Jaundice in babies

The most common treatment is phototherapy, which involves placing your baby under special lights. Sometimes sunlight alone will do, but in hospital, blankets are used with built-in lights – a bit like a sun bed.

Light from the blue band of the visible spectrum converts the bilirubin to a harmless soluble breakdown product. Phototherapy is an extremely successful treatment and for most babies it’s all they need to cure the symptoms. If it doesn’t work, the next step is an exchange transfusion, where blood is taken from the baby and replaced with donor blood. This is only done in specialist centres and is very rare.

Can jaundice be prevented?

Not really. Unfortunately, it isn’t something we can screen for. It just has to be noticed, monitored and treated where necessary. So don’t be alarmed if your newborn goes a bit yellowy – it’s extremely common and doesn’t usually cause any harm. If there are concerns, your midwife will refer you to the hospital for phototherapy which is non-invasive, involves no needles and just means treating your baby under lights.