Jaundice is a condition in which the liver is unable to fully process bilirubin, a by-product of breaking down red blood cells. Everyone, baby or not, relies on their liver to break these down, and in principle anyone can be jaundiced. Infants are at higher risk for this just after birth for a few reasons. There are more blood cells being broken down shortly after birth, increasing the load of bilirubin presented to the liver. At birth, the liver remains immature and therefore has difficulty excreting this higher load into the gut. Finally, in the first few days of life, babies are not eating
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