Newborn Jaundice Causes

• Jaundice in newborns most commonly occurs because their livers are not mature enough to remove bilirubin from the blood. Jaundice may also be caused by a number of other medical conditions.
  
  
  • Physiologic jaundice is the most common form of newborn jaundice. The baby's liver plays the most important part in bilirubin breakdown. The type of bilirubin that causes the yellow discoloration of jaundice is called unconjugated bilirubin. This form of bilirubin is not easily removed from the baby's body. The baby's liver changes this unconjugated bilirubin into conjugated bilirubin, which is easier for the baby's body to remove. The livers of newborn babies are immature. They are not able to perform this job very efficiently at first. The combination of these 2 problems causes an elevation of bilirubin, and this is seen as the yellow discoloration of the baby's skin. As the breakdown of red blood cells slows down, and the baby's liver matures, the jaundice rapidly disappears. When jaundice is due to these factors alone, it is termed physiologic jaundice.
    
    
  • Neonatal jaundice will be seen in cases of maternal-fetal blood type incompatibility. The mother's body will actually produce antibodies that attack the fetus's blood cells. This causes a breakdown of the red blood cells and thus an increased release of bilirubin from the red cells.
    
    
  • Healthy red blood cells can be destroyed in a condition called hemolysis.
    
    
  • Polycythemia is a condition in which a child is born with an excess of red blood cells.
    
    
  • A large scalp bruise called a cephalohematoma can occur during the birthing process. Such a bruise is really a collection of clotted blood just beneath the skin surface. As the body naturally breaks down this clotted blood, a large amount of bilirubin is released at once. This sudden excess in serum bilirubin may be too much for the baby's liver to handle, and jaundice will develop.
    
    
  • Sometimes a baby swallows blood during birth. This swallowed blood is broken down in the baby's intestines and absorbed into the bloodstream. Just as the excess blood from a blood clot will cause a rise in serum bilirubin, so will this.
    
    
  • A mother who has diabetes may cause a baby to develop neonatal jaundice.
    
    
  • Crigler-Najjar syndrome and Lucey-Driscoll syndrome are also conditions that can cause jaundice.
  
  
• A condition called carotenemia also causes a yellowish discoloration of the skin.
  
  
  • The skin color in this condition tends to be a darker orange than seen with jaundice.
    
    
  • Eating a lot of yellow vegetables causes this condition.
    
    
  • Children with carotenemia have normal bilirubin levels.
    
    
  • Unlike jaundice, carotenemia does not cause a discoloration of the white part of the eyes.
    
    
  • This condition causes no harm and requires no treatment.