be called "breast milk jaundice." It is probably caused by factors in the breast milk that block certain proteins in the liver that break down bilirubin.

Breast milk jaundice tends to run in families. It occurs equally often in males and females and affects 0.5% to 2.4% of all newborns.

Bili lights

Jaundice infant

Reviewed last on: 6/21/2011
Kimberly G. Lee, MD, MSc, IBCLC, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC. Review Provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Moerschel SK, Cianciaruso LB, Tracy LR. A practical approach to neonatal jaundice. Am Fam Physician. 2008;77:1255-1262.

Preer GL, Philipp BL. Understanding and managing breast milk jaundice. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. doi: 10.1136/adc.2010.184416.

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