Neonate jaundice and why I don't recommend herbs

The wife of one of our family friends gave birth about a week ago via Caesarian sectioning. We have been up and about since then, rendering all the assistance we can muster because it is a case of a new mother, and particularly, the Caesarian sectioning limits the new mother's physical activities.

The new mother has no previous experience of giving birth or nursing babies. It is part of the culture in this part of the world for the mother inlaw or the mother of a new mother to spend some time with the new mother after delivery. But as it is, both the mother inlaw and the mother of the new mother could not make it down for one reason or another. My wife has been the one playing the roles they should be playing.

The new mother and the baby were reluctantly discharged 3 days after delivery. Reluctantly because the baby was being studied for the suspicion of having jaundice. I have heard cases of new babies coming down with jaundice but have yet to directly experience one myself. Before the discharge, blood samples of the baby has been taking and analyzed but the result came back indeterminate. The laboratory scientist recommended a repeat of the procedure but the new father will not have any of it.

The father insisted on discharging the mother and the baby and he was obliged by the hospital management after putting pen to paper that he will be liable for anything that happens to the baby. The father was primarily concerned about the hospital bill that keeps accumulating with every day that passes.

The following day, it became obvious that the baby has jaundice. I personally recommended that she should be taken back to the hospital but the father insisted on not going back. Instead, he went out and brought a herb made from the leaves of pawpaw (Carica papaya). An aqueous extract of the leaves was given to the baby to ingest. This was used in combination with an antibiotic known as Zinnat (active content is cefuroxime). To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about the treatment being offered by the father but I was not going to get myself involved too much in the affairs of others.

While I may not be totally averse to herbs as a complementary form of treatment for certain diseases, giving herbal mixtures to neonates whose organs are yet to fully develop is something I will never recommend. This is primarily because of the lack of a weighted dosage to give (this is also my problem with herbs generally). I have heard cases of babies having kidney failure or damaged liver as a result of the administration of herbs.

Any success recorded by the use of herbs this way is purely by trial and error method. Anyway, to cut the long story short, the feared jaundice cleared a few days after the treatment was administered. I used the word "cleared" because the symptom of the disease was prominently shown by the yellowing of the eyes of the baby. With time, the yellowness could have spread to the baby's skin with the baby being apparently sick.

The conventional medical treatment for the neonate would have been to subject the baby to phototherapy. The baby is exposed to as much light as possible until the jaundice clears off. The condition is primarily caused by the accumulation of bilirubin in the blood - a result of the failure of the liver to break down bilirubin. Extreme conditions require that an exchange transfusion, the complete replacement of blood, is performed.

Some jaundice may have underlining conditions and these usually require special treatments. All in all, I think it is better to go for conventional treatment of neonates whenever anything is amiss about their health condition.

What do you think?