11.18.05....... I can remember the first time I walked into the NICU and saw my babies "tanning". I remember saying to Matt, "look at their little sun glasses". When a baby becomes jaundice they are put under bilie lights. (phototherapy - treatment with a special light that helps rid the body of the bilirubin by altering it or making it easier for your baby's liver to get rid of it).
Your baby becomes juandice when there is excess bilirubin in the blood. Normally bilirubin passes through the liver and is excreted as bile through the intestines. Jaundice occurs when bilirubin builds up faster than a newborn's liver can break it down and pass it from the body. Reasons for this include:
-A newborn baby's still-developing liver may not yet be able to remove adequate bilirubin from the blood.
-More bilirubin is being made than the infant's liver can handle.
-Too large an amount of bilirubin is reabsorbed from the intestines before the baby gets rid of it in the stool.
High levels of bilirubin - usually above 20 mg - can cause deafness, cerebral palsy, or brain damage in some babies. Great...just what I needed, something else to worry about. Just what I didn't need!
Carson and Cooper were under these lights on and off fror a good 2 weeks. The amount of bilierubin seems to be higher in preemies. It is pretty cute though when you walk in to the pod and all the other babies are only in their diapers and are "tanning" under these lights. they all looked so darn cute!
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