Treatment Plan & Prognosis

Treatment Plan

Referral criteria:
Emergency admission:
– Features of encephalopathy

Urgent admission (within 2 hours):
– Jaundice <24 hours of age

Urgent admission (within 6 hours):
– Prolonged jaundice >7 days if acute unwell (fever, lethargy, vomiting, irritability), gestational age less than 35 weeks, feeding/Weight concern, pale stool and dark urine.

For all others:
– Bilirubin is measured in less than 6 hours, if unable to assess this in the community, then do a referral to neonates to get this done
– For breastfeeding jaundice: continue and increase frequency to 3-hourly feeds

Prognosis
– Usually harmless and self-limiting in physiological cases
– Risk of serious complications in pathological cases