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Biliary atresia: yellow skin past 3 weeks and pale stools, the causes, the tests, the Kasai procedure and a liver transplant, and feeding
For parents and anyone caring for a baby who is still yellow after the first weeks, or a child who has had the Kasai procedure. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: what biliary atresia is; the signs, jaundice that lasts beyond 3 weeks of age and pale yellow, gray or white stools; what experts know about the cause, and what it can lead to; how doctors find it; the Kasai procedure and a liver transplant; and feeding and growth. It builds the questions to ask and prints a card. Nothing is saved.
Right now
- Is your baby still yellow (skin or the whites of the eyes) at 3 weeks old, or are the stools pale yellow, gray or white? NIDDK says jaundice that lasts beyond 3 weeks of age may be the first sign of biliary atresia, and experts recommend testing a baby who is still yellow 3 weeks after birth. Call your baby’s doctor soon; do not wait for the next checkup (ours).
- Vomiting blood, black or bloody stools, very hard to wake, or struggling to breathe? Call 911 (ours). After the Kasai procedure, a fever or the yellow coming back: call your child’s liver team right away (ours).
- You, the grown-up, are at the end of your rope, or having thoughts of suicide? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
More help
- The liver on this site: Cirrhosis · Getting ready for a liver biopsy · Bleeding in the digestive tract · How digestion works.
- Babies: Baby log · Breastfeeding · Pregnancy and a new baby · Hirschsprung disease.
- For you: Caring for someone · Low-cost health care · Get ready for your appointment. In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
An upset stomach, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for throwing up, diarrhea, heartburn and constipation, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- Fatty liver disease in children: NAFLD and NASH, the signs, the tests, treatment, and food: fatty liver disease in children (NAFLD and NASH): the silent signs, the causes, the tests, gradual weight change and habits, supplements, and food, for parents.
- Liver transplant: who needs one, a deceased or living donor, the evaluation and the waiting list, the surgery, and living with a new liver: a liver transplant: who needs one, a deceased or a living donor, the evaluation and the national waiting list, the surgery and coming home, rejection, the medicines, and caring for a new liver.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 21, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Biliary Atresia, all six sections, last reviewed in September 2017. Ours: the 911 and 988 lines; calling the baby’s doctor soon for yellow skin at 3 weeks or pale stools, and not waiting for the next checkup; a photo of the diaper; calling the liver team right away for a fever or the yellow coming back after surgery; asking before any supplement or formula change; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: its section on clinical trials, its references, its drawings, and the other NIDDK pages it links to, which we did not read. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.