Neonatal jaundice is a term for an increase in total serum bilirubin in newborns and infants less than one month of age. In other words, neonatal jaundice is the yellowish discoloration of the skin and the white part of the eye (the sclera). 1 Neonatal jaundice occurs in 60% of healthy full-term newborns and 80% of preterm newborns.2 It is caused by too much of a substance called bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is formed when the body breaks down old red blood cells. The liver usually processes and removes bilirubin from the blood. Neonatal jaundice in babies usually occurs due to a normal increase in the breakdown of red blood cells and the fact that their immature livers are not efficient at removing bilirubin from the bloodstream. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay There are mainly two types of neonatal jaundice. • Physiological jaundice • Pathological jaundice PHYSIOLOGICAL JANUARY is due to physiological immaturity, immaturity in the results of the steps in the occurrence of the first days of life. CHARACTERISTICS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL JAUNDICE: Appears for the first time between 24 and 72 hours of age, Maximum intensity found on the 4-5th day in full-term newborns, Does not exceed 15 mg/dl and clinically undetectable after 14 days. PATHOLOGICAL JAUNDICE: Bilirubin levels that deviate from the normal range and require intervention, i.e. the presence of any of the following signs indicates that jaundice is pathological. Treatment is required in the form of phototherapy. Clinical jaundice detected before 24 hours of age, increased serum bilirubin greater than 5 mg/dl/day, serum bilirubin greater than 15 mg/dl, persistent jaundice beyond 14 days of life, and direct bilirubin >2 at any time. Jaundice comes from the French word “jaune,” which means yellow. When a baby is said to be jaundiced it simply means that the color of his skin appears yellow. Jaundice in the baby appears first on the face and upper body and progresses downward towards the toes. Premature newborns are more likely to develop jaundice than full-term babies. 3 In newborns, jaundice tends to develop due to two factors: the degradation of fetal hemoglobin as it is replaced with adult hemoglobin and relatively immature hepatic metabolic pathways that are unable to conjugate and then excrete bilirubin with it. speed of an adult. This causes a buildup of bilirubin in the blood, leading to the symptoms of jaundice.4 Every year in India, over one million newborns die before completing the first month of life, accounting for 30% of neonatal deaths worldwide. India's current neonatal mortality rate is 20 per 1000 live births. Asian and Native American male infants are thought to be most affected by neonatal jaundice: 13.4 million infants require treatment for jaundice each year. Among all age groups, newborns are the most susceptible to mortality and morbidity. According to the UNICEF newsletter of 24 April 2008, one in four children under the age of one dies in the world, one is Indian. The infant mortality rate in the country is 67% per thousand live births, in which neonatal mortality contributes 43.4/1000 against the annual mortality of 9/1000 (2008). In India, neonatal jaundice contributes 4.55% to death in the neonatal period. 6 According to the neonatal protocol of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, neonatal jaundice is the most common morbidity in the neonatal period and 5-10% of all newborns require interventions for pathological jaundice. Exclusively breastfed infants have a different pattern of physiologic jaundice than infants.