While many social media users are annoyed by parents who just could not stop posting photos of their kids, it could not be argued that social media has also helped save a number of lives.
Take this story of a baby whose life was saved when her daddy posted a photo of her first bath.
The tiny one was pictured while looking accusingly at her dad, with her chin and mouth clearly showing she was upset and about to cry.
Her dad thought that the snapshot was hilarious; so, he posted it on social media. The hilarious post went viral on Reddit. It was there that a pediatrician spotted the photo and spots something wrong in it.
The pediatrician going by the handle “vespera23” wrote, “Are her eyes a bit yellow? Looks a bit like it to me, but the whole picture is a bit yellow tinted. Probably fine, but jaundice is a symptom of hyperbilirubinemia in babies, which is very common in the first few days / week of life. If her eyes/skin looks yellow IRL and she hasn’t seen a doc she could probably use a checkup. Source: I’m a paranoid pediatrician.”
Thankfully, the father heeded the pediatrician’s advice and brought the baby to a doctor who diagnosed the child with jaundice! It was a good thing he had posted the shot on imgur and the pediatrician who spotted the baby’s yellow eyes did not keep quiet about what he/she saw.
Infant Jaundice
While infant jaundice is a common condition often seen in babies born before 38 weeks gestation, there are rare cases when the high bilirubin levels cause brain damage when left untreated. Thus, it is important to bring the child to a pediatrician if yellow skin and eyes are detected so he/she could be properly diagnosed and treated.
Still, most cases of infant jaundice are not life-threatening and, generally, respond well to treatment.
The reason for infant jaundice is that the blood contains excess amounts of bilirubin, pigment of red blood cells which are yellow in color.