Daylight helps to detect infant jaundice in new born babies – doctor

Pediatrician at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Dr. Hilda Boye has advised parents expose their new born babies to natural daylight because it helps to detect infant jaundice early.
Speaking on Adom FM’s reality show for pregnant women, ‘Nyinsen Ne Awuor’, the doctor said mothers who always keep new born babies indoors without showing them to natural sunshine, risk their babies getting jaundice, which can cause brain damage.
“Jaundice in infant usually appears 24hrs after birth and the only way to tell if your baby has jaundice is to look for color changes in your baby’s skin, the whites of your baby’s eyes and the pink skin inside your baby’s mouth and if these areas turn yellowish you must immediately take the baby to see a doctor,” she.
She noted that the longer the baby is kept indoors, the more intense the jaundice becomes and that can destroy the baby’s brain for good.
Dr. Boye again revealed that most mothers take their babies to the hospital after the jaundice has fully develop because of some bad advice from family and friends to hide their new born babies after birth in the name of protecting the baby from some external forces.
She said there are lots of advance machines currently available at various hospitals to help deal with the infant jaundice when detected early.
Dr. Hilda Boye also cautioned mothers to desist from using hot water on the genitals of their newly born babies in the name of treating wounds, adding that some wounds on babies are a result of maternal hormones, which will naturally heal on their own.