Effect on neonatal jaundice of oestrogens and progestogens taken before and after conception.

Study of 182 newborn babies has shown that among bottle-fed infants the mean plasma bilirubin concentration was slightly but significantly higher (P <0.01) in those whose mothers had previously used steroid contraceptives. A similar finding was not noted among breast-fed infants.A further 16 infants whose mothers had received progestogen therapy during their pregnancy had a mean plasma bilirubin concentration which was significantly higher than each of the four other groups of infants studied (P <0.01). Icterus occasionally reached clinically important levels in these babies.