Effect of Fluid Supplementation in Severe Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia

Objective: 1. To evaluate the role of intravenous extra fluid supplementation in accelerating the reduction of serum bilirubin level in neonates.2. to find out whether fluid supplementation decrease the total duration of photo therapy and need of exchange transfusion Methods: Study was conducted at Neonatal ICU at civil, hospital, Ahmedabad over period of 6 months. Eighty four healthy breast-fed neonates with indirect non-hemolytic hyperbilirubinemia were assigned randomly to receive either breast milk exclusively (case group; n=42) or intravenous fluid in addition to breast milk (control group; n=42). The rate of decrement of serum bilirubin, total duration of phototherapy and exchange transfusion rate were compared. Results: The rate of serum bilirubin decrement per hour in the first 6 hours is 0.58 in group I versus 0.37 in group II (P=