Newborn Jaundice: Ayurvedic Treatment, Causes & Natural Remedies

When a newborn baby develops jaundice within the first week of life, the underlying imbalance is depleted apya tejas — the subtle energy of the water agni. The baby is placed under a blue light, which clears the air, pacifies pitta, and helps improve liver function, allowing the liver to heal.

When a pitta-constitution woman carries a pitta-constitution fetus, there may be excessive ranjaka agni in the infant's liver. Some of these infants are born with premature hepatic cells—due to the pitta prakruti in the mother and a pitta-provoking diet during pregnancy—that cannot process bilirubin into bile. Instead of entering the bile, bilirubin enters the blood, and within the first seven days the baby may develop physiological jaundice called icterus neonatorum.

Treatment involves placing the baby under blue light, which helps the immature hepatic cells to mature so they can begin proper processing of bilirubin back into bile. This process takes one to several weeks. Blue light heals the liver and calms bhuta agni and ranjaka pitta, which are in excess in this condition.