My granddaughter is almost 4 days old. At her checkup it was discovered that she is jaundiced. Her level is 15 point something. They are sending a blanket/light device to my daughter s home to get her numbers down. Is this common and is there anything I can do to ease my daughter s mind about the effectiveness of this type of treatment?
Hello, I read your question carefully and can understand your concern for your granddaughter very well.  I would like to tell you that jaundice is very common in newborn after 2nd day of birth and its physiological and most of the time it will go away within 7 to 10 days without any treatment. Rarely bilirubin level goes beyond 18 or 20\u00a0mg/DL.  If the bilirubin level goes beyond 18, then baby requires phototherapy which consists of UV rays which convert water insoluble bilirubin into soluble form, which can be easily excreted from her body.  Blanket is the other name of home phototherapy, works on same principle and its very common, so I would recommend your daughter to use it to ease the jaundice. It is also effective as long as the baby is healthy. But if the baby is not feeding well or has high grade fever or convulsion, then I would suggest you to admit in Neonatal ICU till the condition improves.  Otherwise, no need to worry and use bill blanket to reduce the levels of bilirubin, which mostly become normal within 2 weeks or so.  Hope this will help and feel free to ask any of your further queries directly to me anytime, I will be happy to guide you in right direction.