
How To Check For Liver Dysfunction In An Infant?

Should we be concerned and take him to urgent care sooner?
Get investigations done and report
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on Healthcaremagic. I have a few queries:
1. Birth weight of the child and present weight. Was the child born pretetm and if so, how early.
2. The food habits of the child.
3. Nature of stool.
I will also request you to get the following investigations done:
1. Blood for serum bilirubin, haemoglobin, total count, differential count.
I would be better able to help you with the above details and reports. Let me mention that the jaundice that he suffered earlier is no way related to today's condition. There is an entity called physiological jaundice which occurs in newborns around 3-5 days of life. The foetus has a higher haemoglobin concentration than its mother so that it can extract oxygen from the mother. This extra haemoglobin is no longer required after birth and breaks down to bilirubin and gives rise to jaundice. It is normal and not a cause of concern. In today's scenario it is irrelevant and we will have to keep worms and infective hepatitis in mind.

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