If you are a mother of a newborn, make it a priority to regularly visit a doctor. This could save your child from jaundice.

Charles Nuwagaba, a pediatrician at Polyfam Polyclinique Familiale in Kisementi, Kigali, says these visits shouldn’t be taken for granted as they are important when it comes to treating and preventing diseases, as well as conditions that can be detected before the birth of the baby.

Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a condition, according to Nuwagaba, that could arise when the mother has not taken a step to attend antenatal care.

He says this condition can be prevented, adding that although it’s not a disease, when it occurs to infants it can be fetal if promptness is not observed in dealing with it.

"Jaundice is the yellowish coloration of the skin and the eyes,” he says.

Nuwagaba adds that in children, jaundice normally occurs three to five days after a baby is born.

"Newborn babies or neonates have rose color, but due to some reasons, the skin may turn yellowish. The condition can also affect adults,” he says.

Why it occurs

The cause of jaundice depends on the age, says Raymond Awazi, a pediatrician at Polyclinic Ectoile in Kigali.

He explains that there are two categories; the first one being where it happens in a newborns (neonates) baby from 0-28 days, while the second can occur in older children.

The main reason that brings about jaundice in infants is physiological.

Awazi explains that when the life cycle of red blood cells is short in newborn babies, resulting from the body destroying its own blood cells, one of the results it brings about is the yellowing of the skin in a newborn baby.

Although this is not a disease, Awazi says it can lead to serious problems.

"If it’s not too much, the mothers should breastfeed their children when they are naked. Exposing the child to early morning sunshine also helps,” he says

According to Nuwagaba, one of the best treatments of jaundice in kids is light.

"Apart from providing vitamin D to the child, sunlight also clears jaundice in newborn babies. Identifying the cause is the proper way of doing away with jaundice. Anti-viral or steroid medications should be given in case of hepatitis. Eating more iron-rich foods can work in case of anaemia,” he says.

When does it become of concern?

"In babies, when their skin is completely turning yellow, it’s signifies danger and the mother should seek medication as fast as possible, as it can result to death or other complications,” says Awazi.

Nuwagaba further notes that other reasons such as infections, compatibility of the blood between the mother and the child also known as haemolysis are other factors that could lead to jaundice in children.

"For this reason that’s why we advise every expectant mother to have antenatal visits from conception until they deliever.This is the benefit of knowing the blood groups of both baby and mother,” he adds.

Nuwagaba points out that if the likelihood of the incapability is found, the condition can be treated earlier to avoid cases of jaundice when the baby is born.

However, Iba Mayale, a gynecologist at Doctors Plaza Kimironko in Kigali, says mothers are taught after giving birth how to detect signs of such conditions.

He notes that one of the things being taught includes checking the color of the skin of their babies often.

"Especially the first time mothers, whenever they observe the yellowing of the skin, they should seek medication immediately for appropriate redress,” he says.

Jaundice in adults

The second category is for children above 28 days to adults. Awazi says yellowish eyes and skin in children from 28 days and above, hepatitis (the disease of the liver) and anaemia are among the common causes.

Under hepatitis, Ivan Ntwari, a general practitioner at University Teaching Hospital, Kigali, (CHUK), notes that the different forms, such as viral hepatitis C and A, can bring about yellowing of the skin.

On the other hand, hepatitis can also be as a result of drug abuse or traditional medicines, which can destroy the liver leading to yellowish coloration of the eyes and skin.

"Other diseases that affect the liver, for example malaria, can lead to yellowing of the skin, and especially the eyes,” he says.

Ntwari explains that this is because malaria destroys red blood cells, which brings about decolorisation of the skin.

He also points out that there are also other conditions such as sickle cell anaemia that cause abnormalities of red blood cells, thus yellowing of the eyes.

"In newborn babies the causes are mainly physiological. But for older children or adults, the main cause rotates around the diseases of the liver,” Ntwari says.