Persistent perceptions of vulnerability following neonatal jaundice
K. J. Kemper, B. W. Forsyth and P. L. McCarthy
Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle 98104.
Treatments for neonatal jaundice are generally considered both safe and
effective. We hypothesized that such treatments would be associated with
symptoms of the vulnerable child syndrome, persisting up to 6 months.
Mothers of otherwise healthy infants who had jaundice and demographically
similar infants without jaundice born at Yale-New Haven (Conn) Hospital
were surveyed and compared 6 months after discharge from the hospital. By 6
months, the infants with jaundice had significantly more feeding
difficulties, eg, they were less likely to be breast-feeding. Unexpectedly,
the mothers of infants with jaundice switched from being less likely to
leave their infants with someone else at 1 month to leaving the infants
significantly more than mothers of infants in the comparison group.
Although the mothers of infants in the comparison group reported a similar
number of infant health problems, the mothers of infants with jaundice were
more likely to judge the problems as serious and to have taken the infant
to an emergency department. The benefits of treating jaundice in otherwise
healthy infants should be weighted against the risks of developing the
vulnerable child syndrome.
