A G1P1 mother aged 28 years delivers a healthy 38 4/7-week infant via cesarean section due to failure to progress. After 48 hours of moderately successful breastfeeding attempts with the help of both postpartum nursing and the lactation consultant team, a bilirubin level results high enough to warrant phototherapy. On family-centered rounds the next day, the medical student discusses the infant’s feeding, weight, and available maternal milk supply, then excitedly states that the most likely diagnosis is “breastfeeding jaundice.” The exhausted mother immediately begins crying, convinced that her inability to breastfeed is the cause of her infant’s suffering.
The link between breastfeeding and jaundice has been reported since the 1960s.1 In 1981, Poland noted that infants receiving inadequate fluid volumes were more likely to become jaundiced. This prompted a correspondence article challenging this statement in The Journal of Pediatrics titled “Breastfeeding Jaundice.”