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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffBilirubin, the agent that causes the yellow color of jaundice, is a normal part of the waste produced when "used" red blood cells are broken down. The liver filters bilirubin from the bloodstream and releases it into the intestinal tract. Bilirubin is removed from the body primarily in the stool. Before birth, a mother's liver removes bilirubin from the baby's blood.
A newborn infant has a large amount of red blood cells, and the rate at which they are produced and broken down is relatively fast. Also, the liver of a newborn is immature and often can't remove bilirubin quickly enough. Jaundice due to these normal newborn conditions, or physiologic jaundice, typically appears on the second or third day of life.
Excess bilirubin in the blood is called hyperbilirubinemia. Although jaundice is actually a sign of hyperbilirubinemia, the term "jaundice" is often used as shorthand for the longer term.
Other causes
A baby may have an underlying disorder that is causing jaundice. In these cases, jaundice often appears much earlier or much later than physiologic jaundice. Diseases or conditions that can cause jaundice include:
- Internal bleeding (hemorrhage)
- An infection in your baby's blood (sepsis)
- Other viral or bacterial infections
- An incompatibility between the mother's blood and the baby's blood
- A liver malfunction
- An enzyme deficiency
- An abnormality of your baby's red blood cells
- Piazza A, et al. Digestive system disorders. In: Kliegman R, et al, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/121716574-3/807466544/1608/324.html. Accessed Feb. 22, 2009.
- Questions and answers: Jaundice and your newborn. American Academy of Pediatrics. http://www.aap.org/family/Jaundice_English.pdf. Accessed Feb. 25, 2009.
- Moerschel SK, et al. A practical approach to neonatal jaundice. American Family Physician. 2008;77:1255.
- Management of hyperbilirubinemia in the newborn infant 35 or more weeks of gestation. Pediatrics. 2004;114:297.
- Cohen SM. Jaundice in the full-term newborn. Pediatric Nursing. 2006;32:202.
- Maisels MJ, et al. Phototherapy for neonatal jaundice. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358:920.
