When does physiologic jaundice typically appear and resolve in term newborns?

• A. Appears after 4 weeks and resolves after 1 week.
• B. Appears at birth and lasts several months.
• C. Appears within 2-3 days of life and usually resolves within 1-2 weeks.
• D. Never occurs in term newborns.

Answer: (C)

Physiologic jaundice in healthy term newborns comes from the liver being temporarily immature at birth, which reduces its ability to conjugate bilirubin, combined with the large amount of bilirubin produced from rapid red blood cell turnover. In term babies, this jaundice typically appears after the first day of life—usually around day 2 to day 3—and rises to a peak around day 3 to 5. It then resolves on its own within about 1 to 2 weeks as the liver matures and bilirubin conjugation improves.

Patterns that don’t fit physiologic jaundice include jaundice that appears at birth and lasts for months, which would indicate a nonphysiologic or pathologic process, and jaundice that never occurs in term newborns, which isn’t accurate since physiologic jaundice is common in term infants.