Newborn Jaundice Checker

Mild jaundice — a yellow tinge to the skin and the whites of the eyes — is very common in newborns and is usually harmless. It comes from bilirubin, a normal by-product of the body breaking down red blood cells, building up faster than a brand-new liver can clear it. The ordinary kind typically becomes noticeable on about day 2 to 4 of life, stays mild, and fades on its own. What turns jaundice from routine into something that needs urgent attention is a specific set of signals: it appears in the first 24 hours of life; the yellow is deep or reaches down to the legs and the soles of the feet; the baby is very sleepy or hard to wake, feeding poorly, or making few wet diapers; there's a high-pitched cry, arching, or fever. Any of those means contact your baby's doctor right away or go to the emergency room — this checker leads with them for that reason.

Because jaundice that appears in the first day of life is never assumed to be the ordinary, harmless kind. The common physiologic jaundice shows up a bit later — usually around day 2 to 4 — as a newborn's liver catches up. Yellow skin in the first 24 hours more often points to something that is breaking red blood cells down faster than normal, such as a blood-type incompatibility between parent and baby (ABO or Rh) or a condition like G6PD deficiency, and bilirubin can climb quickly. That's why guidelines treat any visible jaundice in the first 24 hours as a reason to measure the bilirubin level promptly. If your baby is less than a day old and looks yellow, don't wait and watch — contact your baby's doctor now.

You can get a rough sense, but you can't measure it by eye — and that's the honest limit of any at-home check, this one included. Jaundice tends to spread from the top of the body downward: it usually shows on the face and eyes first, then the chest and belly, then the arms and legs, and reaching the legs and the soles of the feet suggests a higher level. Look in bright, natural light, and press gently on the skin (for example on the nose or forehead) — the skin blanches pale and any yellow shows more clearly as it refills. On darker skin the whites of the eyes and the gums are more reliable to check than the skin itself. But how far the yellow reaches is only a clue: the actual bilirubin level is measured by a clinician with a light sensor on the skin or a small blood test, and that number — read against your baby's exact age in hours — is what decides whether treatment is needed. Use the pattern to decide how urgently to call; let the measurement make the call.

Kernicterus is a rare but serious form of brain injury that can happen when a very high bilirubin level goes untreated and bilirubin crosses into the brain. It can lead to lasting problems such as cerebral palsy, hearing loss, and difficulties with movement — which is exactly why severe jaundice is taken so seriously. The reassuring half is that it is largely preventable: caught in time, high bilirubin is very treatable. The mainstay is phototherapy — placing the baby under special blue-spectrum lights that change the bilirubin into a form the body can clear more easily — which is safe, common, and effective. In the uncommon cases where a level is dangerously high, an exchange transfusion may be used. None of these are decisions you make at home; the point of screening and of this checker is simply to get your baby in front of a clinician while jaundice is still easy to treat.

Newborns should be looked at for jaundice regularly in the first days of life, because that's when bilirubin usually peaks. Guidance from the AAP and CDC is that babies be checked regularly while in the hospital — the AAP says to assess for jaundice at least every 12 hours, and the CDC every 8 to 12 hours in the first 48 hours — that jaundice risk be assessed before discharge, and that every baby be seen by a nurse or doctor again within a day or two of going home — with particular attention around 3 to 5 days old, when the level is typically highest. If your baby left the hospital early, the follow-up visit matters even more. These checks are the safety net: many babies with rising bilirubin feel and look fine to a parent, so the scheduled look — and a measurement when there's any doubt — is what catches a problem before it becomes serious. Keep those appointments even if the jaundice seems mild.

Yes. This checker runs entirely in your browser: your answers about your baby are scored on your own device and are never sent to a server, saved, or shared — close the tab and they're gone. There's no account, nothing to delete, and no tracking of what you entered. What you get back is general educational information based on published AAP, CDC, and MedlinePlus guidance; it is not a diagnosis, not a bilirubin measurement, and not a substitute for the checks your baby's doctor does. Its whole job is to help you decide how quickly to call — and to make sure the emergencies come first.