Hyperbilirubinemia in otherwise healthy infants.

Treatment of hyperbilirubinemia in otherwise healthy infants is controversial, since hyperbilirubinemia in the absence of hemolytic disease, hepatobiliary disease or prematurity is not clearly associated with kernicterus or other long-term morbidity. Phototherapy, exchange transfusion and the withholding of breast milk are the only treatments that have proved effective. Home phototherapy may be useful in treating infants for whom hospitalization is otherwise unnecessary.