Many neonatal caregivers are afraid of bilirubin.
Sometimes this fear is justified, sometimes it is not. I want to spend the next few minutes reviewing some information about bilirubin which may help you decide whether or not to be concerned about the bilirubin in a particular infant in your care. Bilirubin is a by-product of the breakdown of hemoglobin, specifically, the heme part of hemoglobin. The more red blood cell hemolysis in an infant, the more heme destruction and, consequently, the more bilirubin production. Unconjugated bilirubin is not a compound, but rather the designation for a family of compounds.