Feeding practices and early neonatal jaundice.

We studied rates of early neonatal jaundice in 135 consecutive well newborns in relation to feeding practice. Breast-fed infants had significantly (p less than 0.01) higher rates of jaundice than bottle-fed infants. In a subset of breast-fed infants, sugar water intake in the first 3 days of life was significantly and inversely related to estimated volume of breast milk intake on the 4th day (r = -0.35, p less than 0.05). Breast-fed infants with high sugar water intake in the first 3 days, and low breast milk intake on the 4th day, tended to have higher rates of jaundice, but these results were not statistically significant. These data raise the possibility that in breast-fed infants, sugar water intake may reduce the stimulus to nurse, and thereby increase the risk of jaundice.