Hi Krysten,
First I wanted to congratulate you and tell you what an awesome job you do on the Jan '05 board with your wealth of breastfeeding knowledge. I think you've inspired a lot of those women with the courage to nurse their babies! Congrats on your new son!
I don't know if this will help, but I'm cutting & pasting some stuff on jaundice I've shared in the past. I don't think it's specifically what you asked for but it may help you fill in some missing pieces, if nothing else.
Take care,
Christine
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Newborn Jaundice
DID YOU KNOW - Jaundice Helps Breastfed Babies!
(Excerpt from article by Dr. Jay Gordon)
Contrary to what you often will hear about how bilirubin levels increasing in a newborn is not a good thing, there is new research which is showing the importance of the presence of bilirubin.
Bilirubin has the ability to function as an antioxidant in the brain, scavenging free radicals and protecting the brain against oxidative damage.
"When women breastfeed, the babies have higher levels of bilirubin and are healthier. Babies with higher bilirubin levels are more disease-resistant," said Dr. Sylvain Dore of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. "Bilirubin also protects against
retinopathy in premature babies."
Dr. Dore has done research on the neuroprotective effect of bilirubin in the hippocampus. His studies have indicated that low concentrations of bilirubin decreased oxygen-radical mediated injury, suggesting that bilirubin could act as an antioxidant.
Dore further experimented on cultured neurons showing that bilirubin protects against oxidative stress. The enzyme hemeoxygenase is responsible for making bilirubin. In these experiments researchers prevented bilirubin synthesis by eliminating the gene for
hemeoxygenase and found, as a result, twice the level of stroke damage in mice.
There is also some belief amongst medical professionals that bilirubin is a bacteriostatic compound which acts to slow or eliminate bacterial growth and therefore give an advantage to babies with higher levels of jaundice. This theory would contribute to the
fewer infections in breastfed babies, whose bili counts often descend at a slower rate.
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Similar Article by Dr. Alan Greene
And I really liked this paragraph from this article:
"The notion that there is something wrong with the baby being jaundiced comes from the assumption that the formula feeding baby is the standard by which we should determine how the breastfed baby should be. This manner of thinking, almost universal amongst health professionals, truly turns logic upside down. Thus, the formula feeding baby is rarely jaundiced after the first week of life, and when he is, there is usually something wrong. Therefore, the baby with breast milk jaundice is a concern and "something must be done". However, in our experience, most exclusively breastfed babies who are perfectly healthy and gaining weight well are still jaundiced at 5-6 weeks of life and even later. The question, in fact, should be whether it is normal not to be jaundiced and is this absence of jaundice something we should worry about? Do not stop breastfeeding for "breast milk" jaundice."
Would you like to read more about how a managed fever is GOOD for your child?
Click Here
Amazing, huh? Everything really is by design…
Please note that not ALL forms of jaundice should be considered "healthy". Jaundiced infants still need to be monitored by a health care professional, who hopefully is aware of this newer information and can differentiate between a healthy and unhealthy jaundiced condition.