" Help my baby's turning yellow!"

A young mother turned up at the clinic last month with her seven month old infant looking desperate. She said she noticed the skin of her baby has become progressively yellow for the past week. He is her first baby and he also suffered from jaundice at birth. She was worried that the condition had recurred. In fact she had been to a private doctor who assured her nothing was wrong with the baby. She was not convinced as the yellowish tint has become more generalised to involve the baby's hands.

The mother was asking whether a blood test should be done on the infant to establish the cause of his abnormally yellow skin.

General examination of the infant showed that he was active,alert and well-fed. Of course he was looking abnormally yellow but his eyes were not, as expected if he were to have a liver or blood problem causing a high bilirubin level in the system, yellow (jaundiced). The signs and symptoms did not point to  a usual medical condition.

I proceeded to ask about what kind of food the child was given and whether mashed carrot was given and how often. The mother said she gave mashed carrot everyday for every meal for the last one month! I advised her to stop the practice because frequent intake of carrot especially in a young child would cause the skin to have a yellow tint. And there was no need for a blood test.

What the baby was suffering from is called carotenemia that is an excessive blood level of carotene which causes a temporary yellowing of the skin (pseudojaundice). Carotenemia is most commonly seen in infants fed too much mashed carrots and also adults consuming high quantities of carrots, carrot juice or beta carotene in supplement form.

Carrots contain  carotene

Mashed carrot

A meal of mashed carrot twice a week would be just fine. The mother should also use other type of green leafy vegetables instead of just carrot.

The child's skin has since returned to a normal colour. The mother is thankfully relieved.