THE YELLOW BABY (Bayi Kuning)

THE YELLOW BABY (Bayi Kuning)

The color of the newborn is extremely important in order to determine his health condition.

Usually, at the time of birth, the baby's color is purple
(cyanotic), and after a few seconds of breathing room
temperature air, his color changes to pink. His hand and
feet will remain purple, since the blood circulation in
those places is slower.

The baby will have the pink appearance during his first days,
it will become less intense as time goes by, since his
hemoglobin, which is very high at birth, begins to go down
until it reaches the level that the child needs. As the
hemoglobin destroys itself or degrades it converts into
bilirubin, and this pigment is transformed and eliminated by
the liver, most of it through the digestive tube. When
excess bilirubin is accumulated, the skin turns yellow, and
this is known as Jaundice or Icterus.

High levels of bilirubin can injure the child's nervous
system and cause serious and permanent injuries. The
principal causes for increase levels are:

   1. More hemoglobin than the necessary is destroyed, this
      happens when the mother and the baby have different
      blood types.

   2. The liver is not functioning well, this might happen
      to premature children due to this organ immaturity, or
      as an effect of the maternal milk.

   3. Because the bilirubin can't be eliminated through the
      digestive tube.

A baby who turns yellow should be considered as an emergency,
and the pediatrician must determine each case. There are
some signs that may alert parents and have to be watched
for; these are:

   1. Presence of Jaundice in the first 72 hours of life.
      Usually this is caused by the excessive destruction of
      red blood cells and with them the hemoglobin, due to
      blood incompatibility between mother and son.

   2. Jaundice accompanied of lethargy, lack of activity and
      of appetite.

   3. Presence of fever or very low temperature.

   4. Low birth weight, because premature children are more
      prone to the toxic effects or the bilirubin.

   5. The skin coloration is very yellow or orange.

According to the doctor's criteria, one can go to a lab, to
find both the cause of the Jaundice and to determine the
level of bilirubin found in the blood. The treatment will
depend on the moment that the problem appears, the child's
condition and the cause and the level of bilirubin.

The treatment can be very simple, as increasing the amount
of fluid intake and eliminating the intake of maternal milk;
or putting the child under phototherapy, special lamps that
facilitate the bilirubin found in the skin to transform and
eliminate easily. The sun has a similar effect, but with the
inconvenience that it can only be received a few hours a day.
In the worst cases, when the levels of bilirubin in the
blood are higher than 20 mg/dL, a blood exchange has to be
carried the child's blood is changed through the umbilical
vein.

Like in many other cases, the most important thing is to
prevent this situation by giving an on time diagnosis and
applying treatment in the right moment. In this way we
prevent a simple problem becoming a complicated one