Jaundice is a disease that happens to frequently affect newborns. The main reason for the occurence of this disease is an increase in the bilirubin levels in the blood. Under most scenarios, jaundice in newborns are completely harmless. In most of the normal cases, the affliction goes away within a span of a couple of weeks. If on the off chance that the level of bilirubin in the blood does not go down, the baby in question should be hospitalized immediately. Fortunately, there does happen to be some remedies that people can make use of in order to treat this affliction.
The best part about these particular treatments is that they can be done at home. This can be invaluable for some people, especially with the current pandemic still raging. People are very afraid of going to hospitals at the moment. Most are under the impression that hospitals are covid hot zones. So, to be able to treat a newborn at home, is a very useful thing to be able to do.
It is also absolutely normal for babies to suffer from this disease at the time of their birth. Fortunately, there are several treatment modalities available just to treat this affliction. In the following few passages, we will discuss a list of treatment options for your newborn which can be done at home.
If your newborn baby has jaundice, feed him frequently. Breastfeeding your little one frequently will help eliminate the bilirubin from his bloodstream and flush it out through stool and urine. Babies with jaundice sleep a lot; if your baby has jaundice, he might sleep a lot, too. Wake him up at regular intervals to feed him.
Make sure that the baby is breastfed on a regular basis
Mothers also need to make sure that they are getting in a proper diet when they are breastfeeding their babies. Mothers should make sure that they eat nutritious foods and freshly prepared foods. If mothers can make sure that they are getting balanced meals, then they will be getting enough nutrition. Hence, it is recommended that the mother eats leafy vegetables, maybe some seafood (low mercury ones), healthy fats, nuts etc.
Another thing that comes highly recommended for mothers in order to introduce a breastfeeding relationship is skin contact. What this will accomplish is that it will initiate the process of breastfeeding. This will also ensure that there is a breastfeeding schedule established early on. This can in turn help with the bilirubin levels in the baby.
It is also important to optimize breastfeeding support. This is very important when it comes to making sure that the baby is breastfeed at the correct times only. You should ideally try to ensure that you have a very strong support system that may include your close family members and maybe your peers.
Massage The Baby Regularly
A lot of research has shown that massaging the babies when they are categorized as newborns has numerous benefits. One of the most well established benefits is that the baby will have better bowel movements and it will also improve the frequency of bowel movements. This is very important and beneficial. What this does is that it basically helps with the elimination of the bilirubin in the blood of the baby. This is achieved by reducing the enterohepatic circulation.
Make Sure That You Are Using Supplements
Babies who have jaundice should be fed a lot more than the ones that do not suffer from this affliction. If you find that the breast milk of the mother is not enough, then you can opt for supplements or those milk formulas. If the baby is not getting enough milk then they will get dehydrated and as a result will have fewer bowel movements. If this is not addressed, then the levels of bilirubin in the body can increase.
There are also cases where the newborn baby suffers from jaundice due to the breast milk of the mother. It is thought that particular chemicals in the breast milk may be responsible, BUT, in general, these are pretty harmless conditions which will resolve by themselves. Mothers will in most cases not be advised to stop the process of breastfeeding.
It is very important to remember that a major chunk of babies are born with this condition. Most cases hardly need any treatment, it gets resolved by itself. If the jaundice your baby is suffering from is mild, then you can make use of these home remedies. If the bilirubin levels continue to rise, then you may consult your doctor.
Make Sure That The Baby Gets Enough Light.
If you find that your baby has jaundice, then you will do well by keeping the sunlight for a period of 1 to 2 hours daily. The light from the sun has the very real ability to help in reducing the bilirubin levels in the body and to also cure jaundice.
One at-home treatment that you can make use of for this particular issue is light therapy. Light therapy is an extremely popular and safe form of therapy which can really help with a number of conditions (find out more here). The way this therapy works is by trying to mimic the light that is found in the outdoors (from the sun) and replicating it in an indoor setting. If you have to live in a place that does not have prolonged sunlight, then light therapy will most definitely come in handy for you.