An overlooked aspect of the newborn blood-brain barrier
Why collagen health needs to be considered for the health of all new babies
When I first created my Quantum Newborn Jaundice mini-course, the most difficult part to research was not bilirubin cycles or understanding the dangers of intensive phototherapy—the research on all that is quite clear!
When I investigated bilirubin and phototherapy, I found out we really need to start working in pregnancy to avoid the trouble altogether, so that’s a huge focus inside the current version of the mini-course because I don’t see very many people talking about newborn jaundice prevention.
And of the people taking the course, several have already reached out to me telling me that after implementing the recommendations in the course, they have successfully had babies who have not needed phototherapy! Even though for these women, they have previously had one or more babies who did require the phototherapy.
These stories are so wonderful to hear, and exactly why I created the course in the first place.
But, for the babies (especially NICU babies) who are already going through jaundice—maybe for pathological rather than physiological reasons—I still wanted to uncover some clue for how we could do better in the middle of the crisis.
Understanding what to do better or differently in the middle of a newborn jaundice crisis or treatment was a little more difficult, but I was able to find out a lot!
If we haven’t prevented jaundice in a particular baby, and intensive phototherapy is currently the only recommended treatment… we can still help the baby!
My quantum newborn jaundice mini-course and this line of research was inspired by time I have spent in the NICU watching tiny babies, alone, wearing little goggles, dehydrated and getting fluids (not necessarily breastmilk)… not to mention the sounds of babies getting heel-prick bilirubin tests, sugar-coated binkies or no.
It just has always seemed like there must be a less painful and less isolating way to handle newborn jaundice! And considering that in some populations, 50% or more of babies are presenting with jaundice in the weeks following birth, if we had better methods, we could be helping A LOT of babies and families.
Jaundice and mother-baby bonding
As a doula, facilitating the mother-baby bond is one of my core missions. Early development of the oxytocin receptors is extremely important to a baby’s social future. I teach more about this in my 90 minute Circadian Babyhood Workshop, which is also included in your paid subscription.
As it turns out, intensive phototherapy is currently the number one reason babies are separated from mothers in the US!
As a doula’s role is also helping families with evidence-based information to help them make decisions, I was at this point a little stumped: many of the families I have worked with would prefer to keep avoid intensive phototherapy if at all possible. But if their baby gets a certain test level, that phototherapy is all they will be offered and it can also prevent a family from being discharged from the NICU even if all of baby’s other signs are healthy.
The danger of jaundice progressing to kernicterus
While many babies handle jaundice just fine, unchecked jaundice can also escalate within hours to kernicterus, causing irreversible brain damage. This is especially a danger in the premature or health-compromised infant populations that go through the NICU.
So, while it is easy to find out what the current protocols are, it was more difficult understanding where the evidence-base might actually support parents wishes to keep their babies out of the incubators and intensive bili lights—and what they might be able to do instead (or in addition).
The blood-brain barrier prevents kernicterus
What I found was that the blood-brain barrier is one of the most important factors in whether jaundice causes brain damage or not.
No matter how high bilirubin is in the blood, if it stays out of the brain, it won’t harm baby.
This led me to the most difficult line of research: what influences the strength of the infant blood brain-barrier? Can we directly support the newborn blood brain barrier?
I’m working on some new modules to add to the mini-course and eventually will record a video version to make it all more accessible to families and busy practitioners (the course is text-based at the time of writing).
Because of the ethical issues around research on infants, we have to get into this topic of the newborn blood-brain barrier a little indirectly because there aren’t ever going to be double-blind placebo trials on this subject.
—> Make sure to sign up for my newsletter if this is interesting so you can find out when I do get the next round of quantum newborn jaundice resources released (and if you want to get the current version of the mini-course, it’s included with your paid subscription and the link to get started in the course is in your paid subscriber welcome email).
In the meantime, I invite you to study this graphic very closely, noticing how the blood-brain barrier is composed of collagen.
As an applied quantum biology practitioner, the knowledge that the newborn blood brain barrier is made of collagen gives me immediate and profound clues about what we could be doing to better support the blood-brain barrier of jaundiced babies.
Join the course below (first module is free, the rest are included with your paid subscription or free trial):
Updates from Nikko:
We are enrolling for Spring 2025 Cohort at the Institute of Applied Quantum Biology, where I serve as the Director of Research & Membership. We are a continuing education program accredited by the ANMCB to help healthcare practitioners add Applied Quantum Biology to their scope of practice. I’ll be leading the welcome call on April 25th, 2025. Here’s where you can learn more and apply for the waitlist: IAQB Certification in Applied Quantum Biology.
I just published a new website for my doula business. As a virtual doula, I support families around the world with evidence-based planning for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Check it out! Doula Nikko J Kennedy. You can also find my doula account on Instagram: @circadiandoula.
