Dr Chris Steele introduces the latest campaign to help parents recognize the symptoms of liver disease in babies.

Yellow Alert Campaign helps to spot signs of liver disease in babies

When jaundice in new born babies is more

Parents need to be on the look-out for the signs of potentially life-threatening liver diseases when changing their baby’s nappy. Delays in spotting these signs and getting early treatment can lead to the need for a liver transplant at a young age and could ultimately cost them their baby’s life.

The Yellow Alert campaign, launched by Children's Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF), is aimed at parents and spells out the warning signs of liver disease in newly born babies which are actually simple to spot. The key signs are:
  • Prolonged jaundice, lasting beyond two weeks after birth, where a baby has yellow appearance of the skin and the whites of the eyes
  • Pale stools and/or yellow urine (it should be colourless)


Parents should know that a healthy newborn’s urine is usually colourless whereas the stool colour should be English mustard yellow or green in bottle fed babies and daffodil yellow or green in breast fed babies.

If a parent notices any of the symptoms, they should be reported to the midwife, health visitor or GP and a special blood test called a split bilirubin test should be done to rule out liver disease.

At least one baby is born with liver disease every day in the UK but we have no way of telling which baby will be affected. There is no specific group at risk of liver disease. In the early stages of liver disease a baby can look and feed entirely well, which can be misleading for everyone.

The earlier a diagnosis is made, the less damage will have occurred in the liver and the higher the chances of sparing the child from a liver transplant at a young age. Time is of the essence when dealing with liver conditions.

A leaflet for parents 'Jaundice in the new born baby' is available from the CLDF website at http://www.childliverdisease.org/education/yellowalert or by calling 0121 212 3839 or via email on yellowalert [AT] childliverdisease.org.


This content was created on Tue 9 October 2007

More like this
Babies and Children
Pregnancy and Childbirth
Illnesses
News and Comment
Use this page



Privacy Terms | Advertisers | Legal Disclaimer | Contact
© 2007 TheFamilyGP.com