Although the first defense in reducing jaundice in nursing frequently, evidence shows that sunlight may treat or prevent normal physiological jaundice.
A study conducted in Africa set out to find effective ways to treat jaundice using sunlight. They succeeded. In their research, the investigators developed canopies from light-filtering films to block almost all UV-A light and found a way to manage neonatal jaundice.
What do You Mean by Filtered Light?
When you are outside in direct sunlight, there is no filter from the sun’s harmful rays. Indoors, standard windows will block almost all of the UV-B and UV-C light, but they don’t block UV-A. To block that light, you need window film. When that is added, you have filtered light.
If you don’t have a window treatment that blocks UV-A light, that’s okay. There is a lot of indirect light coming in through your windows that is beneficial for your baby.
One way to expose your baby to light is by opening the drapes. During the day, from dawn to dusk, completely open all of your drapes and blinds. Raise the blinds all the way up – do not just twist to open. Your baby needs light, so open the curtains in every room that you will be in with your baby, including the bedroom.
While opening all the drapes allows a room to fill up with light, being closer to a window with your baby will enable the sunlight to reduce jaundice more effectively.
Inside Sunlight
Expose your baby near a sunlit window (not in direct sunlight) for twenty minutes, several times per day.
Do this even if it is raining, cloudy, overcast, storming, snowing, or a blizzard is going by. Filtered light matters!
Outside Sunlight
Indirect sunlight: Clouds can block some of the UV rays from the sun, but not all. Seventy to eighty percent of UV light still gets through on cloudy days. Indirect light under a canopy or umbrella can block the UV rays by about half. Always choose the early or later part of the day to bring your baby outside and limit indirect sunlight exposure to 10 minutes or less, several times per day.
Always undress your baby, down to a diaper, when exposing to sunlight.
On cool days, lay baby next to your skin to maintain your baby’s temperature.
Always check your baby for jaundice at a window. Check the face, neck, chest, belly, and back.
Jaundice in the first 24 hours of birth is not normal. Contact your midwife if this occurs.
SUNSHINE IS MEANT FOR MINOR JAUNDICE FOR TERM, HEALTHY NEWBORNS. YOUR BABY MAY NEED TREATMENT WITH PHOTOTHERAPY.
Phototherapy
In some cases, a baby may need phototherapy. Phototherapy uses florescent light that breaks down the bilirubin in the baby’s skin, called “bili” lights. In the hospital, babies are put under bili lights when they have high bilirubin levels. Some pediatricians offer portable units for home use. Ask your pediatrician if they lend out bili lights.
If your midwife determines that your baby needs more help than sunshine can offer, she will refer the baby for immediate care to your pediatrician.
National Institute of Health, National Library of Medicine, Can sunlight replace phototherapy units in the treatment of neonatal jaundice? An in vitro study. Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed. December 2001.
National Institute of Health, National Library of Medicine, Sunlight for the prevention and treatment of hyperbilirubinemia in term and late preterm neonates. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. March 2017.
National Institute of Health, National Library of Medicine, Treatment of neonatal jaundice with filtered sunlight in Nigerian neonates: study protocol of a non-inferiority, randomized controlled trial. Trials. December 2018.
