Welcome to the paediatric surgeon’s journal.
Newborn jaundice is a condition that resolves spontaneously in two-thirds of babies but may still cause serious illnesses. Many factors such as malnutrition, early or late delivery can cause the emergence of newborn jaundice. What about newborn circumcision? Does it increase newborn jaundice? You will read the answer in this blog.
Actually, it all started with a question from a paediatrician friend of mine. We know that babies who breastfeed less are more likely to have jaundice. She asked that babies can sleep more after circumcision and therefore breastfeed less and this situation may ncrease the likelihood of jaundice.
I do so many circumcisions in my routine clinical practice. One wants to do the best when performing a surgical procedure that is constantly discussed. I did not know the answer to the question they asked me, I had not even thought of such a possibility. But since I encountered so many parents who missed this chance of newborn circumcision, who were pushed to be circumcised later by paediatricians with the thought that newborn circumcision would increase jaundice, I immediately did a literature search… and bingo… nobody thought of it either.
We quickly made two groups of thirty babies. In order to be homogeneous groups, we chose completely healthy male babies who did not have risks causing jaundice or other problems, who were born 35-40 weeks and weighing more than 3000 grams. I applied newborn circumcision to the first group 48 hours after birth, using the same method I always do. The second group consisted of babies who were not circumcised. We compared the two groups with the daily weight change, the number of voids, and the 72-hour post-jaundice measurement test, that is, blood bilirubin values, which we routinely apply to each baby.
All in all, wisely, there was no difference between both groups. The expected weight loss in babies in the first days was the same in both groups. There were two babies with jaundice that needed phototherapy, both of whom were in the uncircumcised group.
We found that circumcision performed by experienced hands is safe, does not change the feeding and pooping frequency of babies, and does not increase serum bilirubin levels; that is, we published that newborn jaundice is not increased. You can read our article by clicking here.
In our hospital, parents who just gave birth already being notified about this situation. I would like to specifically call those who gave birth in other hospitals and chose us for newborn circumcision. Please do not be late to worry about jaundice. We do not recommend newborn circumcision after the first month of life.
We tell those who choose us for circumcision but gave birth abroad or in another hospital to come as early as possible within the first month.