Plenari 4 – Busting the Myths on Neonatal Jaundice

Neonatal jaundice is the common cause of failure to continue exclusive breastfeeding in early post partum. Many mothers feel depress when the baby is being pricked many times and manage under phototherapy. The management to reduce the bilirubin level is only by having exposure to ultraviolet lamp if the newborn has significant bilirubin level (based on the chart).Most of hospitals in Malaysia do not provide rooming in for jaundice babies meaning that breastfeeding dyads will be separated. In non-BFHI hospitals, mostly baby will be fed with bottle and leading to nipple confusion after being discharged. The separation might cause breast engorgement and poor milk flow.

In addition to breast engorgement, baby may not able to do effective suckling after bottle teat being introduced during admission and therefore results in failure in breastfeeding. These situations (jaundice, latching problem & painful breast engorgement) will leads to distress in mother, father and grandparent. Later, many people around the mother give advice perhaps a blend of useful and incorrect information. The mixture of the information tends to confuse the mother especially young and first time mother. The incorrect information probably contains myths that being carried from ancient time (many decades) from one generation to the next.This presentation will discuss the physiology behind the neonatal jaundice, the common myths on jaundice and treatment advice circulate in our community and management on jaundice to ensure continuity of exclusive breastfeeding.