What are the normal ranges of bilirubin in a pre-term baby born at 35 weeks.?
I have a newborn that was born at 35 weeks and the doctors are concerned over the level of bilirubin in his system. He started at 175 and went to 152 and they started light therapy but now his level is at 252. My wife and I are very concerned and the doctors do not seem to be providing us with definate answers. Can anybody provide some insight into our concerns.
How old is he? Bili levels spike on the 3rd and 4th day. Jaundice is very common in babies born before 38 weeks and goes away over the first weeks of life. It is concerning but very much manageable. 252 umol would be equal to 15mg/dl. It is high. My daughter had to be taken off breastmilk for 2 extra days for it.
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I am unfamiliar with the scale that you are providing. However, there is a fairly good writeup from the UK site about bilirubin in infants and possible causes. I know its a problem for preemies. It is possible that they are not providing you answers because they don’t have any - they need to do further tests.
Your wife can continue to breastfeed. Studies have shown that alternating breastmilk feedings with formula fed feedings work just as well as 100% formula feedings in cases of significant jaundice (we’re obviously not talking about normal newborn jaundice).
References :
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003479.htm
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
wow, i was told anything above 20 was high! my daughter wasn’t a premie though, hers was 14 at the highest. the docs probably can’t tell you much because they don’t know. its a thing that can only be diagnosed and resolved as time and symptoms progress. i don’t know much else, but i’m sure they just don’t want to tell you wrong, or speculate at this point. i hope all goes well! good luck and congrats!
References :
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:37 pm
my son was also born at 35 weeks and had jaundice. he had other health problems so he had to be in the NICU about 3 weeks. i am looking at his discharge summary now and it says his peak bilirubin was 13.4 and was discharged with it being 10.9. he did the solar lights for about a day and it started getting better. he then started pooping more, which helped to lower the levels. those numbers seem really high, is that even possible to have numbers that high? i wonder if they are using a different system or something?? is your baby still in the hospital? i don’t know if this helped but just know everything will get better and i know how scary things are for you now….
References :
December 23rd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
How old is he? Bili levels spike on the 3rd and 4th day. Jaundice is very common in babies born before 38 weeks and goes away over the first weeks of life. It is concerning but very much manageable. 252 umol would be equal to 15mg/dl. It is high. My daughter had to be taken off breastmilk for 2 extra days for it.
References :